Over the past few years, there have been plenty of unique modifications done to the Game Boy Camera. People have turned it into webcams, put real lenses on it, and even made it the size of a game cartridge.
However, all of these mods required a Game Boy or its internal components. But this particular mod by Raphael Boichot is different. He has managed to create a custom setup using just the camera module and some electronics based on the Raspberry Pi Pico.
What’s really impressive about this modification is what the custom electronics bring to the table. On a regular Game Boy, the camera can only produce images in four shades of grey – black, white, and two shades in between. But with Raphael’s setup, the camera can capture full 8-bit greyscale images, resulting in much higher quality pictures with 256 shades of grey.
Aside from the improved image quality, this mod also offers near-unlimited storage capacity. Since greyscale images don’t take up much space, you won’t have to worry about running out of storage anytime soon.
What’s even better is that the hardware operates on open-source code, allowing you to customize it to suit your preferences. This means you can easily access and save your image files in various formats like jpg, png, or gif on your computer or phone.
The camera works with three shooting modes – regular mode, motion sensor mode, and timelapse mode. In timelapse mode, the camera organizes the images into separate folders for each sequence. Regular mode allows you to take a single photo with a press of a button, while holding it down continuously captures images at intervals of 150 milliseconds, achieving a frame rate of around 6-7 frames per second.
This project is truly fascinating. If you happen to have a Game Boy Camera but no Game Boy, the setup created by Raphael Boichot is definitely something you should consider. Head over to his GitHub page to find all the necessary information, including the code and schematics.
