This Camera Made From a Potato Actually Works

This production studio crew set themselves the challenge to make a working camera from a potato.
Jessica Miley

If you are an internet nerd, you would be familiar with the jab, “what did you shoot that with, a potato?” But one super geek wanted to be able to answer - YES! - and so built a real working camera made from a potato. 

The engineering and technical challenges were immense but they were overcome with some 3D printing, quick thinking and a whole lot of luck. The first clever decision made by the Corridor Team, the production company that made the potato camera and accompanying video was to try and attempt a film camera rather than a digital setup. 

This made the process a lot more low tech. The basic idea was to hollow out a camera for a spool of film, attach a lens and voila. 

While simple, in theory, the actual production process was slightly more difficult. The problem with old-school film is its sensitivity to light. 

If you have ever cut a potato in half and put a light source behind it you’ll see quite a lot of light passes through. To overcome this the team designed and 3D printed a small container for the film to sit inside. 

Because the film was going to be in strips rather than on a roll, it needed to be fitted into the container in total darkness.