When photographs are taken, subjects are
generally aware of the camera, and it is surprisingly difficult for
them to look natural. "It's tough to save memories and records at the
same time," says Takashi Kondo, general manager, Peripheral Product
Planning Department, Product Planning Division, Personal Imaging
& Sound Business (PI&S) Group, Consumer Products
& Devices Group, Sony Corp of Japan. Many camera users are
dissatisfied with the fact that it is often impossible to record
enjoyable memories as photographs; but now, Sony seems to have found a
way to resolve this ever-present, persistent problem.
The company announced the IPT-DS1 "Party-shot" stand for digital cameras in Sept 2009. The stand rotates (pans) and adjusts camera elevation (tilts), shooting automatically (Fig 1). The concept behind it is based on the fact that, by eliminating the subject's awareness of the photographer, expressions remain natural and uninhibited. Photographs can capture children's smiles, family warmth and fun times with friends just as they happen.
The stand is presently only available for the Cyber-shot DSC-WX1 and DSC-TX1 compact digital cameras, revealed simultaneously with the IPT-DS1.
Sony has not disclosed the details yet, but the concept (Fig 2) has been realized by putting a motion microcontroller and software in the stand itself. The camera and stand probably communicate through a terminal on the camera base. The terminal is mounted on Cyber-shot cameras, until now only used for things like charging and video output.
When mounted on the stand, the camera's Intelligent Scene Recognition function is activated, so that the camera automatically detects scenes fulfilling its parameters, switching to the most likely mode and taking the shot. A mode supporting the face recognition function is selected, so the camera can track people.
Composition is determined with reference to the size of the detected faces and their orientation. A new algorithm was developed in-house to avoid compositions placing the subject smack in the center. The stand handles pan and tilt with motors, while the camera itself controls zoom, and the shutter clicks when the composition is judged good. The smile detection function is activated simultaneously, automatically snapping a shot when a smile is detected.
The IPT-DS1 menu screen offers three shot frequency settings, but no settings for number of shots, time, etc: the IPT-DS1 shoots when it pleases. The flash can be set to Auto or Off.
One of the major development issues was controlling subject blur, because engineers wanted to use the flash as little as possible indoors, even with moving subjects. To minimize blur, they boosted the shutter speed on the camera side using the face detection function, a high-sensitivity complementary metal-oxide semiconductor (CMOS) sensor, etc. When the camera detects face orientation using the face detection function, it automatically boosts the ISO sensitivity for a faster shutter speed. The CMOS sensor is a back-illuminated Exmor R capable of outputting a bright image even in adverse conditions, offering (according to Sony) about double the sensitivity of the prior model.
Sony plans to increase the number of camera models that can be used with the IPT-DS1, but the biggest problem was the position of the communication terminal. Differences in camera design make it hard to use a common terminal position. They resolved this problem by making it possible to slide the IPT-DS1 terminal left-right as needed.
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