This is our current solution for future iPhone models:

• You pre-order a ladibird now
• We deliver on June 30, 2014
• If Apple releases iPhone 5S/5C at the end of 2013 
• And you buy an iPhone 5S/5C
• Please inform us immediately
• We will ship you a ladibird that fits your iPhone 5S by June 30, 2014 (or Sept 30, 2014, if you buy a middle or late bird)

As for iPhone 6, it is expected to be released in June 2015. iPhones are released usually on an 18-month cycle period. Our plan is to eventually match that cycle period as well.

• We will continue this project even if we do not reach our US$20,000 Indiegogo goal. 
• Your money is kept separate from us developers and reserved purely for end-stage manufacturing. We are NOT using your pledge money to build any prototypes, travel expenses, salaries, etc. 
• In the event we encounter an unforeseen technological bottleneck and ladibird cannot be completed, we will refund you your pledge. 

The heart of the ladibird is the CMOS image sensor, which is the key component of all digital cameras. 

The ladibird uses a mirrorless image sensor that is 7.5x bigger than your smartphone's camera sensor. This larger size gives the following benefits: 

• Higher resolution pictures with far greater detail and sharpness
• Increased sensitivity to low-light making it ideal for both indoor and night shoots

This sensor is only one half of the ladibird; the other half is our 50mm f/1.8 prime lens (35mm equivalent).

The main goal of the ladibird - to capture pictures of people with shallow depth of field or the blurred background a technique often used in cinematography or classic noir Hollywood photos.

In short, the ladibird take a picture that truly focuses on you!

Ladibird's 50mm (35mm equivalent) large aperture prime lens also:

• Absorbs more light, allowing for natural lighting shots without flash
• Captures richer, vibrant colours in photos
• Has minimal distortion, thus your jaws, cheeks, chin and hips remain slim unlike photos of wide angle lenses such as smartphones and compact camera. You don't look fat - the camera just has the wrong lens for you!

1) The ladibird is only for iPhone 5 and onwards?

Yes, primarily due to 2 main reasons:

• With the introduction of the iPhone 5, Apple changed the 30-pin port that used to be on the older models to the newer Lightning port.
• We needed to consider manufacturing volume issues involved in keeping compatibility with the iPhone form factor upgrade cycle. In view of this factor, we are starting with iPhone 5 model onwards.  

2) Photos from such a big sensor would be quite large, in terms of megabytes. Will they be compressed before sharing out?

• Yes, as the iPhone itself and several other apps compress images prior to sending them out.
• The ladibird app will incorporate compression algorithms as well.

3) Will you be able to transmit the ladibird's images to the iphone separately through wireless tech such as WiFi or Bluetooth?

• We will look at these possibilities but the ladibird is currently designed to transmit through the Lightning port only.
• Any form of wireless connectivity to will be an added feature, we are currently concentrating our efforts on ensuring ladibird works as a whole together with your iPhone 5. 

4) Can the ladibird record video? 

• Yes. Since the mid-2000s, most image sensors in consumer products such as ladibird can record video.
• We will update you on ladibird's video format, resolution, FPS and bit depth in future.  

5) What is the megapixel count of the ladibird?

• We cannot reveal the megapixel count as yet due to NDA (Non-Disclosure Agreement). 

6) What about flash? I don't see a flash anywhere on the ladibird!

Many people actually prefer to take pictures without on-camera flash because:

• You look extremely washed out and your skin pores become highly visible due to the direct flash.
• Your own body casts very harsh shadows into the background, creating areas of darkness in the photo.
• Check out OKCupid's study, which finds flash tends to make you 7 years older in photos: http://blog.okcupid.com/index.php/dont-be-ugly-by-accident/

We are looking into building a flash system that can avoid all of the above. More details will be revealed in future. 

7) Your project is going for 2 rounds of crowdfunding. Why are you doing this and what happens if you cannot finish the project?

• We are treating this first round of Indiegogo as a prototype round. Our second round of Indiegogo, expected by end of 2013 or Q1 2014, will be the real crowdsourcing event for mass production. 
• At any stage if we are unable to continue, we will refund you your pledged amount. However the key components have been confirmed, our team is mature (with combined 20 years of working experience) and we also have business continuity plans in place to ensure the project gets completed.  

8) Why are you not on Kickstarter?

• Kickstarter is open only to American or British citizens, thus we do not qualify.

9) We are your first backers on Indiegogo. What will you use our money for? 

We will use your pledge money to:

• Manufacture the first production batch. Your pledge will be kept aside strictly only for the first production batch. We will NOT be using your money to build the prototypes.   
• If you reside in Singapore, Hong Kong or Taipei, you will get also have  a chance to be our beta tester. We will try to get a balanced pool of beta testers based on gender, age groups and user types such as DSLR owners, Instagrammers, casual smartphone users, bloggers etc. 

Also, as we want to ensure ladibird is built with your needs in mind, we will occasionally send you a SurveyMonkey (an email survey service) to help us on key development decisions.   

10) How can we verify you are genuinely doing this project?

• If you're in Singapore, you can find us, talk to us and even drop by to visit us if you wish, we'd be quite happy to have a chat with you. We're a startup kindly housed in the National University of Singapore.
• We also have the Made for iPhone (MFi) development license and are ready to work on the base development hardware with our key component manufacturer.
• If you're from Taipei, you can also arrange to meet us. All backers will be updated with our travel plans. We will also be collaborating with an institution in Taipei.

If you are from any other part of the world, you can skype and chat us up on facebook or email us directly. Our timezone is GMT +8.00.

http://www.facebook.com/theladibird (most frequently updated)

https://twitter.com/theladibird (sharing of tech/camera/startup information here) 

http://ladibird.com (will be updated gradually of all specifications and features)

This is our team of 3:

Adam Latip

Ex-tech & ops bank executive. Photography enthusiast for 10 years, freelance photographer and commercial studio assistant for 1 year. Assistant for food products & car showroom photography. Prefers portraiture work. Designer & founder of the ladibird.   

Hansheng Chiu

Taiwanese ex-camera engineer, now doing his 2nd Master's here in NUS. Also a photo enthusiast with DSLR cameras. Met Adam in the Microsoft building in Singapore at a tech pitch event. Technical co-founder of the ladibird.

Surekha Yadav

Ex-television reporter/producer now in social media. We are proud to have her on the team because we believe tech space should have more representation from women. Public relations and media specialist.  

The portraits used here belong to 3 Singapore residents - Efa, Kar Hao and Sara. They were all shot along the Singapore River with a 50mm prime lens on a 12 megapixel Nikon D700 by Adam, to expand his photography portfolio in 2009. 

Thanks for reading :) Please like our facebook page and spread the word about us!