Goldfish selfies: That's now a thing you can do thanks to Japan
The Land of the Rising Sun is known to be a world of quirk. Living up to that reputation, a Japanese company has made a submarine camera that helps you take photos of goldfish.
Are you tired of pressing your face up to the glass of fish tanks? Can't get your smartphone to focus on the flapping, bug-eyed face of your low-maintenance aquarium pets?
Maybe yes, maybe no. Whether you need it or not, there's now just the thing for getting the perfect snaps of your fish tank residents. And, of course, it's from Japan.
CCP, a division of Bandai, will soon be releasing what it calls the Submariner Camera. As the name suggests, it's both a submarine and a camera, and it fits neatly in the palm of your hand. The mini submersible can take both pictures and record short video through the front mounted camera, providing up close "action shots" of your goldfish.
Other features of the Submariner Camera are front mounted lights, for night-viewing and investigating alcoves where fish may be hiding, and an attachable feeder arm positioned near the camera, perfect for luring the critters in for close-ups.
The device is operated through the use of an infrared remote control, providing left and right rotation as well as surfacing controls. The camera itself, while not on a level comparable to smartphones, snaps reasonable 1,280×9,60-pixel resolution photos and 640×480-pixel resolution videos at 30 frames per second.
The submarine also has 256MB of internal memory, good for either five minutes of continuous video or roughly 800 photos. A USB cable is provided to download your favourite shots of the session.
Perhaps the only real contentious point to the Submariner Camera is the price tag -- a somewhat steep ¥ 10,778 (US$100, AU$130, £70).