New images from the iSTAR 360 degree camera

[John Wells]

http://www.nctechimaging.com/samples/samples.php
This camera has great potential for archaeological work ;o)
It would be nice to fly one at a low level over a site.

[barkingdigger]

Interesting gizmo, but aside from taking bendy pictures that make St Paul's look like it stands in a park rather than a city it is hard to see from their website exactly what it can do for us. I went all around the website, but instead of telling me details of how the image could be un-bent and tied to survey data for extraction of undistorted pics or even used in some form of photogrammetry, it just says what a wonderful camera they've built. Is there a better website for the more useful tech details?

[John Wells]

No other website as yet as they have not yet come off the production line as far as I know.
The website images should just be viewed as the way the data is presented, not necessarily as the end point.

[barkingdigger]

Fair enough. But they will really need to work on the end-use info if they want to sell the gear. I'll be interested to see how it develops!

[BAJR]

Yes.. inter sting, will keep an eye on it

[kevin wooldridge]

Sceptic that I am maybe...but I can't think of a single use for this camera on a site that isn't covered by a conventional camera...perhaps John could suggest some ways that are clearly beyond my imagination...I didn't quite understand the low level flying bit!!

[John Wells]

Scepticism is good....and usually my standpoint ;o)
Use in enclosed or partially enclosed surroundings is an obvious application.
Here is a conventional but limited 3 image stitch:

Unlike many high resolution 360 degree cameras which pan, the iSTAR takes an 'instant' picture.
This means it can potentially also be flown, say on a kite line.....but then you do need to be able to fly a kite.
Here are members of the Edinburgh Young Archaeologists' Club:

It is not unusual for junior school children to be flying cameras with us up on Cairnpapple:
http://www.armadale.org.uk/cairnpapple.htm
Wide angle data gathering can be very useful, especially for low aerial work.
Merging images, or partial images for 3D work is another application.
The new time of flight cameras have even more potential but the resolution is a little low at present.
I will probably have more to say about photography in my other posting.
There may be a general lack of appreciation of digital photography techniques and their application and relative simplicity.