Stepping into the Polaroid Matrix at Maker Faire (video)
![](https://s.yimg.com/ny/api/res/1.2/B4qyyE9PWBGoWiakprJsUg--/YXBwaWQ9aGlnaGxhbmRlcjt3PTk2MDtoPTYzOA--/https://s.yimg.com/uu/api/res/1.2/We0Yaig6i8sOF94WGWRQhg--~B/aD0zOTk7dz02MDA7YXBwaWQ9eXRhY2h5b24-/https://www.blogcdn.com/www.engadget.com/media/2011/09/polaroidmatrix2011-01-0823-07-20lead.jpg)
Sometimes it's the simplest questions that lead to the most important innovation -- other times it's more that they're just plain fun to answer. Take the one asked by Grand Rapids, MI-artist, Sam Blanchard: what would the Wachowski Brothers' bullet-time effect look like, were it shot on, say 20 Polaroids, instead of a room full of expensive digital devices? The answer, naturally, can be found in the Polaroid Matrix, a circle of cameras on display at Maker Faire in New York, this weekend. The Kickstarter success story arranges the cameras into a circle -- a subject can be sat in the middle, or the cameras can be oriented outward, to take a panorama of the surrounding environment. Once the rig is fired up, the cameras make that familiar Polaroid warm up hum -- times 20. The actual photographing happens almost in an instant, with 20 flashes. The photographer walks around the circle and collects 20 photos, which are bound into a photographic flipbook. Check out a video of the Polaroid Matrix in action, after the jump.%Gallery-134201%