This one shouldn’t surprise us, but there is something particularly enjoyable about seeing the total eclipse of the Sun through a Game Boy camera.
The Game Boy got its camera accessory back in 1998 when CCD-based cameras with poor resolution were just becoming widely available to the public. This camera can capture 128×112 pixel images in the four value grey scale for which the handheld is so loved.
Having taken part in eclipse mania ourselves we can tell you that unless you did some serious research and prep for photographing the thing, this makes as much sense as pulling out your smartphone did. We posit that it certainly produced a more pleasing result.
[jhx] says this is more a weird halo effect of the shot than it is a quality image of totality. At this resolution, the moon-covered Sun should be very few pixels in size, right? But fidelity is for photographers, this is for hackers. Getting the digital image off of the Game Boy camera involved using an Interact Mega Memory cartridge on a Game Boy Pocket to transfer it over, then using a USB 64M cartridge to copy from the Mega Memory and ultimately to a computer.
Glamour shots ain’t easy, yo. But it is possible to read images directly off the Game Boy camera thanks to some reverse engineering work.
[via Kotaku]
Wow. Perhaps for the next one you can publish someone using a magnifying glass and searing a thin crescent of the sun into their flesh. Who cares and what good is an image sampled with an imager that was obsolete when it was new?
Dude, no offense, but I think you might be on the wrong site…
+1
LOL. I better not reveal my one-pixel digital camera until he cools off.
Actually HaD could go back and update the eclipse stories they did with the results. For example the propagation one.
reggy’s body was not ready.
Tattooists hate him, find out why!
iirc it was the smallest camera in the world at the time. So It was far from obsolete
Not that difference than the image I got on my phone, using eclipse glasses the company passed out. We were in the 90% zone, so it was still exciting. And they also passed out moon pies to all employees.
Fortunately a coworker got excellent photos on his new iPhone. I guess this is a difference between pay $150 and $800 for a phone, after all. But since he emailed me all his photos, I guess I can spend the money I saved on Julio Iglesias albums
My DSLR falls in the middle of that range, although I imagine the lenses are better.
“different”
BTW. I wish HAD had an edit function. Most website ran by Liberal Arts majors have that ability, You think a site ran by tech dudes and dudettes would also have one ;-)
Typo in the title, of course. ;)
Curses! No, wait… courses!
Whoops, fixed, thanks!
Fake news… The camera was built with Nasa technology, programmed to create the illusion of an eclipse… And reptiles or something did something else to dollar bills with vaccinations. I cant remember why, but reasons
Of course some neckbeard did it and of course it ends up on HAD. Get a fucking life. PS, not a hack….
Awwww, somebody huwt your feewings by having fun without you?
Some of the early space images were worse. Nice pattern anyway.
Ah, good, our deep space probe has sent back images from the Andromeda Galax–(someone whispers in his ear)–I have got to stop falling asleep during budget meetings.
This is surprisingly good haha. I own an GB camera and have never taken a decent shot with it.
Hmph! Sounds like a few of them didn’t have to live through the “ASCII pr0n” era.
not quite a total eclipse of the sun, but funny anyway.
That certainly fits in the category as a hack. Nice! It’s much more entertaining than seeing the same corona pictures that everyone else with a Nikon D series took.
“Yes of course HaD had to cover this sad attempt at getting attention”
When I saw it come by I knew it, and was exasperated in advance.