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Zeiss's "Holocam" turns glass windows into cameras

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Re: Zeiss's "Holocam" turns glass windows into cameras

#71

Post by heleninboodler »

asow92 wrote: post #57
hn8305823 wrote: post #47

Earlier quoted context omitted.

No, and I'm absolutely not willing to give up the mechanical camera shutter I have on my laptop for that feature. They could add a mechanical shutter to the hidden camera in the frame but why do all of this. Edit: Should have said "mechanical lens cover" instead of "mechanical camera shutter"

Just so you know, in photography, "mechanical camera shutter" can mean something very different from what I think you mean.

This is an odd, almost reverse nitpick. The word "shutter" is general-purpose. It's literally a thing that shuts the opening. There's one inside an SLR camera, as you point out. There's often one on a webcam. They are common on windows on houses.

Re: Zeiss's "Holocam" turns glass windows into cameras

#72

Post by layer8 »

tqi wrote: post #41

"Webcams that enable you to look anywhere on your screen." Minor aside, but does anyone actually care about this? Forever ago, I was told to try and look into the camera in order to project eye contact during video calls, but now that just seems like a cultural hangup that arose from people not being familiar with video calling. Now that it is more ubiquitous, I feel like we all have collectively agreed that the eye…

No, we haven’t agreed that. I continue to feel somewhat rude when not looking at the camera during a conversation. And it matters to nonverbal communication.

Re: Zeiss's "Holocam" turns glass windows into cameras

#74

Post by AnarchismIsCool »

For the people kinda worried: this is a highly specialized piece of glass that is extremely complicated to manufacture at present and must, due to the laws of thermodynamics, not be 100% transparent. It's not going to allow surveillance through existing glass installations in any form, just possibly new ones if there's room for the support equipment and through the use of 4-5 digit piles of cash.

Any camera glass like this will have at least a mild tint and will be used in specialty applications. It'll also have pretty horrible SNR, resolution, and low light performance.

Currently the structural component of this tech is mainly used in extremely high end aerospace applications (various heads up display type systems) so it's unlikely you'll ever run across one of these within the next decade.

Nasty remote sensing tech people can be worried about right now: RF surveillance from various combinations of mmWave, wall penetrating radar, and wifi interferometry. Add in the fact that your IPhone has mac randomization but every other device you own including your car's TPMS doesn't. Also Geiger mode lidar is fun, one company I worked for mapped the inside of a random person's house with it as a demo.

Re: Zeiss's "Holocam" turns glass windows into cameras

#76

Post by boxed »

wkat4242 wrote: post #38

Yeah it sounds like a great option to place a camera invisibly in the middle top half of your screen so you can actually look a person in the eye when videoconferencing. No more weirdly looking down or to the side for everyone. I'm sure it can be used for creepiness as well but I see the benefits too.

iPhones solve the camera angle by changing the position of the pupil in software instead.

Re: Zeiss's "Holocam" turns glass windows into cameras

#77

Post by verall »

alexchamberlain wrote: post #66
verall wrote: post #44

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's not what they do, like they probably won't start selling lawnmowers either.

Whilst I kind of see where you and the sibling comment is coming from, Zeiss do make glass- they make precision glass. Making cheap glass would be quality diversification, which is not exactly unheard of.

It sounds reasonable, but if they diversified quality, it would mean making precision glass and then also somewhat less precise glass. They will not start mass producing large panes of low margin glass. It's not what they're good at and it's not a lucrative market. Like Intel isn't going to start making jellybean parts.

They could license their name to some existing glass company, but they still wouldn't really be the ones producing it, and I think Zeiss has avoided diluting their brand name like this so far.

Re: Zeiss's "Holocam" turns glass windows into cameras

#78

Post by NooneAtAll3 »

boxed wrote: post #76
wkat4242 wrote: post #38

Yeah it sounds like a great option to place a camera invisibly in the middle top half of your screen so you can actually look a person in the eye when videoconferencing. No more weirdly looking down or to the side for everyone. I'm sure it can be used for creepiness as well but I see the benefits too.

iPhones solve the camera angle by changing the position of the pupil in software instead.

1986 solution vs cyberpunk solution

how did we even get here?

Re: Zeiss's "Holocam" turns glass windows into cameras

#79

Post by itishappy »

alexchamberlain wrote: post #66
verall wrote: post #44

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's not what they do, like they probably won't start selling lawnmowers either.

Whilst I kind of see where you and the sibling comment is coming from, Zeiss do make glass- they make precision glass. Making cheap glass would be quality diversification, which is not exactly unheard of.

I doubt Zeiss makes their own glass. Most optics companies outsource that to one of the big glass fabs: Schott, Ohara, CDGM.

Re: Zeiss's "Holocam" turns glass windows into cameras

#80

Post by itishappy »

ysofunny wrote: post #39
xyzzy_plugh wrote: post #21

It's a reverse light guide. We've been beam forming for a long time, it's unsurprising that the reverse is possible (imaging through a light pipe). The principal issue will be gathering enough energy. A well lit source like a bathroom mirror (mirror behind the light guide) could work pretty well I'd wager. If the light guide is too efficient then it will appear opaque, so there is a trade-off. I find "turns any windo…

> Zeiss isn't going to aspire to sell cheap glass on razor thin margins. why not?

They don't have to. They're the best in the world, and they know it. They price accordingly.
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