There is no way anything could be more funny than making home movies with your near and dear ones. The same nostalgia struck John Sichi when he found a Mansfield Holiday Zoom camera on net one day. However, the only tragedy with the camera was that its lens was damaged beyond repair. Since, the man was not the one who gives up easily, he decided to digitise the camera with Pi Camera Module and Raspberry Pi Zero. 

 

 

In order to fit Pi in a small place, he had to pull out all inner parts. The only bad thing about this was that he had to part from the whirring noise of inner springs that were a part of his nostalgia. The stop/start button for this camera was formed with the help of a scrap piece of metal that was placed over a pre-existing trigger. You can just hold it down for recording and just release when you need to stop it. The power to system is provided by a USB battery pack. John used a few pieces of Sugru and LEGO to keep Pi in place. 

 

The camera has been mounted externally because John didn’t intend to damage the inner body of Mansfield. One step ahead has to be taken in this direction that would allow the user to utilize the camera with a functional lens. Once done, it will incorporate the new technology along with the age old precious functionality. You can get the code for this camera at https://github.com/lingeringsocket/holidaypi. The write-up also includes a footage from this camera which will explain the quality of work done by this camera. You can easily notice the retro image quality and you can always recreate your present moments in that golden style. 

 

Video: https://youtu.be/CBQD6SmxoJA