GoPro's new lens: Like a GOOGLE STREETMAPS car... for your life If you've taken the trouble to carry a camera around rather than using your smartphone, you certainly won't want to miss anything. GoPro's newest offering solves this problem by looking in every direction. Of course resolution suffers as you are spreading the pixels over a bigger image. The Pano Pro lens is a parabolic convex …
And expensive grin!
The problem with these kinds of device is when you try to stretch the image back to get regular frames, that shot where the pedestrian stepped out in front of you for example, you discover that one edge will have been sampled by only a few photosites on the sensor. The pixels per inch will be far greater on the other edge, so the resolution varies across the image!
So there's little point bigging up the quality of the mirror when the sensor is being misused to such a huge extent!
Would be dashcams. They're usually point forwards or straight back so they won't get a good shot of you being t-boned. A 300 degree field of view would also be useful for cameras mounted on motorcycles by ignoring the portion of the FOV that would be obscured by the rider. Similarly, 180 degree FOV would be useful for cameras mounted on the side of a helmet. I think the size would be a problem for helmet mounting, though.
Yeah, nobody buys a GoPro for that. I was thinking along the lines of the cheaper, less branded crashcams that are knocking about. You could do this with a smaller mirror if the optics were completely custom made for it instead of it having to work with the existing GoPro optics but it's probably cheaper to use an ultra-wide angle lens and a second camera pointing in the opposite direction to the first.
I recognised it at the first entry into Druids - which is a bit disconcerting as I've only been there once, and that was as a spectator/amateur snapper with a semi pro mate, and another chum who was banging his Peugeot 205 GTi stockhatch around.
(he went into the kitty litter, alas, but it was a great race to watch - XR2s, Golf GTis, 205s, etc all swapping paint)
I have some great pics of the MG classics race, and of some Formula Something cars, somewhere...
Found 'em. You'll have to C+P the links as I can't remember how to do linkys here. All safe for work, unless FB links get you in trouble. All should be public, I think.
The Alleged 205 Gti
https://scontent-b-lhr.xx.fbcdn.net/hphotos-prn1/t1.0-9/p180x540/21083_10200933265550905_29180281_n.jpg
Black cat*
https://fbcdn-sphotos-g-a.akamaihd.net/hphotos-ak-frc1/t1.0-9/p180x540/249160_10200933291591556_385105184_n.jpg
*yeah, it's probably a westie, gerroff!
Taking a wide line. Kitty litter wide:
https://fbcdn-sphotos-a-a.akamaihd.net/hphotos-ak-ash2/t1.0-9/p180x540/260082_10200933292031567_219583238_n.jpg
Made pretty light though:
https://scontent-a-lhr.xx.fbcdn.net/hphotos-prn1/t1.0-9/p180x540/485511_10200933292431577_871359269_n.jpg
Formula Something:
https://fbcdn-sphotos-g-a.akamaihd.net/hphotos-ak-ash3/t1.0-9/p180x540/945946_10200933289271498_1788820526_n.jpg
And again, this time without focus or proper panning:
https://fbcdn-sphotos-h-a.akamaihd.net/hphotos-ak-prn1/v/t1.0-9/p180x540/603873_10200933288751485_1181332792_n.jpg?oh=9eb23559a22aef67fcfc216c1da52deb&oe=53C02147&__gda__=1405935612_0d1ea80fbe106c1e7a2b6cacbb15137f
(don't know why that link is so long)
It took the 911 driver some time to catch that little MR2:
https://scontent-b-lhr.xx.fbcdn.net/hphotos-frc3/t1.0-9/p180x540/283952_10200933270631032_1744508953_n.jpg
Sorry, but of a photo spam there. But to be fair, it was a nice day, lovely light, and some interesting cars out there. Brings back good memories, so downvote away and see if I care!
As for the 360deg lens- I was fiddling with one of them of a very similar design (as others have noted, it's not a new thing, just this particular implementation of it is) which I thought was a terribly neat trick of physics if you have the software to unwrap it. Mind you, the lens was physically mounted to the Coolpix 5100 (IIRC) it was on (not removable) so it's turned that camera into a bit of a one trick pony!
Steven R
Unfortunately, if its Google, then the odds of it being supported etc in the future is very dismal. It has the reputation of starting something, but never completing it. ie. Google Earth, its started about 14 years ago? and 2/3rds of Philippines is still waiting to be covered, and that 1/3rd that was covered most of it has not been renewed, so the views are over 7 years old, absolutely useless unless you live in Manila, it appears nothing else counts.
When the storm happened in Cebu area last year, we asked for upto date images to assist in locating and accessing the outside areas, All that Google released were two images of the ocean near here!!!
And Philippines is not the only country that was not covered correctly.
John
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