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Zeiss's "Holocam" turns glass windows into cameras

digitalcameraworld.com

211–220 of 253 posts

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

#211

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 lik…

> and through the use of 4-5 digit piles of cash.

5 figures doesn't sound like much for an organized crime network

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

#212

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 lik…

> and through the use of 4-5 digit piles of cash. 5 figures doesn't sound like much for an organized crime network

Where could someone surreptitiously place a wildly expensive pane of glass they couldn’t already put an $20 hidden camera?

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

#213

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Don't think of it like a transparent camera. Think of the window as a giant external periscope lens, connected to the rest of the camera with such thin fiber optics that you can't notice.

Sure, but how do you build fiber optics like that? Especially so each "pixel" has to shoot out hundreds (?) of separate fibers to cover every possible angle to achieve the holographic effect? For just a 1MP display, we're talking like hundreds of millions of fibers? That fit in some thin transparent layer? How?

I also am a bit over my head here but I’d guess the major innovation is around manufacturing glass in a way that optic channels are a natural part of the glass’ characteristics as it’s developed. We’re probably talking fiber optics at a molecular level.

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

#214

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 lik…

> and through the use of 4-5 digit piles of cash. 5 figures doesn't sound like much for an organized crime network

I read it as the thickness of the deck of bills (thousands or more) so if they are 20s or 100s, that's be some serious funding.

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

#215

Earlier quoted context omitted.

So we should call those shots snapshots when made on a phone. Well, the only thing you need to know when shooting with dslrs is to move the dial to Auto/P. If you want to play with DOF, move it to Av. If you want to shoot the dog, move it to Tv and 1/500. If you want to shoot an airshow move it to 1/1200 or higher. Is that too much? :D

I'm getting serious "you can build Dropbox yourself quite trivially" vibes here. I mean, people don't even turn their flash off in broad daylight…

It's really that easy. Ppl like to complicate things A LOT. Just to look more important.

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

#216

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>nd light guiding elements to redirect incident light to a concealed sensor, So you can't just stick on any existing window or pane of glass? That's good.

I don't think so. From the article: > The Holocam technology "uses holographic in-coupling, light guiding and de-coupling elements to redirect the incoming light of a transparent medium to a hidden image sensor." That suggests, at least to me, that you'll need something more than just a simple sheet of glass. There's probably some engineering required to allow light to be guided and redirected towards what sounds lik…

in-coupling and de-coupling of light, anyone care to explain?

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

#217

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 lik…

> Add in the fact that your IPhone has mac randomization but every other device you own including your car's TPMS doesn't.

The truly pathetic thing is that virtually all of these devices could use RPA but don't, because nobody remembered to flip that flag from "n" to "y"

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

#218

Earlier quoted context omitted.

First, holy crap! Second, #3 is always a red flag for me. It is sometimes code for "we can do this in the lab but we have no idea how one would manufacture it." A similar analogy is "we've got this great idea for a program you can license but no one here knows how to actually code it up." Third, the impact of this going mainstream would be hard to underestimate. All those people working on transparent displays like t…

If it was anyone but Zeiss I'd call it a red flag too, but they're basically Old Gods of Glass.

I don't disagree. One way to know if it can live up to the hype is that it will be the lighthouse feature of the next iPhone which will both not have a notch for the front facing camera, it will do "touch anywhere" touch ID and process all of the screen operating gestures visually rather than capacitively so that you can operate you phone while wearing ski gloves if you want too.

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

#219

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.

If I look at my camera lens when I'm talking and I look at the screen while you're talking, and then you do the same, then there's no issue. Am I the only one that does this? (I know the answer. I am. At least at my company, I am.)

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

#220

Earlier quoted context omitted.

For the everyday needs of the average non-enthusiast consumer, I'd argue that an iPhone is simply better than a DSLR or mirrorless - not just more portable or more convenient, but capable of producing reliably better images. Sure, the DSLR is the obvious choice if you're a serious photographer, but most people aren't serious photographers. If they buy a DSLR or mirrorless camera, they're going to use the kit lens and…

Phone-cameras produce muddy trash. Ever tried to make a good portrait with difficult light? That was the reason i began photographing seriously, because the photos i made with my phone on the galacon a year prior were trash. And yeah u have to learn how to properly use a dedicated camera which is why i only shoot with manual settings, for casuals phones are enough.

What phone? I've never owned one that took worse photos than a DSLR in auto mode under normal lighting
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