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Stanford to usher in the Age of the Open Source Camera

fotografz

Well-known member
I recall being told that my camera gear would be rendered obsolete by the Foveon innovation. Still waiting.

Additional Apps sounds like something that could be absorbed by any camera manufacturer if that's what photographer's want.

Personally, I like making application decisions in post and keeping the camera as simple as possible. A smaller camera would be good also.

But that's just me. I'm sure the iPhone group would like it if their camera was also phone and could tell you where the best hamburger joint is.

I can hear it now ... in its best GPS voice, my camera telling me that my composition would be better if I used the rule of thirds. ;)
 

johnastovall

Deceased, but remembered fondly here...
This is for people who want to mess with hardware and software not make pictures.

I say this from 40 years spent with computers from S-100 buss machines to Cray YM's.
 

etrigan63

Active member
Of all of the stuff they are talking about, I find the plenoptic function the most interesting. Being able to adjust focus after the shot is taken is nothing short of amazing. Granted the product is not for professionals at this point as John said, but it now becomes a platform for innovators. Linux started out as an academic exercise and look at where it is now.
 
R

Ranger 9

Guest
Yay! Open-source is exactly what everybody wants... which is why Linux is the world's most popular operating system for personal computers. Not.

The original Stanford article (here) makes it clear that their initial goal is to develop an easy-to-configure development platform for computational-photography researchers, which is a bit far removed from mainstream photography (i.e., making photographs that are interesting on their own merits rather than for how they were made.)

Still, I'm sure the technology will leak into the mainstream eventually... which means that soon we'll all be having to wade through effusive discussion threads about how the programmer/photographer tweaked the parameters of the convolution kernel, accompanied by stupefyingly boring photos of someone's collection of Star Wars action figures.

(I was going to say "stupefyingly boring photos of someone's cat," but then realized that any cat is going to walk away and find a calmer spot for a nap while the photographer is editing the config file to get the sensor module to access the A/D converter.)

Oh, well, complaining isn't going to stop it. Run for your life, here comes "progress"...


PS -- They don't need to worry too much about corporate ninjas, because the project is being financially supported by Nokia, Adobe Systems, Kodak, and Hewlett-Packard (and uses Canon lenses.)
 

etrigan63

Active member
Windows is prevalent because it was shoved down everyone's throats. Microsoft was smart enough to set up exclusive deals with every PC maker they could touch and thus became the de-facto standard. 99% of most users complacently accepted this and the situation was abetted by MS "allowing" you to use a copy of their office productivity suite in the office and the home.

And yes the Stanford article (I linked to it in the first line of my blog post) states that they are trying to make a development platform, but what, pray tell, is the point of a development platform if not to develop something?

All I'm saying is that the tools for photographic innovation will now be accessible to everyone and new ideas that people never dreamed of will have a chance of seeing the light of day instead of languishing in a corporate idea dungeon.

Does anyone here know of all of the research projects being done by the camera manufacturers of potential features to be added to their product lines? I am not talking about speculative suggestions, but a real, hard list. My guess is no one, and if someone does, they are under contractual obligation to keep their orifices shut.

As it stands right now, camera makers add features they feel will sell regardless of what the users actually want. It has been my experience that "customer focus groups" are usually culled from whomever is at the Starbucks nearest the marketing firm doing the research and willing to accept a free latte for looking at 5 or 6 feature proposals and picking the one they would like (albeit without the slightest clue what it would mean). This platform allows for innovators to run free and work on their own instead of at the whim of corporate sponsors.

Will it mean new and more amazingly dull ways to mentally masturbate on the fora?

You bet.

Will it produce new and potentially useful ideas/features that pros would like but never thought of?

Undoubtedly, but not right away.

Is this really a good thing?

I think so.
 
Successful open-source projects are hardware-agnostic, if not at first then definitely over time as the technology matures. Just look at all of the platforms supported by Linux. FireFox, et al. Though FireFox has gone commercial, mozilla still runs fine on my Apple, SPARC, and windows hardware. Any of these machines could run Linux.

IMHO this project won't make it out of the lab until they either make interchangeable lens mounts to go with it or at least offer it in the 5 major AF mounts.
 
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