Ben Reid on February 24, 2012, 7:54 pm

Remember The View-Master? Imagine If Apple Made It [IMAGES]

The iPhone’s camera has brought out the inner photographer in many people, so many in fact that both the iPhone 4 and iPhone 4S have had stints as Flickr’s favorite snapper – ahead of the larger, pricier, industry-level standalones.

There are an abundance of apps available to supplement the shooting experience, and there’s not exactly a shortage of social hunts through which to share them, either. The popularity of apps such as Hipstamatic seem to suggest people prefer the retro experience – adding effects to, if anything, lower the quality in order to claw back some of the vintage hallmarks stolen by the digital era.

With that in mind, our resident concept-designer Antonio De Rosa (ADR Studios), has thrown up yet another unique model bound to capture the imagination of those who didn’t grow up around LCD TV’s and iPods. It’s based on the View-Master, which was, for those uninitiated, a device which allowed seven 3D images to be viewed from a paper disc. Still unsure? Maybe this will jog your memory:

As De Rosa himself explains, "it was a device that literally accompanied the childhood of many of us", and has thus, incorporating his creative nous, completely revamped the View-Master in producing a concept called ‘Lytro’. It maintains a "Retro 70’s style" whilst incorporating many features of today. Here’s the list of features as well as the beautiful renders of Lytro:

– Double touch screen;
– Wifi and GPS system;
– Facebook connected;

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– Audio Notes system;
– Dock to connect your iPhone;
– Slot SD UHS-i;

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– Multiwheel Key;
– 3D capturing;
– Available in 3 colors with aluminum case;

Certainly an appealing concept, but in practice, the product would probably not make it off the ground. Certainly, the idea doesn’t reach the dizzy heights of iCam – a wonderful take on how Apple may lodge a full-blown assault on the photography market – one of the three areas outlined by Steve Jobs along with Textbooks and connected TV.

Still, Lytro is a fantastically crafted and well thought-out product, and I’m pretty sure we’d all be nostalgically mesmerized if such devices were to begin cropping up in Apple Stores worldwide.