Superheadz Clap Digital Camera

In 2008, a concept design for an extremely minimal digital camera by one Sungwoo Park appeared online, with no viewfinder or screen, featuring the simplicity of just one button, and a cleverly integrated USB port. The body was only slightly bigger than that of flashdrives at the time, and looked like a traditional camera rendered at the level of detail appropriate for an icon. It was unfortunately named the EazzzY~! USB Digital Camera.

The Superheadz Clap is a digital camera that resembles the EazzzY~! so closely that if Park wasn't paid or hired for his work, he should consider legal action. Like other digital toy cameras from Superheadz, image quality is deemphasized. Results are somewhere between a webcam and expired film from an 80s-era point and shoot. It's an approach in keeping with a camera that doesn't allow composing or previewing your shot before you take it (or even after) — shooting from the hip, as the Lomo crowd puts it.

There are many other display-less digital cameras on the market, and any modern smartphone would seem capable of matching the convenience and (with the help of apps) degraded image quality of the Clap camera. Just this week, the designers of the popular Hipstamatic iPhone app released the Disposable, a suicidal new product that combines the recurring cost of film purchasing, the built-in wait period of film rolls, and the lo-fi look of hipster film hobbyists.

But digital though its microSD card storage, USB port, and rechargeable battery may be, the Clap's merits are physical. Its design is unique, emotional, and beautiful: it's no Vistaquest. In shooting, its size/weight ratio, fun colors, low price, and operational simplicity will result in the creation of very different pictures than from a smartphone. The only thing that lets it down on paper is the poor light sensitivity of an f2.8 lens coupled with an ISO 100 limit.

Update: This camera was first available under the name "PICK". The Superheadz versions have additional wording on the body and come in different colors.

Shop: Superheadz CLAP Digital Camera Powershovel Red / Sugar Grey / Sugar Blue / Sugar Pink