Hasta La Gadget!

Everyone’s found themselves in this situation at one time or another: you’re in a picture-perfect setting, but a selfie at arm’s length won’t cut it. You want to be in the picture, so you wait for a friendly looking passerby and ask them to take it. But, now it’s out of your control, and chances are the resulting snap won’t turn out exactly as you’d imagined. Samsung knows you’re too polite to hold the stranger up while you convey your vision, so it has come up with a camera feature that does the explaining for you. It’s described in a recent patent filing, and the gist is that you select the backdrop and take an initial snap that acts as a guide for the next, similar to how some panorama modes work. With a silhouette of the desired scene now showing atop the live view, the designated stranger just needs to let you get in the shot, line the overlay up with the live scene, and hit the shutter release.

The patent application also talks of editing the overlay, such as adding a circle to show the photographer where you’d like your face to be in relation to the backdrop. If you want the passerby to know how well they’re doing, the claims explain an on-screen “composition score” that would rate their lining-up skills. And, if you’d rather trust the final decision to the camera, a ball-in-the-hole scenario is described that’ll automatically engage the shutter release when the live view matches your ideal layout. This is just words and a few diagrams at this stage, mind, but if the patent gets granted, we could eventually see such a feature added to Samsung’s smartphones or Galaxy cameras. Until then, you’ll just have to put your trust in strangers and hope they have at least a basic understanding of the rule of thirds.

Filed under: Cellphones, Cameras, Software, Mobile, Samsung

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Source: USPTO (1), (2) (PDF)

Olympus has wearable display plans of its own, a new patent reveals, effectively splitting a digital camera into two pieces – eye-worn screen and imaging unit – for more flexibility in photography. The patent, “Camera and Wearable Image Display Apparatus”, describes a monocular eye-piece display that connects wirelessly to a camera body, clicking into image preview and review mode when the camera is held still to take one or more photos.

Where Google Glass counts photography as one of its abilities, with the display used at other times to show notifications, navigation directions, and other information, Olympus’ wearable would be much more focused. Rather than trading some clarity for transparency, as Glass has done, the Olympus eyepiece would use a moveable shutter which could selectively block out external light and so provide the sort of clear, virtual large-screen display necessary for accurately reviewing shots.

The camera section would use a vibration sensor, Olympus suggests in its filing, to decide whether it could trigger the eyepiece functionality. By having the display right in front of your eye, it suggests, blurry or fast movements from the camera could lead to discomfort if piped through to the display all the time.

Instead, it’s only when the camera is held still – as you would when framing a shot – that the display kicks into camera mode. By splitting the parts up, the camera itself could be lighter and more easily pocketed.

It also means greater flexibility in how photos can be framed, Olympus suggests. Shots could be taken from above the photographer’s head, or from below, or the side, while still allowing for a clear preview. Meanwhile multiple sequential shots – such as panning to shoot several images of a moving subject – could be taken by only moving the camera, allowing the photographer to stay still and more stable.

This isn’t the first time Olympus has flirted with wearable tech. Last year, the company revealed a more direct Google Glass competitor, the MEG4.0, a head-mounted computer which could be used as a remote display for a Bluetooth-tethered smartphone. Another recently published patent application, Egami reports, shows a more glasses-like headset with greater flexibility for adjustment than Google’s version, as well as a mounting point for a camera.

The “unconverged camera” approach is more specific than the MEG4.0, but arguably more applicable to Olympus’ core audience. Whether it will ever spawn a production model remains to be seen, however, though it’s entirely possible that a somewhat hacked-together version using something like the MEG4.0 or indeed Glass could be assembled using a head-mounted display as a remote screen for a wirelessly-enabled camera.

VIA: 43 Rumors

Olympus wearable modular camera tipped is written by Chris Davies & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2012, SlashGear. All right reserved.

I’ve shared a couple of wild concepts for cameras here before. This one made by students from the University of Design Schwäbisch Gmünd is also highly unusual, but it’s also something that might actually make sense for most photographers. It’s called the Aspekt, an MILC camera with swappable components.

As you can see in the image above, Gabriel Brückner, Johanna Gedeon, Christoph Hiebinger, Bianca Koch and Jessica Lederer imagine the Aspekt as having separate components for the CPU, the 24mp CMOS sensor, the battery (which is connected to a camera grip) and a viewfinder with an OLED monitor and controls. Other modules that could be added to the Aspekt include a module with a Thunderbolt port and one with slots for external storage.

According to designboom, the team’s main goal with the Aspekt was to design a camera that will “enable users to attach older lenses which are not supported by SLR devices.” But wouldn’t it be neat if you could also upgrade your camera piece by piece like a desktop computer? Or if you could mix and match its parts to suit your needs? Or if it could transform into a giant robot that you’ll use to defend Earth from an alien race, only for you to find out later on that you’re half-human and half said alien race, so you venture to your other home planet and abolish the oppressive class system there with the help of your giant camera robot?

[via designboom]

Smartphone camera flashes are notoriously weak compared to dedicated models, but what if you could fire them from several handsets at once? Since none of us have the millisecond timing needed to do it manually, Apple has filed a patent application to let any number of iOS (or other devices with a flash) fill in the light automatically. It’d work by using a master device as the camera, which would trigger slave devices positioned around the subject to fire their flashes when the shutter is opened. A test image would first be taken and analyzed by the software, which would then remotely adjust the intensity of the slave flashes to produce the final photo. The filing allows for virtually any device with a sensor to act as the capture device and a broad variety of illumination devices, including dedicated lights, smartphones, tablets or camera flashes — though we imagine Apple would concentrate on its own products. If you’re already planning to use friend #1 for a kicker light, friend #2 as an eye-light and friend #3 as a hair light on that next outing, please remember it’s still just an application for now.

Filed under: Cellphones, Apple

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Source: USPTO

One of the most interesting electronic components for DIY sorts and tinkerers to come out in a long time was the Raspberry Pi. That device is a small single board computer with just about everything you need for a myriad of different projects in one small footprint. The Raspberry Pi can also be expanded with a number of add-on boards and modules.

Back in February we learned that a Raspberry Pi camera module was coming to market that would be priced at about $25. If the idea of a small camera board for your projects is exciting, you’ll be thrilled to hear that the camera board is now shipping. The device can be purchased at multiple online retailers, including RS Components and others.

The camera module sells for $25 and has a five-megapixel CMOS image sensor by OmniVision. That CMOS sensor uses 1.4 micron backside illumination pixel architecture. The architecture allows the camera to deliver five-megapixel resolution still images and high rate HD resolution video capture capability.

When the camera module is used record to 720p resolution HD video, it can do so at 60p. The camera card add on connects to the Raspberry Pi via the existing camera connector and uses CSI for data and I2C for control. Users can record both 720p and 1080p at 30 frames per second in H264 format.

The small camera add-on board measures only 20 x 20 x 10 mm and has an integrated flat ribbon cable for connection. The camera will work with both the Raspberry Pi Model A or Model B boards. Depending on the version of the operating system you’re using on the board, you may have to upgrade to be able to use the camera add on.

SOURCE: RS Deliveries

Raspberry Pi camera module now shipping allowing HD video capture is written by Shane McGlaun & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2012, SlashGear. All right reserved.