This
past
weekend,
a
local
startup
held
an
exhibition
not
too
far
from
where
I
live
in
Tokyo
to
show
off
its
idea
for
an
entirely
new
take
on
camera
hardware.
That’s
not
the
sort
of
thing
that
happens
every
weekend,
even
in
Tokyo,
so
I
biked
on
over
to
take
a
look.
VWFNDR
is
a
project
started
by
UX
designer
Álvaro
Arregui
Falcón
of Nuevo.Tokyo and
independent
industrial
designer Mireia
Gordi
i
Vila.
The
team
later
brought
on
London-based
engineer Lucas
Seidenfaden,
who
developed
the
first
working
prototype
for
their
concept.
That
concept
is
called
Keirin.
Named
after
the
Japanese
cycling
discipline
that
takes
place
on
a
similarly
oval
track,
the
Keirin
is
a
camera
focused
on
panorama
photography.
Its
standout
visual
feature
is
a
curved
OLED
touchscreen
that
wraps
around
the
back
panel
and
houses
almost
all
of
the
camera’s
controls.
That’s
the
idea,
at
least.
The
OLED
prototype
on
show
was
nonfunctional
and
not
available
to
touch;
it’s
there
to
give
a
better
idea
of
the
eventual
industrial
design.
Even
in
that
state,
you
could
see
visual
glitches
right
on
the
far
edge
of
the
panel.
But
sitting
a
few
meters
away
on
the
neighboring
table,
you
could
pick
up
and
use
a
working
prototype
of
the
Keirin,
complete
with
a
disassembled
version
that
revealed
the
hardware
inside.
Seidenfaden
walked
me
through
the
hardware
engineering
of
the
prototype,
as
well
as
its
UI.
(VWFNDR
has
a
Substack of
its
own;
Seidenfaden
wrote
a post that
goes
into
how
he
engineered
the
prototype
in
more
detail
than
I
can
include
here.)
As
he
explains,
this
prototype
is
really
just
a
proof
of
concept
to
show
that
the
Keirin’s
industrial
design
and
UI
can
work
in
practice.
It
uses
off-the-shelf
parts,
including
a
Raspberry
Pi
board
and
the
Pi
Camera
module,
so
image
quality
is
not
the
priority.
The
prototype
does,
however,
have
a
very
wide
rear-mounted
screen
that,
although
it
isn’t
curved,
works
well
to
show
off
the
Keirin’s
unique
UI.
The
main
idea
here
is
that
you
can
use
the
full
screen
as
a
panoramic
viewfinder
and
swipe
in
from
the
right
to
bring
in
all
the
regular
manual
exposure
controls;
this
is
also
how
you
adjust
the
aspect
ratio
of
the
photo.
For
example,
if
you
want
to
take
a
DSLR-style
3:2
image,
you
can
swipe
left
until
you’re
left
with
the
correct
aspect
ratio
on
the
left
half
of
the
screen.
If
you
then
want
to
take
a
6:2
XPan-style
panorama
shot,
you
can
swipe
right
to
hide
the
UI
and
use
the
display’s
full
width
for
framing.
(The
Keirin
can
save
the
full
capture
regardless
of
which
aspect
ratio
you
decide
to
shoot
in.)
There’s
also
a
circular
physical
control
dial
embedded
on
the
camera’s
right
side.
It’s
a
clever,
intuitive
idea.
As
someone
who
loves
dedicated
camera
hardware
but
has
largely
switched
to
phones
for
photography,
recreational
or
otherwise
—
all
of
the
photos
in
this
article
were
taken
on
the Xiaomi
14
Ultra —
I
don’t
mind
the
lack
of
physical
controls
as
much
as
I
might
have
years
ago.
While
touchscreen-first
cameras
like
the
Leica
T
have
often
felt
compromised,
the
Keirin’s
UI
plays
to
the
strengths
of
the
hardware
design
and
the
camera’s
intended
primary
use
case.
The
Keirin
is
designed
around
a
60-megapixel
full-frame
sensor
with
a
35mm
lens.
The
plan
is
for
the
camera
to
include
SSD
storage
and
mobile
connectivity
so
that
photos
can
automatically
be
saved
and
backed
up
to
the
cloud.
VWFNDR
has
also
designed
a
proprietary
magnetic
expansion
bay
—
called
XPNSNBAY
—
that
uses
pogo
pins
to
allow
for
peripherals
like
a
panoramic
optical
viewfinder.
Another
clever
accessory
is
REMOFLSH,
a
wireless
flash
unit
that
directly
communicates
with
the
camera’s
built-in
trigger.
The
Keirin
might
never
become
a
commercial
product,
and
if
it
does,
it’ll
be
a
niche
one.
(What
stills
camera
isn’t
these
days?)
But
it’s
been
conceived,
engineered,
and
prototyped
with
such
passion
and
skill
for
such
a
small
team
that
it’s
impossible
not
to
want
to
will
it
into
existence.
Oppo,
which
partners
with
Hasselblad
on
its
camera
technology,
offers
an
XPan-branded
mode
on
its
recent
high-end
phones
like
the Find
X7
Ultra.
I
actually
really
enjoy
it;
it
makes
use
of
the
fact
that
phones
these
days
have
ultrawide
displays
to
deliver
a
fun
new
way
to
shoot
panoramas.
But
just
as
my
Leica-branded
Xiaomi
isn’t
going
to
change
any
Leica
rangefinder
owners’
minds,
something
like
the
Keirin
is
plainly
on
another
level.
It’s
the
kind
of
thoughtful,
focused
device
that,
if
I
had
it
sitting
on
my
camera
shelf
right
now,
would
beg
to
be
taken
out
and
used
the
same
way
Hasselblad’s
XPan
film
cameras
did
back
in
the
day.
This
story
first
appeared
in
Multicore,
a
technology
publication
about
hardware
and
design.
Photography
by
Sam
Byford.
Original author: Sam Byford
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