What are some fun things to do with a digicam I don't care about?

February 9, 2012 2:13 PM

What should I do with a digital camera that is willing to sacrifice its life for me?

I recently scored a slick deal ($21!) on a 14MP Kodak camera, the C1530. It's your average crappy P&S without image stabilization and with only a 3x optical zoom, but the sample images I saw looked pretty good for $21.

I'd like to try converting this camera to IR, but there aren't any tutorials on this particular model. But what else would you do with a nearly disposable digital camera? I like the idea of tying it to a park bench with instructions to "take picture don't steal" like some artists have done, but I'm pretty sure it would get taken right away. What else can you do with a camera that you're willing to lose/break?

posted by speedgraphic to technology (7 answers total)

Try to figure out how to convert it to IR and post a tutorial?

Push the human race forward!
posted by trevyn at 2:17 PM on February 9, 2012

Sounds perfect for kite aerial photography
posted by exogenous at 2:20 PM on February 9, 2012

Strap it to your car or bike or skateboard or something?

Donate it to a high-school yearbook staff (or donate it to somebody else--that's just the first example that came to mind)?
posted by box at 2:26 PM on February 9, 2012

Know any kids?

They love playing with cameras, don't really care about zoom (or focus for that matter) and you'll be pleasantly surprised at the pictures that they take.
posted by defenestrated at 2:55 PM on February 9, 2012 [2 favorites]

Here's a fairly general guide to IR conversion. (You've already finished Step 1!)
posted by marakesh at 8:10 PM on February 9, 2012

Use it for balloon photography. I recently bought the equipment to do that myself (I just need a tank of helium).
posted by waldo at 9:08 PM on February 9, 2012

You could consider putting in a place with Wi Fi and getting one of these.
http://www.eye.fi/


or asking a local place to host the camera and have it checked out, for a collateral item, like an ID.

Or secure it to something.

Perhaps even disguise it so you do not know it is a camera and its just an inviting button to push.
posted by misformiche at 11:22 AM on February 10, 2012