Camera Hardware Hack: Detailed Pics

[rudeboy]

Originally Posted by .plaid

I suspect our sexy modder (and I don't mean Scott) either believes or has shown that fish eye lenses 'fail' at taking groovy pictures with the Q phone.

I take it as somewhat of a challenge...and since I'm off today I may have to go visit my local Radio Shack or hobby store.

Fail, my eye...my fish eye!

Best,

*looks confused*

the pictures you made & show didn't convince him ? :}

[.plaid]

Originally Posted by rudeboy

the pictures you made & show didn't convince him ? :}

The pictures I posted were not taken using a fish eye lens, but with what's known as a plano-convex lens (flat on one side, bulging on the other).

Fish eye lenses (see link to wikipedia above) are best used to capture a lot of light, so there may be an issue with trying to take a picture of something close up: the edge distortion might not be evident or maybe the focal length might not allow for close-ups. Further, I suppose that since so much light needs to be captured, the size of the lens needed and the aperture of the camera don't work well together. Without running some numbers or actually doing it I couldn't say for certain, but it'd be interesting to play...I mean test.

Best,
.

[casemods]

I just don't like fish eye lenses.

They look weird. The whole skateboarding fish eye is terrible. It's for people who can't use a standard lens to actually focus on one thing.

Do you really want to permanently have that on the Q?

[Pony99CA]

Originally Posted by casemods

Do you really want to permanently have that on the Q?

Did anybody say it was a permanent thing? I suspect it would be a lens you carry with you and use as needed.

Microsoft Research had their A.U.R.A. project that retrieved product information using UPC bar codes. They would even send you a free lens so you could scan the bar codes instead of entering them. (Don't ask -- the program is over.)

Steve

[Pony99CA]

Originally Posted by .plaid

Fish eye lenses (see link to wikipedia above) are best used to capture a lot of light, so there may be an issue with trying to take a picture of something close up: the edge distortion might not be evident or maybe the focal length might not allow for close-ups.

I thought fisheye lenses were used for really wide-angle shots (and Wikipedia confirms that). I've seen them used to capture an almost 180-degree view of things (example), but those pictures have lots of distortion (the pictures look warped).

So they probably would be useless for close-up shots.

Steve

[rudeboy]

Originally Posted by .plaid

The pictures I posted were not taken using a fish eye lens, but with what's known as a plano-convex lens (flat on one side, bulging on the other). *SNIP*

aha, i see... next time i will try and pay more attention :}