Frankencamera throws out the rulebook

Stanford scientists are working on a camera that will change the way pictures are taken for both amateur and professional photographers. The technology in the camera will take care of many of the jobs that now need to be done after the shot in software like Photoshop. On top of that the camera is open source, allowing external programmers to write software that teaches the camera new things. Here’s an introduction from the makers.

Uploading the software should work similar to uploading applications to Apples’s iPhone. In the case of the camera they will control and adjust every variable possible to create the best possible picture. Andrew Adams a graduate student who is involved in the project says:

“From there, the sky’s the limit. Programmers will have the freedom to experiment with new ways of tuning the camera’s response to light and motion, adding their own algorithms to process the raw images in innovative ways”

Some of the ideas are mindblowing. Imagine taking a picture of a butterfly and before your press the shutter the camera goes online, checks for the highest rated similar images and optimizes your settings accordingly.

Dubbed “Camera  2.0” and “Frankencamera” it will take some time before a commercial model will be available. Once it does creating great imagery will become ever easier. Competition for (semi) professional photographers will be even stronger. For an industry that has allready seen a big impact of digital photograpy this is one to watch.

Thanks to Larry Hanna who posted on this linkedin discussion