Duo camera concept splits in half and takes two photos

A student at the Royal College of Art in London, UK has created a Duo camera concept, which takes photos of the subject and photographer at the same time.

The major downside when taking photos is that you are not in it. A tripod could be helpful, but it is heavy to carry around and you cannot “play” with the composition too much. Either way, you cannot have convenience and quality at the same time.

Duo is a concept camera which captures a photo of the photographer and subject at the same time.

Duo camera concept consists of two photo-ready parts

This fact could change with the help of Chin-Wei Lao, a student at the Royal College of Art. Lao is currently studying Innovation Design Engineering and he has managed to find a way that will include both the photographer and the subject in a photo.

The student has designed a camera concept, called Duo, which can be split in two parts. The device is pretty small as a whole, but it can get smaller as a pair of magnets are keeping it together. The two parts will take a pair of images at the same time.

A pair of magnets are keeping Duo together. When split, the two parts are automatically connected via WiFi. Pressing the shutter button on either half makes the camera capture two photos simultaneously.

WiFi keeps the halves connected and takes images at the same time

There is a shutter button on both halves. The two cameras are linked together via WiFi technology. When pressing the shutter button on either half, the other one will be triggered, too, thus capturing two images at the same time.

One photo will include the subject and the other one will have the photographer as the main focus point.

The creator says that it will be “fun documenting and being documented”, meaning that the Duo will no longer make group photography feel like a burden.

Duo is just a concept, but fully-functional prototypes are out there

Although the Duo is still a concept, working prototypes have been built. Chin-Wei Lao has demonstrated Duo to a number of people and he has received a lot of praises for his idea.

An advantage of this shooter is that it also works as a conventional camera. When Duo is not split, the dual-photo functionality is turned off and the device captures only one photo.

More information about the Duo can be found at the designer’s personal website, which contains Lao’s other projects, too.