Dude, Where’s My Camera?
You can never have too many megapixels — or can you?
Ask the consumers who may soon get to test-drive the Gigapan, the world’s first 1-billion-pixel camera.
Yes, you heard correctly — 1 billion pixels.
Call it the Iron Man of imaging. A tripod-mounted robot commands the uber-camera to capture several hundred photographs of a single scene, all from a slightly different angle. This creates, in effect, a panoramic 3D experience that’s unmatched by any other camera on the market. An image taken with the Gigapan retains phenomenal sharpness even as you zoom in and out of different parts of the image (think Google Earth).
Not that the beta product is without its detractors — early grumblers are commenting on everything from the time involved (it could take 10 to 15 minutes to capture 350 mini-images needed to pull together the composite final) to how the camera deals with moving objects to the fact that less-glamorous prototypes with motorized mounts have been used for years (and probably for a lot less money than the Gigapan’s likely price tag — though the word is that the camera will be less than what existing current high-res panoramic cameras go for).
Who came up with this piece of technical wonderment? It may sound like something straight out of a Marvel comic book, but it’s NASA, Google, and National Geographic who receive the kudos in this case.
Now if they could only get Robert Downey Jr. to endorse it, they’d have an unstoppable sell. No official word yet on the Gigapan’s price or release.
Speaking of celebrity endorsements, I’ve caught a few of Nikon’s new TV spots starring easy-on-the-eyes actor Ashton Kutcher. Nikon’s products have always been hot in my book, but the heat just got turned up with the appearance of Mr. Demi Moore in the ad campaign hawking the stylish, fashionable COOLPIX compact digicam line.
Let’s just hope viewers don’t think they’re being Punk’d. If they can take their eyes off Ashton’s sexy stubble for 1/250th of a second, they’ll see that the underlying message is not just about the trendy COOLPIX colors — it also emphasizes the cameras’ performance, simplicity, and quality.
In other words, there is substance beneath the veneer — something that’s sometimes lacking in a world where anyone can buy Photoshop and go to town on a photo.