German Engineering Grad Invents Throwable Camera Ball

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A German engineering grad and his team have built what they call a "Throwable Panoramic Ball Camera." The prototype is designed to be tossed in the air and automatically take panoramic pictures.

For a recent Berlin Technical University graduate, a flair for photography and a knack for engineering have combined to create what he's calling the world's first "throwable panoramic ball camera."

Jonas Pfeil, a computer engineer, has designed the camera to be thrown in the air. Then, as it reaches the highest point of its flight, the camera takes a panoramic picture.

Pfeil says the idea came to him while on a vacation.

[Jonas Pfeil, Head of Camera Ball Development Team]:
"I was hiking in Tonga which is an island in the South Pacific. And I took a lot of pictures the conventional way, panoramic ones that is, with a single camera, taking pictures all around you and then stitching them together on the PC later. And the process of taking these images just takes a long time. And when I came back from one of the mountains there on Tonga I had the idea to just throw something up and and capture the panoramic view instantaneously."

The camera ball has 36 mobile phone cameras mounted inside a spherical enclosure. It also has an accelerometer that triggers the cameras as the ball stays still for a split second at the highest point of flight.

Pfeil says there's a lot of interest in the camera ball, but adds that it still needs to be refined.

[Jonas Pfeil, Head of Camera Ball Development Team]:
"This is just a prototype at the moment but we are working on making it smaller, and also improving the image quality."

Pfeil says the camera ball is a fun way to take pictures and would one day like to see his camera innovation made available to consumers.

Category:

Science & Technology

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[JustWickedSwede]

Put in a canon, shoot towards the sky!

[Rob2454]

Love use it on my gigwalk job.

[nat0106951]

I can also see that...this is also good use for the military....

[rx327prime]

What about a telescopic handle to hold it up in the air !

No image stabilizer needed

Less risk to damage the device.

It will be also better if you want to shot picture when you can't throw the ball, for rockclimbers, xtreme sports, etc...

With a telescopic handle, you will be able to use it also as video camera.

Anyway, with a telescopic handle, you would still be able to throw it in the air.

So please, put me a damn telescopic handle that fold in the structure device :-)

[tracysaboe]

@tracysaboe Actually, Some rudamentaly huvercraft tech could make this like the keno's on stargate universe.

[tracysaboe]

This is AMAZING. Next step. VideoCameras, and calculatio nadjustments adjustments for the spin and height of the ball so you can make panaramic movies!

[RKAddict101]

cool stuff

[mihailpet]

Great concept!