Crazy Camera Concept Friday – your camera is now a bent pipe

Another day, another bizarre camera concept from Yanko Design.  Actually there have been a lot of good ideas out there for improving the ergonomics of cameras by tweaking grip angles, positions and control locations.  This, clearly, is not one of them.

The designer Yaniv Berg claims this to be a DSLR but I’m curious where the reflex comes in.  Perhaps the sensor flips in to place to take the photo and then flops back down?  Perhaps there’s a some sort of bend in the optical path before the light hits the sensor?  Maybe my friend Geoff figured it out: “when I think of ‘digital reflex’ as it relates to this camera, I think of my middle digit suddenly extending itself in the direction of the designer.”

The design is supposedly an homage to the top-down stovepipe viewfinders of various cameras  throughout history.  Many medium formats, for instance, use this layout to great effect.  Instead of using your face to help support the camera you can cradle the camera against your body for stability.  Given the angle of the “eyepiece” I can only presume that if you want to cradle this against your body you must really like taking photos of the ground in front of you.  That viewfinder is curious, if it were a real viewfinder it’d be impossible to see almost all of the time you aren’t in the dark.  Fortunately the creator indicates it’s a display, in which case why make it a reflex camera?

Baffling, but interesting!  I enjoy these wacky ideas, some are obviously meant to really go out there and mess with the status quo by throwing out fantastical but impractical designs.  Others are clearly trying to address some of the long standing design ideas present in a lot of cameras that might be improved upon.  Of course, independent designers aren’t the only ones coming up with some interesting (and crazy) ideas.  Canon pumped out this Wonder Camera Concept not too long ago at the World Expo 2010.

Good?  Bad?  Weird?  I don’t know but I’m curious what aspects of this Canon might bring to a camera store near you in the future.  I’m not sure if the girl on the top left is amazed, confused or about to sneeze all over the camera concept.