New focus technology

I found this article pretty amazing. Now if they can downsize it and make it more applicable to every day applications. I keep asking myself when/if technological advances will slow down and then I get surprised by things like this.

I guess DSLRs will never get rid of mirrors

If you don't have to point the camera and compose, are you still a photographer?

ssim wrote in post #16052146
I found this article pretty amazing. Now if they can downsize it and make it more applicable to every day applications. I keep asking myself when/if technological advances will slow down and then I get surprised by things like this.

one of the responses:

Subtext: "Yeah, we're gonna put a laser on this thing. See you in two years."

"Projecting images on high speed targets" -> "Aiming lasers to blow up artillery shells and missiles"

Also doesn't deal with focusing. Guess what? You don't need to worry about that…with a laser.

More of a "tracking" technology than a "focus" technology, but semantics aside, yes... amazing.

This just proves that DSLR's wont be going any-time soon. Imagine what you could do with such an awesome bit of technology in a regular DSLR body.

Spray and preyers will be thrilled, no wasting time with all that developing skill nonsense.

Kyle Blunt wrote in post #16054413
This just proves that DSLR's wont be going any-time soon. Imagine what you could do with such an awesome bit of technology in a regular DSLR body.

How does it prove that? An SLR was not used in the demo.

DocFrankenstein wrote in post #16054646
How does it prove that? An SLR was not used in the demo.

Because it is obvious that this will one day be in a camera of a smaller size...
OK so it may not be on an SLR exactly but it will still be available on cameras in the future I think it is safe to assume. This is pretty revolutionary stuff, I am sure at least one brand will jump on it and buy it out.

Kyle Blunt wrote in post #16055078
Because it is obvious that this will one day be in a camera of a smaller size...
OK so it may not be on an SLR exactly but it will still be available on cameras in the future I think it is safe to assume. This is pretty revolutionary stuff, I am sure at least one brand will jump on it and buy it out.

Not obvious at all actually. The mirrors are in front of the camera, pushing the image up through a periscope of sorts and into the camera lens. That sounds incredibly practical to me.

Kyle Blunt wrote in post #16055078
Because it is obvious that this will one day be in a camera of a smaller size...

Now people who wear bindi can have an adjustment free webcam? It's a hassle having to point it at your face when chatting online!

Think of the creative possibilities for bollywood dances.

BTW, if you listened carefully, you will have heard the engineer explain that this isn't new technology, just a new way of achieving the process : "..using a rotating mirror is a common method, but usually, the mirror is in front of the camera, so a very large mirror is needed..", basically, it sounds like they've found a way to both shrink down and improve the accuracy of an existing field of technology. I can see this being used in cinema for face tracking shots or in stick and ball sports for following the ball. The "lazer defense system" mentioned earlier also sounds like a fairly intuitive use, assuming something like that isn't already in use.

Scatterbrained wrote in post #16055091
Not obvious at all actually. The mirrors are in front of the camera, pushing the image up through a periscope of sorts and into the camera lens. That sounds incredibly practical to me.

And there's a whole other lens system if you're using a non-telephoto lens...

BTW: Didn't military cameras use an almost exact same mechanism for image stabilization. I'm almost sure I've seen two moving mirrors or prisms in a tank sighting system providing mechanical stabilization... Can't remember the details.