ReFrame – 电子纸相机

ReFrame – 电子纸相机
ReFrame – The EPaper Camera

reFrame 是一款开源数码相机，它采用六色电子纸（ePaper）显示屏，能呈现出类似于报纸或复古电子游戏的独特抖动图像。由于屏幕依靠物理墨滴粒子成像，每张照片需要 15 秒才能“显影”，提供了类似拍立得的触感体验。图像显示后，即使在断电状态下也能永久保留，使设备在拍摄下一张照片前可以作为桌面的相框使用。 reFrame 由 Kaloyan Kolev 开发，使用市售现成组件组装而成，包括树莓派 Zero（Raspberry Pi Zero）、树莓派摄像头 3 代（Pi Camera 3）以及 4 英寸的 eInk Spectra 6 显示屏。目前该相机作为一个 DIY 项目运作，其完整的构建说明和开源代码已在 GitHub 上发布；开发者计划在未来提供成品销售。尽管屏幕具有艺术美感，reFrame 仍会保存原始和抖动处理后的数字文件，用户可通过网页仪表板进行访问。

Hacker News 上的一场讨论围绕“ReFrame”电子纸相机展开，该设备拍摄出的照片呈现出抖动效果且分辨率较低。讨论的焦点在于，这种设备刻意的局限性究竟是真正的特色，还是仅仅是一种噱头。批评者认为，追求性能较低的硬件是一种受怀旧情绪驱动的不切实际的趋势。相反，支持者则将其比作乐器或艺术工具，认为它的魅力在于创作过程中那种独特且刻意的体验——例如观看图像像数字宝丽来一样缓慢呈现——而非单纯的量化性能。归根结底，这一讨论反映了一个更广泛的争论：技术是否应该始终追求技术上的卓越，还是那些优先考虑触感与艺术表达而非效率的小众设备，本身就具有内在价值。

reFrame's ePaper display has six pigments, so photos are dithered before they display on the screen.

Tokyo street with train bridge — The dithered photos look somewhere between a newspaper halftone and an old video game.

The processing is part of the fun: you watch the colors come in one by one, like a digital polaroid.

The dithered photos look somewhere between a newspaper halftone and an old video game. The processing is part of the fun: you watch the colors come in one by one, like a digital polaroid.

After you press the shutter, each photo takes 15 seconds to fully appear. The display uses electrical charges to physically move ink particles into place.

reFrame showing a dithered coffee image — With ePaper, the photo on screen stays there even after powering off.

reFrame camera in hand — The only way to clear the screen is to take a new photo.

With ePaper, the photo on screen stays there even after powering off. The only way to clear the screen is to take a new photo.

reFrame screen showing a photo on a desk

When not in use, reFrame doubles as a desk photo frame. Your last photo stays on screen, and the processing gives each image a unique, almost print-like quality.

Dithered New York City skyline silhouette

Dithered close-up of plants in Stara Zagora

With the help of APOSSIBLE, we sent the camera to four professional photographers around the world.

reFrame's hardware and software are open source. The camera uses only off-the-shelf components, so you can build one yourself. Everything you need is on GitHub.

reFrame enclosure prepared in 3D-printing slicer software

who's making this?

reFrame is a passion project by Kaloyan Kolev and friends.

can i buy one?

not yet! the current version of reFrame was designed as an open source project, so you can build your own following the guide on GitHub. i hope to start taking individual orders in the near future.

what's inside?

a Raspberry Pi Zero, Pi Camera 3, 4" eInk Spectra 6 color display and a battery.

do the photos get saved?

yes! the photos you take with reFrame are saved digitally. While the ePaper display remains the primary way to experience each shot, you can also download both the original and dithered versions of each photo using a web dashboard.