Not since the arrival of the Blackbird, Fly has their been so much anticipation for the release of a Toy Camera. We receive emails daily asking about the Digital Harinezumi, and finally I can give you all of the details. But first, there is that question you all have been asking: Can you have a digital Toy Camera?

Yes, you can. You just have to develop the camera with the Toy user in mind, which is exactly what SuperHeadz has done. By starting with the idea of constructing a low-fi digital camera, and purposely adding things like a plastic lens and small chip they have succeeded in bring to market what will become an icon. Far from just a camera, the Harinezumi has become my journal, documenting each day  in little bursts of video and images.

I headed to the New York City office of PowerShovel to meet up with Nick Dangerfield and discuss the development process of the Harinezumi. Their goal was to build a digital camera that had the spirit of 110 film and the nostalgia of your parent’s 8mm home movies. To do this they purposely designed what some would call ‘flawed’ chip to capture less then perfect colors and contrast. But it was not that simple, the chip was the result of careful design to find a balance between image quality and image distortion- They took very special care to balance the color just a little away from normal- and created a small plastic lens instead of the large glass ones used on many digital cameras today.

Packaged in very small body that resembles a 110 film canister, the Harinezumi will fit easily in the palm of your hand, and slip into any pocket. In the few days I have had mine, its been to New York, Philadelphia, a Maryland Farm and my home in Delaware. I already find myself reaching for it every time I go anywhere, its become part of my life like my cell phone. And I already know the next question you are thinking- why not just use the camera on your iPhone?

Its just not the same. Using the Harinezumi is something that you will just ‘get’ the first time you shoot with it. Its more then just a digital camera, and more then just a video camera. It’s a Toy Camera. Sure there are lots of people out there using the iPhone and then processing their image with the iPhone toy camera software, and they end up with a toy-ish looking image, but that would be missing the point of this camera. This camera will become to photography what the iPod is to music, and what the iPhone is to the cell phone. It will be device that blends it all together- creating not just images but movies as well.

Controls are simple, and very easy to navigate. You have a choice of 100 or 800 asa, and small or large image quality. While taking a video you have live-view thru the screen on the back, but when taking a still image you leave it up to chance. Click and the image appears on the screen a second later. One clever feature is the macro function, which when activated changes the focus to less then a foot. Use it for great closeups, or shoot regular image and the result is a dreamy blur. The video has no sound, again a reference to the old movie cameras of the past. I have collected video clips along my travels this week, and am busy learning to edit them together in iMovie, which so far is quite intuitive and fun to work with. More on that in part two.

You will become addicted to capturing and collecting snippets of video with this Camera. I have nearly a hundred from this weekend alone- I kept having to remind myself while walking around the farms of Maryland and the City of Philadelphia that I had two other cameras in the bag to test as well. (The Holga TLR and Lubitel, but more on that later this week…)

So, finally, we can answer the question that you have all been asking for quite a while. There can be a digital toy camera. But it takes a very special team of people to create one. The same folks who brought you the brilliantly engineered Blackbird, Fly have taken very special care not to over engineer this camera. By starting with the Toy user in mind, and combining a love for both 110 film and old 8mm home movies they have done what many people thought was not possible: create a Digital camera with an analog soul. A blend of technology and nostalgia.

[In part two, we'll look at some of the video's, but for now check out more info here]