Homemade PolyShot camera revives 2MP point-and-shoot nostalgia with a delay

While vintage digital point-and-shoot cameras are making a comeback, enthusiast Arnov Sharma decided not to hunt for an overpriced original but to build his own nostalgic version from modern components. He named the project PolyShot.

The core of PolyShot is the Unihiker K10 development board, which integrates an ESP32-S3 microcontroller, a 2-megapixel camera module, and a microSD card slot. Photos are stored on the card and can be viewed on the board's built-in display. To control the camera, Sharma designed a custom PCB with just three buttons: shutter, gallery, and next image. He notes that the battery compartment's placement naturally creates a comfortable grip.

The most notable quirk of the PolyShot is a delay of several seconds between pressing the shutter button and the actual capture. This makes the camera impractical for photographing fast-moving subjects, as demonstrated in the project's demonstration videos.

Sharma has outlined several improvements for future iterations. First, he wants to address image quality, as the project evolved into a more conventional digital camera than originally intended. Second, he plans to extend battery life, which currently stands at about three hours per charge. Ultimately, he aims to abandon the Unihiker board entirely and design the camera from scratch around a standalone ESP32-S3 module, giving him full control over the hardware and software.