The Stanford group’s open-source digital photography platform -- called “Frankencamera,” allows users to create novel camera capabilities and can be programmed to meet the individual needs of the photographer.
"We are releasing code so that people can create new imaging applications on their Nokia N900s," said Stanford computer science and electrical engineering professor in a statement.
Computational photography includes ways computers can extend the capabilities of digital imaging by combining multiple photographs taken with different camera settings to create an image that could not be taken in a single shot, or with an ordinary camera.
Some of these new ways of combining images can be done in Photoshop or similar programs, but until now they could not be done inside the camera. This is because many commercial cameras are closed to development by all but their manufacturers.
Frankencamera, on the other hand, brings computational photography directly to the camera , by making the camera a programmable platform.
The interface is part of a software "stack" that brings together familiar programming elements: a Linux operating system and the ubiquitous C++ programming language.
One of the apps created for the platform is called "low-light imaging" and shoots both exposure speeds in rapid succession. It then automatically combines them, resulting in a photo that is both bright and sharp.
Another app offers a different take on the low-light problem. Dubbed "lucky imaging," the app takes advantage of a motion sensor attached to the Nokia N900 to prevent shaky hands from adding blur to a long exposure. In this mode, the camera shoots constantly but only stores images taken when the camera is at its most still. The result is the sharpest possible image.
The Stanford group have been awarded a $1 million grant from the National Science Foundation, shared with colleagues at MIT, to begin making professional-style, single-lens reflex (SLR) cameras, equipped with the software platform, for free distribution to computational photography professors around the country.
Non-academics could buy the camera at cost. Those cameras are expected to be available within a year.
Source: TechNewsDaily