Use your smartphone to capture images like never before

The Periscope Case converts your smartphone into an action camera. Hold, stand, or strap the phone at a convenient angle then use the mirror to point the camera in the desired direction. The casing doubles as an everyday durable protective case, meaning it’s always on your phone when the need arises.

The 3D Printed case snaps tightly onto your phone, can be strapped using the top or side loops, and angles your camera 90 degrees so the phone can remain horizontal. We’ve created something unique by eliminating the need to buy an additional, dedicated action cameras such as a GoPro if you aren’t a hardcore action photographer. One popular application: Mount your smartphone onto bicycle handlebars to conveniently record video or view GPS Tracking & Fitness apps while riding.

Compatible Brands | More coming. Contact Us

Periscope Case Features

• Change camera angle 90 degrees
• Slim, fits in your pocket
• Durable protective case
• Low cost alternative to an action camera
• 3D Printed & versatile
• 2 removable mirrors w/ storage
• Loops on top and side of case for fastening
• Use whats around the house to fasten. Optional fitted velcro straps available

If it’s a little hard to stomach strapping your shiny new phone to the front of a friend’s four-wheeler, this is a great reason to dust off those old, forgotten phones in your dresser drawer… at least for more extreme applications.

Periscope in Action

Designed with 3 users in mind

• Action Photographers – As mentioned above, these are users who want to share video of their morning run or bike ride, but don’t do enough photography to warrant buying an additional camera. One of the more popular uses is using the case to mount a smartphone to a bike for use with fitness and GPS apps while cycling. The forward facing camera also alows users to record video while the phone remains horizontal.

• Street Photographers – Street photography is growing in popularity as an artform. It aims to document everyday life in its natural state. Street Photographers don’t try to be secretive, rather they try to capture moments in time without influencing the scene. It also helps capture candid moments with your family. Nothing ruins a sweet family moment like your youngest child noticing the camera and sticking out their tongue! Periscope Case can help record these memories, unnoticed.

• Inventors/Life Hackers – These are the jury-riggers that started the whole project. The abundance of loops on the top and side of the case are intended to make it easy to attach Periscope Case to toys, equipment, pets, natural objects, etc. The phone can be fastened to all kinds of objects and then the camera pointed in the required direction using the mirrors. Strap the phone to an RC Car and send it to film under your house. Use a shoelace to hang your phone off the airplane seat in front of you. Use the mirror to prop its self up for a remote selfie. Strap your phone to a battery pack for a portable charger in the field or around the house. Make an impromptu headlamp… etc. Straps can be stored right on the case and kept in your pocket so they’re always there when you need to solve a problem.

Some examples to spark your creativity

Strap it to your board, navigate your ride

Go spelunking wtih an RC car, or mount to a tree to get the right shot

How Periscope Case works

In a nutshell – Periscope Case snaps onto your phone, straps to just about anything, and points the camera in a convenient direction using mirrors.

All about the mirrors

Periscope Case comes with two mirrors that are stored right on the phone when not in use. To change the angle of your camera, simply slide one of the mirrors out and snap it into either the front-facing or side-facing slot. This allows the camera to be used in either landscape or portrait modes. When you’re done shooting, snap the mirror out and slide it back into the storage slot. There are two mirrors on the phone so you have an extra in case one gets lost or dropped. These are 1" off-the-shelf mirrors that can easily be ordered online if you happen to need more. Our innovation is not the mirror; it is the precisely orientated housing it can be snapped into.

In some orientations the image will be flipped upside down by the mirror. There are apps that flip the camera view 180 degrees so that it looks correct no matter how the phone is oriented. We will include recommended apps for Android and iOS in the instructions. The field of view on modern smartphone cameras is very wide. The camera zoom needs to be set to 2x to function property with the mirrors. This has not changed the experience much during field testing. We made this design decision to avoid adding expensive lenses to the product, which would make it less affordable for our intended users.

Grips/Loops

The finger grips on the side of the case also serve as loops for attaching straps or string. Combined with the loops on the top of the case, this makes it easy to use whatever is around the house to fasten your case to objects. No extra gear is required. The loops are designed so that the case is still slim enough to slide right into your pocket when you’re not filming. It was an important design goal to keep all the functionality while preserving the ability to use it as your everyday case. Periscope Case can always be taken with you just in case something exciting arises.

