So many hopeful ideas, concepts and prospective products use Kickstarter for funding that it's hard to find anything truly different these days. Poppy is one of those things. It turns your iPhone or iPod touch into a 3D video and stills camera, and all for just $49 (£32).

The concept is inspired partly by the View-Master 3-D toys popular in the 1960s, 70s and 80s. They used reels of stereoscopic pictures which you could look at through two eyepieces. Mirrors would separate the images and send them to each lens, one per eye, given the illusion of 3D. The Poppy works in a similar way, except that it captures the images for you, as well as offering a way to view them.

turn your iphone into a 3d camera with poppy a hark back to the view master 3 d image 2

You insert your iPhone 4, 4S, 5 or iPod touch and the device splits the image it sees into left and right eyes. Any video or photo app can capture images, which ends up as a side-by-side stereographic 3D picture or video. With the latter, you can even upload it to YouTube, so that anybody can view it.

Likewise, any 3D video already on YouTube - of which there are thousands - can be viewed through the Poppy device as they have a side-by-side stereographic option. You can even output Poppy-made images or video clips to a 3D TV, as all of them can reconstruct side-by-side 3D into full frame; it's how Sky 3D channels work.

turn your iphone into a 3d camera with poppy a hark back to the view master 3 d image 5

Poppy has been listed on Kickstarter for just two days and has already surpassed its $40,000 funding goal. If you want a Poppy when it launches in December, you can head to its dedicated page and pledge $49 or more. Add $15 (£10) for shipping outside the US.

Find out more information on Poppy from poppy3d.com.