Camera 2.0:
Computational Photography
on Mobile Computing Platforms
Can your point-and-shoot camera do better?
Here are more N95 pictures of Stanford. And here is another N95 album.
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Camera 2.0:
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This cell phone...
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...took this picture. Can your point-and-shoot camera do better? Here are more N95 pictures of Stanford. And here is another N95 album. |
Computational photography refers broadly to sensing strategies and algorithmic techniques that enhance or extend the capabilities of digital photography. The output of these techniques is an ordinary photograph, but one that could not have been taken by a traditional camera. Representative techniques include high dynamic range imaging, flash-noflash imaging, coded aperture and coded exposure imaging, photography under structured illumination, multi-perspective and panoramic stitching, digital photomontage, all-focus imaging, and light field imaging.
Although interest in computational photography has been steadily increasing among graphics and vision researchers, the major camera manufacturers have been slow to embrace these new techniques. At the same time, the cameras in cell phones have been improving in resolution, optical quality, capabilities, price, and popularity. Moreover, camera phones offer features that dedicated cameras do not - wireless connectivity, powerful processors, a high-resolution display, 3D graphics, and high-quality audio. Finally and perhaps most importantly, these platforms run real operating systems, and some of the manufacturers seem willing to open their platforms to software development by third-party developers and the academic community. Putting these pieces together, camera phones offer the computational photography community the open-platform camera environment they can leverage to convert their ideas into reality. Conversely, empowering academics and enthusiasts to write software for cameras could change the competitive landscape of the consumer photography industry. Finally, the convergence of cell phones, consumer photography, and online communities should create a positive feedback loop, leading to new photographic techniques, new applications of photography, and new modes of social interaction based on photography and video.
"Camera 2.0" is a new collaborative project between the Stanford Computer Graphics Laboratory and the Nokia Research Center, Palo Alto. If you're a Stanford student, and this vision makes sense to you, then come talk to us; we're looking for a few talented students to join the team. We also plan to offer a special, project-oriented version of CS 448 - Computational Photography in Spring quarter. Nokia will provide every student with an N95.