Android Used On Digital Mirrorless Cameras

We've all got used to carrying around pretty good cameras day and night.  Most of us have a decent camera in our smart phone and plenty of us have access to one in our tablet computers.  Despite this convenient flexibility, many of us also cart a compact digital camera around. 

It makes sense, really.  For one, the cameras on phones, while much better than those available just a year or more ago, pale into insignificance against some of the compacts that can be picked up for a trivial amount these days.  Plus they offer a lot more flexibility, hard coded into the camera and many have physical zoom lenses (as opposed to digital zooms which rarely stand up to close scrutiny).

Also they mean that we don't have to choke up our phone's memory storage too quickly, leaving it available for ad hoc opportunistic photos when we're not carrying our compact camera.

However some of us want a bit more flexibility when we take photos - I'm one who likes to have the capability to control depth of field and to choose the best aperture for a photograph.  I also like to select the best focal length for the shot.  Not all the time, but there are some photos that a compact camera or a smartphone just won't do justice to.

My current go-to real camera rig is an Olympus Digital Single Lens Reflex (SLR) that I've had for about four years.  Which means it's officially archaic, given the rate of change in technology these days.

For those who haven't been exposed to SLR cameras, let me digress.  These cameras are designed with a prism mounted above and just behind the lens.  The light enters the lens, gets focussed and then hits a mirror leaning at a 45 degree angle, directing the light into the prism.  90 degrees later the image is presented to the photographer's eye.  Because of this arrangement the photographer can see exactly what the electronic sensor will see when the shutter button is pushed.  Out of focus - turn the focus ring on the lens and watch the image snap sharp, too far away - push the lens to bring the image closer and larger.  Thanks to the magic of technology all of the technical information regarding shutter speed and aperture size are pushed to the same viewfinder the photographer is looking  through.

And the key flexibility of all of this is that the lens is interchangeable - that is, you can fit longer or shorter focal length lenses to give yourself maximum flexibility with the image.  Wide angle through to telephoto, no problem.  When the shutter release button is pushed the mirror lifts, obliterating the view momentarily and the shutter opens to expose the image to the sensor.  Then everything returns to normal, with the whole process taking a fraction of a second.

In the last couple of years camera companies have started to move away from the mirror/prism model, relying on a semi-transparent glass plate that both allows light to travel to the sensor once the shutter is opened and to the viewfinder, although this is far from ideal, because you're splitting the available light.  The upside is that you get rid of the moving mirror, one less mechanical thing to synchronise and go wrong.

But the ultimate way forward, right now at least, is the mirrorless system, where the sensor is continually exposed to the light through the lens and feeds that image to an electronic eyepiece.  Technically they could have done this years ago, but the electronic screens used in video cameras, for example, were pretty crude and us photographers like a bit of quality.  Today, those viewfinders are of a high enough quality so the mirror is lost and so is the prism, a weight saving.  Job done?

Not according to Samsung, which is about to launch a mirrorless camera with android built in.  It's not clear yet if the camera takes a mobile phone sim card, but even if it's just WiFi then it will be a boon.  First, you can download any amount of photo editing apps direct to the phone, so you're not just tied to the Samsung firmware.  But perhaps more importantly you can upload photos on the hoof - to your cloud storage for safety or to the local paper if it's a newsworthy snap.  Reuters may be on your email contact list with this camera.

It's a role reversal, having email on your camera instead of a camera on your smart phone, but one photographers are going to like.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

                                                          Visit my Book Website here

        Visit Project: Evil Website here                                        Visit DLF Website here

        Follow me on Twitter  - @RayASullivan

        Join me on Facebook -  use raysullivan.novels@yahoo.com to find me

One In The Eye For Google Glass

If memory serves me correctly it was in 1978 that the digital camera was invented by a researcher at Kodak - remember them?  Only the pre-eminent popular camera and film maker of all time.  I think they're still scratching a living out of tertiary photographic products, but for sure, Kodak aren't the mega-company they once were.  It was, of course, digital photography that brought them to their knees and I'm guessing they probably promoted the guy who invented digital photography.

To be fair to Kodak they did realise fairly early on that their dominance of the film market would count for naught in the digital age and did try to leverage their reputation onto the new media, but sometimes the consumer decides it wants a new leader.

