The Magic Camera feature is ridiculously fun, and everyone I’ve shown it to loves it. Kudos to the team for coming up with and implementing this.
Something I’ve noticed when I’m out taking photos with friends, is that I have to open the rabbit hole page on my phone, reload it, dig through the journal to find the right image, etc., to share the image we just made, and this feels cumbersome and takes some of the “magic” away from the r1 and displaces that “magic” off into the cloud. I’m sure there are plans to improve this experience already, but here are my thoughts:
The Magic Camera reminds me of Polaroid instant cameras, where you take a shot and gather around to watch the image fade into view, not quite sure what you’re going to get, with excitement building as the image develops. It’s remarkable how fun this experience continues to be even in the age of ubiquitous digital cameras etc.
If the Magic Camera image processing time can get to a point where it’s faster—I don’t think it has to be too fast, maybe 5 or 10 seconds?—I think it could be really fun to have the image load directly on device. Perhaps after taking the photo, we could have an 8bit animation of a bunch of rabbits working together on the screen before suddenly dispersing to reveal the image, or even just a simple fade into view… I’m sure others can think of better image processing and image reveal animations than I can! But I think that something like this could help make the experience more direct and easier to share with friends. And it would help locate the “magic” on the r1 itself, instead of “oh now let me log into the website and see what it did.” I think that, done well, waiting/anticipation can enhance the experience, especially when the end result is something a bit unpredictable.
The downside of this, would be… waiting. Perhaps the UI could allow us to “stack” images in processing to keep shooting, with little instant film sheet icons along the top of the screen to represent images processing, and some way to see when they’re ready and then the ability to select and open them. I’m also sure some people would want to disable this feature entirely (an option in settings?).
Super happy with Magic Camera, can’t wait to see this feature continue to develop. (pun intended)