Apple Aims to Prevent Blurry or Underexposed iPhone Photos with Automatic Image Buffering and Comparison

[Phx08]

Originally Posted by Michael73

I think I'd be wary of such a feature. I take pictures all the time of my kids, friends, dog, etc. Getting everyone to look at the camera at the same time or with eyes open is a real pain. I'm not sure I want an algorithm choosing to keep the best photo at the expense of what I mentioned above. EVEN WITH the ability to accept or reject, if I'm shooting a bunch of photos all at once (say at my kids sporting events) I may not have time to review and choose the one I want to keep. I'm not sure there's a great way to get around these issues other than perhaps to have an 'on-off' toggle or to have the ability to always to photos in this mode and then be able to decide at a later time which one to keep.

I'm fairly certain they will have an On -- Off function similar to the way you can toggle HDR On or Off. If that is the case, you're point is moot.

[tobyw7]

Haven't you noticed the poor web design on these Patent sites?

[Tknull]

Originally Posted by Michael73

I think I'd be wary of such a feature. I take pictures all the time of my kids, friends, dog, etc. Getting everyone to look at the camera at the same time or with eyes open is a real pain. I'm not sure I want an algorithm choosing to keep the best photo at the expense of what I mentioned above. EVEN WITH the ability to accept or reject, if I'm shooting a bunch of photos all at once (say at my kids sporting events) I may not have time to review and choose the one I want to keep. I'm not sure there's a great way to get around these issues other than perhaps to have an 'on-off' toggle or to have the ability to always to photos in this mode and then be able to decide at a later time which one to keep.

I gather that what this is seeking to do is not try to pick a "better" photo based on criterium that is subjective and you may not agree with (picking which kid to have eyes open, for example)... but identify if the photo you would have originally taken, and been stuck with, was blurry. The one it opts to use instead, in that case, couldnt be a worse choice, since you would have only had an unusable photo otherwise.

[brdeveloper]

Dumb patent. Realtime panorama-like mode could do it better interpolating a lot of pictures (got from a lcd preview buffer) and constructing a better, noiseless picture. Smartphones' processing power are already able of doing it.

Since panorama mode is a more-than-10-years feature present in most today's cameras, this patent looks like mere patent munition for future lawsuits.

[hchung]

Originally Posted by nmg196

Yes, many other physical cameras and apps already do this. They take quick series of pictures either side of the shutter button press then attempt to work out which one is the best by analysing them for motion blur. The one with the least motion blur is then saved out. It's often mis-marketed as an "image stabiliser" function but effectively achieves the same thing most of the time.

Some cameras with face detection go further and attempt to discard photos where people are blinking. Chances are, it's taken 10 photos either side of the shutter press, that at least one will be crisp with nobody blinking. I'm not sure why Apple are now trying to patent this common technique - it's hardly new.

Cameras that are any good don't bother to do this.

This is for crap cell phone cameras who can't afford to do better.

Real camera use one or more of the following:
1) raise the ISO to allow raising the shutter speed.
2) larger sensor size to allow raising the shutter speed.
3) voice coil in the lens mechanism to literally stabilize the lens.

Don't get me wrong, the patent is for a good idea, and it's filed back when nobody tried this at all on cell phone cameras. But if we're talking about taking good pictures with little blur, we shouldn't have been using cell phones in the first place.

[brdeveloper]

Originally Posted by hchung

Cameras that are any good don't bother to do this.

This is for crap cell phone cameras who can't afford to do better.

Real camera use one or more of the following:
1) raise the ISO to allow raising the shutter speed.
2) larger sensor size to allow raising the shutter speed.
3) voice coil in the lens mechanism to literally stabilize the lens.

Don't get me wrong, the patent is for a good idea, and it's filed back when nobody tried this at all on cell phone cameras. But if we're talking about taking good pictures with little blur, we shouldn't have been using cell phones in the first place.

Except if it was a Nokia N8 or a 808 Pureview. N8, launched in 2010, brought to a smartphone nearly the same quality of 2008 premium compact cameras, like the Panasonic LX3. The 808 Pureview was a step further, bringing a new zoom concept, allowing excellent quality at a wide focal distance and a decent quality at tele "virtual focal distance" pairing with most 2012 compact cameras at the same focal distance.

In truth, iPhones, Galaxies and Lumias would do better incorporating bigger sensors like the 1/1.83" one from the N8. N8 phone thickness is practically the same of recent smartphones, so there's no excuse to incorporating better sensors other than increasing profit margins.

[CShort]

Originally Posted by JaySoul

Don't other smartphone cameras already do this?

Microsoft "Blink" is already on the market and the description reads almost exactly the same
http://nokiapoweruser.com/2013/02/04...ideo-tutorial/

"With BLINK for Windows Phone 8, you’ll never miss the best shot. BLINK captures a burst of images beginning even before you press the shutter and continuing beyond. No problem if you push the shutter a few moments too early or too late. With BLINK, a simple finger swipe lets you find the perfect shot. You can even return to BLINK to find a second and third shot from a single capture. Advanced image stabilization technology from Microsoft Research removes camera shake and lets you focus on the important parts of the scene."

Or there's also the more featureful smartshoot which I think has some more similarities with Blackberry's offering:
http://conversations.nokia.com/2012/...and-lumia-820/

[Tech198]

You cannot "fix" deliberate stuff up photos, by people made.

Its like trying to use the image stabiliser of a camera to stabilise the shot.... but when its too much shaking... people wonder why .....


Is this gonna be anther one of those "Purple flair shown in photo" things ?

Seems to me, Apple may be able to do a bit better with exposure possibly, but if your hopeless at shooting anyway... no one can fix that but the photographer

[hayesk]

My Nikon Coolpix 4500 had this feature. It was called "Best Shot Selector"

Though I hope Apple adds this feature to iPhoto and Aperture. It really is useful, especially when taking pictures of children or other unpredictable objects.

[Bezetos]

I'm preeeety sure some cameras already do that.

I mean, it's good that Apple wants to implement something like this, but stop this patenting nonsense already.

[AidenShaw]

Originally Posted by hayesk

...when taking pictures of children or other unpredictable objects.

qotd !