That first camera had an incredibly poor resolution and was basically a rudimentary lens coupled up to a sensor linked to a portable hard drive.  It took something like 30 seconds for the image, grainy that it was, to write to the hard drive and you wouldn't want to flick through an album comprising of similar standard images, even if you had the time to take them.  The camera was hardly portable, either, so you wouldn't be thinking of carrying it around with you.  It probably ran off the mains electric as well.  But crucially, Kodak had proven the principle and that was all that matters.  Proof of concept.

Today we've all got digital cameras in our phones and on our laptops.  I've got two on the Microsoft Surface RT I'm typing this up on, one to keep an eye on me, the other to look at what's behind the screen.  The resolution on the RT is acceptable - it'll beat the living pants off the original Kodak camera but it is far inferior to the images obtainable from pretty much any one of the main mobile phones available, let alone purpose designed cameras.

Now we're braced for the camera being used in the Google Glass product.  Of course most of us have only seen the promotional images on the Google Glass website, which isn't exactly the least biased source of information.  I have to raise my hand at this point and state that I'm personally a little sceptical about the Google Glass screen concept - I can take the camera idea and recognise that it will be pointing at whatever you point your head at, but being able to view images such as photos you've taken, sat nav maps and so on - well I'm unconvinced.  Look at it this way, put your finger where the Google Glass lens appears to be located on the images Google have shown us and try and focus on your finger.  I'm fairly confident your finger, while recognisable, will be pretty blurred.  I'm struggling to see how any of us will be able to use the Glass product that close to the face.

But the speculation may be short lived as hot on Google's tails comes Samsung.  They want to produce a wearable computer and their vision - if you'll pardon the pun - is even closer than Google's.  They've been working with a number of universities to design a wearable camera built into a contact lens.  In fact they've suggested that their aim is to build a device in a contact lens that is capable of doing exactly what Google Glass can do, but right now they're just proving the technology.

The hurdle they've just overcome is to build a single pixel camera in a contact lens and then have a rabbit wear it for several weeks.  In case you're wondering, apparently rabbits have similar eyes to humans. They're also cheaper to use for trials and make a super stew afterwards. The trick is to sandwich the electronics in-between two layers of material suitable for contact lenses, or so it would seem.  Well, I still don't believe we will be able to focus on an image embedded in a contact lens, but even if it is 'just' a lens based camera then I think the fears about privacy being shouted about Google Glass will pale into insignificance.

However one pixel embedded in a contact lens is a long way from a working camera that can take photos of anything you look at.  Just like that first digital camera was in 1978.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

                                                          Visit my Book Website here

        Visit Project: Evil Website here                                        Visit DLF Website here

        Follow me on Twitter  - @RayASullivan

        Join me on Facebook -  use raysullivan.novels@yahoo.com to find me

Samsung Has Its Thinking Cap On

One of the side events I witnessed at the Gadget Show Live recently was a demonstration of a thought controlled roller skateboard, demonstrated by one of the founding fathers of Twitter.  Putting aside any inclinations towards scepticism - the thought control element could have been kidology, it may have been controlled by a remote control out of sight of the thousand or so spectators - it was shown to drive around the small arena, accelerating and decelerating as needed to negotiate the circuit.

It worked reasonably well - it was driven onto the main stage, down a ramp and around the front seats on three sides of the stage, with the driver crouching down and slapping kids on the palm as he swept past.  The concept is that you train the computer - a Windows 8 tablet on this occasion, presumably because the Gadget Show Live was sponsored by Windows 8 although it is understood that a Samsung Android tablet has been used in earlier iterations - using a headset that is sensitive to neuron activity in the brain.

It appears that each driver has to train the computer to recognise the way their brain generates neuron activity. We're all different, apparently, so consequently a pre-programmed device ready for fine tuning is out of the question.  This sounds remarkably similar to the issues and challenges overcome by the teams training rats to push buttons using brainwaves, as mentioned on my blog posting from the 10 March this year 'Leave the Mouse, Get a Rat.'  So, for brainwave controlled activities we're about as effective as rats.  That's reassuring.

