Las cámaras de 8mm de Eric Archer no filman ninguna imagen, ¿para qué sirven entonces? Para capturar sonidos. Se trata de cámaras de cine reconvertidas en transductores de sonido, o micrófonos ópticos.

My standard modifications include a battery-powered preamp with audio line-out (1/4? mono jack) + a viewfinder-mounted LED that indicates sensor overload, and a headphone amplifier (1/8? jack). I’ve prototyped an accessory mount that holds the sound camera steady along side a video camera, focused on the same point for audiovisual recording. (…) Looking through the viewfinder, you see a normal image. The light sensor’s active region corresponds to a tiny spot in the center of the viewfinder; sweeping the camera across a scene can reveal different sounds, and their source can be pinpointed easily.

Algunos de los experimentos han consistido en capturar las gotas de agua de un grifo, primero abierto y luego goteando lentamente, o el amanecer:

Sonification of Dripping Water
[audio:http://ericarcher.net/wp-content/uploads/2008/06/faucet-drip-sound-camera.mp3]

Sound of Dawn
[audio:http://ericarcher.net/wp-content/uploads/2008/06/sound-of-dawn-0.mp3]

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