3D Printed

A number of factors have come together to allow the idea of Periscope Case to be made into a tangible product. Most important are the developments in the last six months of aggregate manufacturing technology for small batch manufacturing, or 3D printing as it’s popularly known. The HP Jet Fusion 3D Printer, released in the summer of 2017, has allowed price and quality to meet at a point that makes 3D printing a viable option for final product manufacturing. Throughout the process, we have been working very closly with David Perry, at OpenFab, to design the Periscope Case specifically to be 3D printed. With their colaboration, we were able to optimize the design to keep the manufacturing costs as low as possible while printing the entire case, the loops, the grips, and the mirror latches as one solid part. This would not be possible using standard techniques such as injection molding.

Defox is contracting with RapidMade to 3D print the cases right here in Portland, Oregon. We can design and offer cases for an increasing portfolio of phones and simply print as many as there is demand for. We love that this product can carry a “Made in USA” sticker and maintain the incredible on-demand manufacturing enabled by 3D printing. Printing the case in either black or matte grey are the current options. We will be looking for backer feedback as to which color is preferred.

Durability

Shapeways, a popular 3D printing service provider, describes the HP nylon plastic used in the Periscope Case this way: "The material has high strength and density, which make it ideal for functional parts, such as RC cars and mechanical fixtures. The surface is smooth and semi-glossy, also making it an excellent choice for plastic jewelry and decorative items." Visit their material page for more detailed mechanical specs on the material: https://www.shapeways.com/materials/hp-jet-fusion. DeFox team member Trevor has been flipping and dropping his own phone onto the ground at increasing heights to test durability (He chickened out at chin level). The case is holding up great. We hope to have official durability testing figures in the near term. Meanwhile, here is a fun demonstration by HP regarding durability of its 3D Printing material: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QhZAiNkAb_E&feature=youtu.be.

Risks & Challenges

Some phones, because of the physical location of their camera, can only function in the front facing (profile) mode. Luckily that is by far the most important and most used orientation. This is mentioned in the description in the backer section for any phones this applies to. As of now, this primarily applies to Google and iPhone lines. The backer levels to the right have the list of currently available phones. These have been vetted for compatibility ahead of time.

Initial Compatibility List

Below is the initial list of compatible phones that can be ordered at the start of the campaign. If the campaign is getting some traction that list will grow as we go. We would obviously love to expand this list beyond the major brands as soon as possible. If you do not see your phone listed, please take this opportunity to send us what phone you would like to use with the Periscope Case. We will do what we can to get it on the list. Email: devotrev@defox.net

Fulfillment after the campaign

• Backer Edition Periscope Case – The primary focus of this campaign is to make the Periscope Case available for as many phones as possible. The additional phones listed in the backer section have been vetted for compatibility. Your support will allow us to transfer the design to these phones. We anticipate being able to ship these cases within three months of the campaign ending. All cases ordered during the campaign will have a special acknowledgement engraved on the inside of the case. We hope this allows backers to "show off" how they helped make possible one of the first products manufactured using 3D printing. And, of course, to show our sincere thanks as well.

• Custom Cases for Super Backers – These cases feature a custom logo/name/image on the bottom portion of the case. We anticipate being able to ship these cases along with all the rest, within three months of the campaign ending. We will reach out after the campaign to get the necessary files and information to get make your unique case. SVG vector files are preferred for any images. It is \$190 to create your design and print your first case. After that we can simply print as many cases as you want at the standard rate, \$35 per case.

• Additional phones & features – For this campaign, we have committed to the phones listed in the backer section. If we are seeing high demand, additional phones may be added based on the votes received from the Engaged Supporters reward and other feedback. So please let us know what phones you would like to see on the list as well as what features you'd like to see added to the Periscope Case.

Stretch Goal - $5,000

Because of the mirror, the camera image is flipped upside down if the phone is oriented with the screen facing up. We have identified free camera apps for both iOS and Android that have a feature to flip the camera image upside down, effectively making it correctly oriented to the user. We will include a list of those apps in the instructions that ship with the Periscope Case. Ideally Defox would develop our own camera app specifically for mirrored applications such as ours. We are setting $5,000 as stretch goal for the campaign. At that level we can take advantage of a significant quantity discount on the manufacturing side, freeing up funds that can be used to begin going down the path of developing a proprietary camera app with simple to use features that apply to the way users will be using the Periscope Case.

Help us deliver faster! If we see that there is lots of interest in Periscope Case, we can get going on the new designs, manufacturing, and packing for the new phones before the campaign ends. That will allow us to deliver sooner than the above schedule. We want as much user feedback and suggestions as possible. Please don’t be shy. Send us your input and we will listen.

Thanks from the team at Defox!