Samsung have been working with MIT to develop this technology further  using a headset bristling with EEG measuring electrodes.  Think of a swimming cap with a poor man's dreadlocks and you get the idea.  Hooking up to one of their Galaxy tablets they've had a fair bit of success in selecting and launching apps.  As one commentator states, thought controlled technology will be a boon for those with mobility issues, and persons suffering with illnesses such as Locked In Syndrome may have some relief.  Looking beyond low hanging fruit such as that, it also presents a wealth of opportunities for those of us lucky enough to not be classed as disabled.

Controlling the TV and the DVR by thought control has to be an aim, although the resulting carnage in houses up and down the country needs to be considered as TV channels are changed in the literal blink of an eye.  Adding an extra input dimension to operating your computer has to be an objective, too.  As we demand more from our programs, the need to manipulate needs more than a virtual extra pair of hands.

Part of the tests carried out at MIT is using the thought control to manipulate a music player, getting the human equivalent of the lab rat to select, play and pause classical music tracks.  At present the accuracy of such tests is between 80% and 95%, which isn't perfect - I would expect around 98% accuracy using conventional controls by persons familiar with the software.  However it is probably a lot better than most would expect.  The researchers are very happy with the results and are looking at ways to make the headsets more convenient, such as replacing the current wet electrode requirement with a dry electrode.

It's early days, but if a viable range of controls are developed then maybe the sensors will be fitted subcutaneously, allowing computers and other devices to be controlled just by thought.  Like Google Glass, this technology has the potential to change the game permanently and my guess is the days of clunky rubber headgear are limited.  For this application, anyway. The technology will undoubtedly develop faster as the results improve, and I expect the progress to increase in leaps and bounds as the capability is realised.  And of course it's not just Samsung looking onto this technology, IBM have a research project working on it, so we're looking at some heavyweight research going on.

In my opinion, if any technology is worth thinking about, this is it.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------


                                                          Visit my Book Website here

        Visit Project: Evil Website here                                        Visit DLF Website here

        Follow me on Twitter  - @RayASullivan

        Join me on Facebook -  use raysullivan.novels@yahoo.com to find me

Two Faced TV

It's the Consumer Electronics Show (CES) time again and day by day new gizmos are being rolled out.  The latest new offering has the whiff of an idea that takes an older idea and turns it into something more useful.

Samsung, the technology company that has spent more time in court fighting off Apple this last twelve months than anywhere else has come up with a cracker of an idea that should spell the end of the battle for the TV remote control.

They have leveraged the technology used to produced 3D TV at home - I'm not a huge fan of the 3D movement, Avatar did a sterling job and Up worked quite well,  However I felt the first half of the new Hobbit film was spoiled a little by the 3D effects which distracted more than enhanced.  OK, by the final frames the technology worked well enough, but I didn't feel the film gained anything from the technology.  Virtually averything else I've seen in 3D has been diminished by the effect, so I've not felt any burning desire to invest in a 3D TV and spend my evenings wearing coloured glasses indoors.

Anyway, that technology that can fool us into thinking we are looking at a three dimensional image on our TV screens can be used to present two independent TV programmes simultaneously.  The programme you see depends on the pair of glasses you are wearing at the time as the glasses, with built in speakers, screen out one programme leaving the other intact.

So I could sit watching a documentary while my wife could sit and watch a film beside me.  Now that's progress.  However I suspect it won't ratify the problems with the remote control - it will only take one mistaken change of channel on the other person's screen and that's the last I'd see of the remote control.  I'd have to pass constant instructions for channel and volume changes from that point on.

And I'm not sure what would happen if one of us is watching a really funny programme - I tend to laugh out loud which I'm sure would be irritating at the tear jerking moment of a romantic drama being watched adjacent to me.

So perhaps this isn't such a good idea as it sounds like the war of the remote control will escalate and divorce proceedings are likely to ensue after a week of watching different programmes.  So instead of designing a product that should allow couples to spend more time together, it looks like Samsung's invented one designed to split couples up instead.

Back to the drawing board, Samsung!

Related blog posts

Self Drive Cars Getting Closer

Tech Forecasts for 2013

---------------------------------------------------------------------

I can be followed on Twitter too - @RayASullivan
or on Facebook - use raysullivan.novels@yahoo.com to find me

Why not take a look at my books and read up on my Biog here

Want to see what B L O'Feld is up to?  Take a look at his website here

Worried/Interested in the secretive world of DLFs?  Take a look at this website dedicated to DLFs here, if you dare!