Kickstarter Roundup: help fund remote smartphone cameras, 360° adapters, leveling tripods, and more

 

 

It must be the giving season, because there's been an explosion in Kickstarters of late as people try and raise money for all manner of interesting photography devices. So rather than create a seperate post for each and every one of them, here's a roundup of some of the more interesting crowdfunding gadgets we've run across!

The Quebee is a Kickstarter for a remote camera that will be controlled via a smartphone app. With a $149 backing, you can pick up a small camera, which can be viewed and controlled via your iPhone or Android smartphone — in fact, you can control a whole suite of them at once. Each device can be synced with a whole group of them, and be used for regular or timelapse recording. They also come with a five hour battery life, which ramps up to two full days during timelapse mode. Unfortunately, there doesn't seem to be any info about the lens focal length or video resolution, but the promise of multi-angle remote controlled video recording is pretty neat.

The Eye Mirror is an interesting addon that would attach to the front of a lens on just about any piece of gear you own, and reflect a full 360° sphere into it. With versions for DSLRs, compact cameras, and GoPros, it records 360° videos which would then be able to be uploaded to the manufacturer's site, so that you could pan around a full scene as it plays out around you. The Eye Mirror would also come with Oculus Rift support, allowing for an even more immersive experience. Backing starts at the $195 mark for a GoPro edition, and will set you back around $380 if you want one for a DSLR.

Phlite is a lamp that integrates with with any gear you have floating around, that isn't in use. Able to be mounted on a hot- or cold-shoe, or on a tripod, the Phlite is a lamp that then sits there, using your gear as a base until you need it again. At which point, you just slip the Phlite out. So if you want to show off your current gear, or even have some old, vintage hardware that could be used semi-permanently, Phlite lets you turn them into interesting decor for your house.

The OhSoh ELi is a self-leveling ball-head of sorts. This curious looking globular device lets you simply press a button, and it will automatically level your camera, either on one axis or two. That makes it ideal for accurately setting up panoramas, even allowing for multiple sweeps. It uses standard tripod mounts, so you can both put your camera on top of it, as well as mount it on your existing tripod, if you don't want to spend forever messing around with spirit levels. If you're interested in backing the project, $190 will get you one if it gets fully funded.

Finally, there's the Lightstrap, an innovative iPhone case that implements an LED ringlight into its construction. The case has a rectangular ring of LEDs running around its entire body, which are triggered when your iPhone's flash fires — which means it works with any and every app. The Lightstrap has its own battery source, and is cited as 10x as bright as the iPhone's native illumination. It can also be set to six different color casts, and seven levels of power, depending on your own needs. However, it has a relatively high funding goal of $245,000, and if you want in, you'll need to drop $87 on one.

Just remember, as is always the case with Kickstarter projects, even if they do get fully funded there's a pretty good chance your device might ship late.

(via Engadget, TrendHunter, Gizmodo, PetaPixel)