iPhone and mirror turned into DIY monkeycam
YouTube user Mark Rober, last seen making a gruesome Halloween costume with a couple of iPad 2s, has posted another video on YouTube featuring another relatively unconventional use for Apple's mobile devices. Rober found that during a trip to the zoo, he could use the iPhone's front camera and screen to both get the apes' attention and film them at the same time. He also found they weren't looking right at the camera, however (since the iPhone's camera is offset from the main screen), so he decided to rig up a mirror frame for the iPhone to sit in, and head back to the zoo to make some amateur and DIY "wildlife" photography.
As you can see below, the results are pretty amazing. Not only are the primates entranced by their own images, but the iPhone's camera (I presume he's using a 4S -- I'll be impressed if it's just an iPhone 4) captures some really amazing footage, even at the relatively short distance and through whatever glass is holding the animals in their pens. As Rober points out, you can even see the orangutan's pupils dilating, which I think is quite a feat for a smartphone camera.
Plus, definitely stay to the end of the video, when he tries the trick (with surprisingly similar results) on some other hairy apes.
