GOOD NEWS ON THE CRAPCAM FRONT
This is not funny. Are we legally allowed to blog the merely self-referential?
(Thanks to Justin Barber)
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May 23, 2005
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There are scientists in Quebec? (first?)
Posted by: Atticus | May 23, 2005 at 06:51 AM
eh?
Posted by: Karen | May 23, 2005 at 06:55 AM
My browser refuses to go there...just says something about Canada.com.....I think the border guards are being overzealous.
Posted by: Punky Brewster | May 23, 2005 at 07:01 AM
For Punky -
NEWS STORY
Quebec scientist invents lens that could vastly improve cellphone cameras
Les Perreaux
Canadian Press
Sunday, May 22, 2005
ADVERTISEMENT
QUEBEC (CP) - Quebec researchers have created a new lens they say could revolutionize photography by allowing the smallest cameras to take crystal-clear zoom photos.
The new lens, five times thinner than a sheet of paper, can zoom and focus with no moving parts, potentially eliminating the distortion caused by digital zoom and the bulky glass of conventional optical lens.
Tigran Galstian, an engineer and physicist at Laval University who has patented the new lens, says his invention could drastically improve the blurry photos taken by small cameras.
Galstian said the lens would work in cellphone cameras that take notoriously poor quality images.
"We have found an elegant and simple solution," said Galstian, who is now looking for an industrial partner to help build a prototype and overcome remaining technical hurdles.
"Right now we're guessing what industry needs and we'd love to work with them on what they really want."
Fred Greenslade, a sports and wildlife photographer in Portage la Prairie, Man., is intrigued by the invention.
Like most professional photographers, Greenslade carries several heavy lens on most assignments and must switch constantly for different conditions.
"It sounds like something a photographer would dream up," said Greenslade.
"I'll believe it when I see it but it sounds great. I guess I'd have a few questions. Is it going to work? How fast will it be? What's the quality going to be?
"But it sounds, in theory, like the best thing to have."
Galstian's lens adds a light-sensitive compound to a thin sheet of liquid crystals, eliminating the need for the finely ground glass of conventional photographic equipment.
When the sheet is zapped with a laser beam, the centre becomes denser than the edges of the lens.
Small jolts of electricity change the material in the lens to bend light and adjust focus and zoom.
Conventional photographic lens move two pieces of curved glass to zoom or focus, requiring bulky lens for top quality close-ups.
Many small digital cameras zoom with computer processors, losing a lot of picture quality in the process.
Galstian and associate Vladimir Presnyakov published their research in the current edition of the Journal of Applied Physics.
The lens could eventually be adapted for super-lightweight eyeglasses that could be adjusted for focal length, eliminating the need for bi-focals, Galstian said.
"In the short-term, we are focusing on cellphones but in the long term we think there could be many uses," Galstian said.
Galstian said researchers in France are working on a "competing technology" that uses electricity and a liquid droplet.
Posted by: Gary | May 23, 2005 at 07:04 AM
Thanks, Gary! Turns out, I just don't care...
(Is Canada a huge waste of space?)
*Punky is feeling PMS-y and grumpy today*
Posted by: Punky Brewster | May 23, 2005 at 07:12 AM
Yay! lighter eyeglasses! We pick up my son's first pair of glasses today.
Posted by: Jessica R. | May 23, 2005 at 07:19 AM
"(he's) looking for an industrial partner to help build a prototype and overcome remaining technical hurdles."
I'm on it!
Posted by: Chloe | May 23, 2005 at 07:30 AM
I love it when she says that ...
Posted by: Edgar | May 23, 2005 at 07:31 AM
Punky - I don't blame you. Neither do I.
"In the short-term, we are focusing on cellphones but in the long term we think there could be many uses," Galstian said.
Haha! A little scientific joke!
Posted by: Gary | May 23, 2005 at 07:39 AM
Great. Now a cool cellphone will cost $2,000.
Posted by: Trystan Shout | May 23, 2005 at 07:51 AM
Dave, if you have any mercy in your soul you'll go to Canada and wildly overspend on the prototype...
My grandma used to take pictures like Dave's crapcam. I think of her fondly every time he posts a "this is almost a picture of Ridley standing in front of a legible and funny sign" blog entry...
Posted by: jamester | May 23, 2005 at 07:54 AM
Speaking as a professional photographer who has spent most of his life very near to Canada ...
... hmmm ... eh?
Posted by: U.O | May 23, 2005 at 08:24 AM
Tristan, of course, you're speaking about $2,000 American Dollars...which in Canada means that they will cost about $2,000,000,000,000 Canadian.
Posted by: tropichunt.com guy | May 23, 2005 at 08:29 AM
To the reporter who wrote this story: The plural of "lens" is "lenses". (A sentence which is fun to say out loud, too -- free bonus!)
Posted by: susanwob | May 23, 2005 at 08:54 AM
'lenseses'?
Posted by: gollum | May 23, 2005 at 09:13 AM
Galstian said researchers in France are working on a "competing technology" that uses electricity and a liquid droplet.
Are they still talking about cameras?
Posted by: slyeyes | May 23, 2005 at 09:14 AM
gollum: 'lenseses'?
Well, if you're wearing bifocals...
Trifocals, i guess it's "lenseseseseses"
Posted by: susanwob | May 23, 2005 at 05:32 PM
Maybe they can take pictures of all the 'good' Canadian food. That should take all of 12 seconds.
Posted by: Chaz Stevens | May 23, 2005 at 07:56 PM
Typical American xenophobia. No wonder the rest of the world hates you.
Posted by: Jim | May 23, 2005 at 08:03 PM
.... and while I am here, I am getting pretty sick and tired of you Americans making fun of just about any other country that gets mentioned. The dumbest people in the world, and they think they are so smart.
Posted by: Jim | May 23, 2005 at 08:12 PM
OMG - jim caught punky's pms! pass it on!
Posted by: not jim | May 25, 2005 at 07:53 PM