Getting Back In The Groove: The Freedom Enterprises Circuit Bent Toy Camera

I’ve been in a bit of a funk since bricking that Kodak Charmera a couple of weeks ago. It doesn’t help that the weather has been dismal for much of January, and looking at the forecast it looks like this will continue for a couple of weeks to come. Yes, I went out and ‘tested’ a new (to me) Olympus Pen E-PL3, but the combination of factors has left me a bit dispirited. That’s not to say I haven’t got things planned, On Blogger, I keep a ‘running tally’ of projects that I have in mind and there are about 16 items on this list already.

Anyhow, I was chatting with some people on BlueSky about what makes a shitty camera, and I happened to mention that what I’m after is a circuit bent Shitty-compliant camera. I’m always on about circuit bending, and getting ‘generic’ cameras from CEX to circuit bend, but I always end up not being able to bring myself to  potentially ruin a perfectly good camera. I did it once with an old Canon Powershot that I tried to make full spectrum, and most recently with the Charmera, and it does leave a psychological mark.

But I do have a circuit bent camera. A couple of years ago, I picked up a circuit bent toy camera from Freedom Enterprises. This camera contains one of the simplest forms of circuit bending, where connections in the camera sensor have been soldered together. There’s only one type of result from the toy camera, but it’s a fun glitch and the filters in the camera give it a lot of variety. So I charged up the glitched camera and took it out on a short walk when it wasn’t raining. I’ve also ordered a couple of G6 thumb cameras (the Kodak Charmera clone), and I hope to circuit bend at least one of those.

If you are on Mastodon, you can now follow this blog directly. Just go to Mastodon and follow my WordPress account at @keithdevereux.wordpress.com. All new posts will be automatically updated to your timeline on Mastodon.

#CircuitBending #Digicam #Experimental #FreedomEnterprise #Glitch #GlitchArt #Glitchy #LoFi #Retro #ToyCamera

A colour photograph taken with an Olympus Pen E-PL2 mirrorless camera and glitched with the Mismatcher Petite from @freedomenterprise.pt .

#MismatcherPetite, #FreedomEnterprise, #GlitchArt, #CircuitBend, #GlitchAesthetic, #Trippy, #Glitchy, #CircuitBending, #Digicam, #Glitch, #Vintage, #Retro, #Experimental, #Psychedelic, #ToyCamera, #Abstract,

Today I learned this was a rule: See discarded couch? Make photo.
#CircuitBending, #FreedomEnterprise, #Digicam, #Glitch, #GlitchArt, #Glitchy, #Trippy, #ToyCamera,

This morning I took the circuit-bent toy camera from Freedom Enterprise out for some fun. I also tried some of the inbuilt optical distortion filters. Trippy.

https://keithdevereux.wordpress.com/2024/03/14/out-with-a-circuit-bent-toy-digital-camera-14-march-2024/

#Abstract #CircuitBending #Digicam #Experimental #FreedomEnterprise #Glitch #GlitchAesthetic #GlitchArt #Glitchy #Psychedelic #Retro #ToyCamera #Trippy #Vintage

'Crossing', taken with the circuit bent toy digicam from Freedom Enterprise. #CircuitBending, #FreedomEnterprise, #Digicam, #Glitch, #GlitchArt, #Glitchy, #Retro, #Experimental, #Psychedelic, #Trippy, #ToyCamera,

This afternoon my little blue circuit bent camera arrived from Freedom Enterprise. I quickly discovered that it can work in black and white and is infrared sensitive. So of course I had to make a digital aerochrome (of sorts). #CircuitBending #FreedomEnterprise #Digicam #Glitch #GlitchArt #Vintage #Retro #Experimental #Trichrome #Aerochrome  #Psychedelic #ToyCamera

I'm hoping this is not going to be a slippery slope towards more circuit bending and image glitching, but who knows?
#MismatcherPetite, #GlitchArt  #CircuitBending, #Glitch, #Digital, #GlitchAesthetic, #LoFi, #DigitalArt, #FreedomEnterprise,