YSU Student makes Game Boy Color Camera

By Rachel Gobep 

Matthew Parish, an information technology major at Youngstown State University, combined his two loves — photography and Nintendo systems — by making a “Game Boy camera” with a 20-year-old Game Boy Color and a 35 millimeter Olympus camera that he paid five dollars for at the thrift store.

He said he saw people on social media doing similar things with telephoto lenses, and the driving force behind this project was knowing that it was possible.

Photos by Tanner Mondok/The Jambar

Parish said this happened when he was waiting for his computer to update.

“I had all the parts on my desk, along with a screwdriver, and I just kind of took it apart and taped it together,” Parish said.

Parish gained attention on Twitter after his friend, Max Krieger, shared Parish’s test image, which was a plastic skeleton, along with photos of the Game Boy camera. This tweet has over 3,000 retweets and 10,700 likes.

He said it surprised him at how well the device worked, and he has also taken portraits and photos of YSU with the camera.

He said although the images are small resolution images, they are probably some of the sharpest Game Boy camera images that exist, and he wanted to maximize the capabilities of the Game Boy’s camera sensor.

He said this is his second prototype of the device, and he plans on working to make everything one unit. The current prototype is held together with rubber bands.

The Game Boy is still fully functional, and he is still able to play games on it.

Follow Parish on Twitter at @YourWaiFu.