New Open Source Digital Camera - A Photography RevolutionA group of scientists and students at Stanford university has prototyped a revolutionary open source digital camera. Never heard of an open-source camera, right? Yes, it's first of its kind. It’s a camera whose capabilities can be enhanced by simply installing new software applications. Scientists have built the camera in such a way that all its settings and functions, like flash, shutter speed, exposure, focus etc., can be controlled or tamed with utmost precision using software programs. Write a program to automatically upload your captured videos to ten different video sharing or networking sites. Write another program to command the camera to take photographs automatically with varied settings timed at a certain interval - sort of repetitive self-timer.It can allow you to capture different stages of a sunrise while you yourself are still in the warmth of your bed. The photography experts can think of all kinds of applications to enhance camera functions. Because the device is designed using open source technologies, programmers around the globe can freely write new software applications to train the camera to do more or perform better. You won’t have to live with what capabilities a camera comes with.
A smartphone, particularly Apple iPhone, is an excellent example of how programmers if given the opportunity can transform an electronic gadget into a super cool accessory. If programmers get the freedom to develop programs for digital cameras, digital photography cannot remain the same – the possibilities are endless. It’s an amazing feat by Stanford researchers. (Pic: Computer Science Professor Marc Levoy and Student Andrew Adams showcasing their open-source camera. Courtesy: EurekaAlerts) The technology is still at the prototype stage. The researchers have named their camera as Frankencamera, and they expect the technology to become publicly available in about a year from now. They first intend to develop Frankencamera as a platform that fellow researchers could exploit to carry out computational photography experiments. The liberty that the camera offers will assist researchers break new grounds in digital photography. And that’s what makes this camera so revolutionary. It has the potential to help bring about revolutionary advancements in photography. Its makers believe that their creation will generate a whole new interest in the computational photography. It will give total control to researchers to experiment and come up with new ways and new algorithms in image processing, image mixing, resolution enhancement, and various other photography fields. The Franklencamera project is sponsored by Adobe, Kodak, Nokia and HP. The prototype camera is built using components from various manufacturers. For example, it uses Linux operating system, Texas Instruments motherboard, Canon lenses, and Nokia image chip. Once the technology has matured and the researchers are satisfied with it, they plan to partner with a manufacturer who can produce the camera at a large scale. Find more on digital cameras in TolMol Digital Camera blog.
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