2009/9/4 john lewis <johnle...@hantslug.org.uk>: > On Fri, 04 Sep 2009 09:44:30 +0100 > The Holy ettlz <theholyet...@googlemail.com> wrote: > >> On Fri, 2009-09-04 at 07:32 +0100, Stephen Davies wrote: >> > http://news.stanford.edu/news/2009/august31/levoy-opensource-camera-090109.html >> > >> > Enjoy. >> > >> > Unfortunately, it uses Canon lenses so I won't be getting one. >> >> Fortunately, it uses Canon lenses, so I might get one! > > If I read the article correctly it said they are using canon lenses "for > now" so you both might end up being able to us the camera if it ever > makes it into production. As an open source camera it _should_ have the > ability to chose which lense mount the user wants
Physical lens mounts is only the start of the problem. Canon (and I assumke Nikon) lenses have firmware which is used to control focussing and aperture control. From what I have read, manufacturers like Sigma that make Canon fit lenses license the right to use compatible firmware so that their lenses work on Canon bodies, whereas other manufacturers (cant recall which at the moment) reverse engineer it to make the lenses work correctly. How an open source camera will achieve this I am not sure. Presumably the lens firmware is fairly simple, so reverse engineering it should be simple enough and as the camera body will be opensource it shouldnt be too hard to keep it working with existing lenses, and easier to update it for new lens firmwares that appear in the future. Anton -- Anton Piatek email: an...@piatek.co.uk blog/photos: http://www.strangeparty.com pgp: [0xB307BAEF] (http://www.strangeparty.com/anton.asc) fingerprint: 116A 5F01 1E5F 1ADE 78C6 EDB3 B9B6 E622 B307 BAEF No trees were destroyed in the sending of this message, however, a significant number of electrons were terribly inconvenienced. -- Please post to: Hampshire@mailman.lug.org.uk Web Interface: https://mailman.lug.org.uk/mailman/listinfo/hampshire LUG URL: http://www.hantslug.org.uk --------------------------------------------------------------
