Open source camera

After computer robots (eg with the Robotics Developer Studio software from Microsoft), smartphones, a new opportuniy is offered to programmers: the cameras!
A camera or camcorder using open source instead of a firmware provided by the factory software interchangeably.

A prototype is under development at Stanford University in Palo Alto, California. All aspects of the device are controlled by software installed or replaced by the user:

The device allows as well on an smartphone, to download applications to add functionality.

Video of the prototype, the Frankencamera

Technical

The device must have a kind of operating system.

All kinds of algorithms can be implemented in scripts designed to interact with the elements of the camera (shutter, zoom, etc ...) by a dedicated software interface to control all aspects of the photo.

Applications

New types of applications could be downloaded into the device ... interaction with the Web for example to put photos online, or specialized software for scientific work or creating effects for artistic photography.

The HDR (High Dynamic Range) is to take pictures of the same scene with different exposures which become possible with specialized software.

For more information