AI image tool designs unique cameras as pop culture medleys

mathieu stern uses AI to create playful camera mashups

In the DALL-E . to lean artificial intelligence image generator trend, Mathieu Stern has a series of camera design as playful pop culture mashups. Drawing from historical figures, superheroes and iconic films, the photographer provided the AI tool with short text input and received a collection of fascinating and extremely diverse designs that unfortunately are not real. The results include a camera made for pharaohs, a film camera that looks like R2-D2 and a Nintendo and polaroid collaboration.

a movie camera made for pharaohs

all images courtesy of Mathieu Stern

a camera that looks like…

For this imaginative undertaking, Mathieu Stern (see more here) experimented with the new artificial intelligence imaging tool called DALL-E 2, also known as the ‘Picasso of AI’. The latest version of the system, released earlier in 2022, uses creative text prompts as input and produces even more realistic and accurate high-resolution images. Stern descriptions mention ‘a medium format camera that looks like’, followed by names of characters from Star Wars, Lord of the Rings or the Marvel universe. Other descriptions suggest unexpected combinations, such as a Polaroid camera made of marble and wood, or a Polaroid x Nintendo blend.

Mathiew Stern shares most of these imaginative creations on his social media platforms, while also publishing a YouTube video describing how he uses the new technology. Some of the results look so appealing that Stern is calling on designers to join him and help him realize them. “If someone wants to help me design the Marty McFly camera in 3D, it would look super cool as a 3D printed decorative piece” he writes on an Instagram post.

a medium format camera that looks like R2-D2