Photographer builds a working camera out of gingerbread and sugar

A working instant camera made of gingerbread and sugar glass: Was it delicious? (Image: Dmitri Tscherbadji)

Gingerbread houses are a thing of the past: Dmitri Tscherbadji, a photographer based in Canada, has built a gingerbread camera – and it even works.

The camera is purely analogue and does not require any electronics. Fujifilm Instax Square film was used as the recording medium. While building – or baking (?) – the tinkering photographer discovered that gingerbread is not a bad material for camera bodies (PetaPixel has reported).

The cutest lens in the world

To realize his project, Cherbadji first built a prototype out of paper. He then went to work and designed this first Lens made of sugar glass. He had to experiment a lot to find the right focal length.

When it came to the housing, he had to pay particular attention to the thickness of the walls, especially because they could expand due to his choice of material and it had to remain light-tight. His wife advised him to use a cheese slicer to shape it, which worked wonderfully.

As expected, the images from this sugar-look gingerbread camera are not the best quality. They are low-contrast, quite blurry and distorted. However, Cherbadji found each one exciting and funny.

The entire project cost him about $220, with most of the money going toward the film cassettes. The core of the camera was realized using the Jollylook Pinhole DIY kit for Instax Square cameras. This allows you to assemble an instant camera out of wood yourself. Cherbadji simply swapped out the wooden pieces for gingerbread.

The photographer showed off the project to his social media followers before you ate them up.

By the way, this camera is not his first gingerbread creation: On his website he shares the recipe for his first edible camera – but it doesn’t take any pictures and is only intended for consumption.

Jerbadji believes he built the first edible camera with a sugar lens – and he’s definitely right. What do you think of Dmitri Tscherbadji’s gingerbread camera? Have you ever built a pinhole camera yourself? Do you know any other cool DIY projects that are particularly attention-grabbing? Write it to us in the comments below!