Sony patents a new contact lens camera (say bye bye to Google Glass)

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Sony recently patented a new kind of “contact lens camera” that gives us a glimpse into an intriguing (and for privacy reasons also scary) future! Yes this is a full working camera worn on an eyeball that has a lens unit, image sensor, microchip processor and storage unit on the contact lens! It also has a built-in wireless antenna to transmit pictures to any device (smartphone or laptop for example).

Now you would imagine the contact lens having a sort of fixed focal and aperture but it has not. Sony writes:

The image pickup unit includes, for example, a lens system including the image pickup lens, an aperture stop, a zoom lens, a focus lens, and the like, a drive system that causes the lens system to perform focusing operation and zooming operation.

And there is some more sensational thing that small contact lens camera can do:

The image pickup signal processing unit may perform image stabilization for correcting blur of a captured image, the blur being caused by motion of the eyeball.

A display unit will display your captured images directly on the contact lens. See the original Sony patent drawing below:

Bildschirmfoto 2016-04-28 um 16.15.41

And how do you control this “thing”?

  • You control the release shutter via a conscious eyelid closure and aperture (there is a sensor that can measure the pressure of the eyelid)
  • When you accelerate shutter speed increases (to avoid blur)
  • All settings like aperture and zoom can be adjusted via eyelid movement

I really want to see this thing for real as I think this could really have a success. Having a wearable camera people cannot see make it unproblematic to wear (unlike the [shoplink 47352 ebay]Google Glass device[/shoplink]). But of course, wearing an “invisible” camera will raise a lot of question regarding privacy…

The full patent literature is available at Freepatentsonline.

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Thanks Raul Frias for finding this!

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New Batis 18mm is in Stock and shipping in Germany!

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Batis 18mm lens at Foto Video Klein (Facebook).

The Batis 18mm is now shipping in Germany. European readers can find a few lenses on eBay Germany at [shoplink 47338 ebay]Foto Petzold (Click here)[/shoplink] and [shoplink 47339 ebay]Foto Birwe (Click here)[/shoplink].

UPDATE: German readers have plenty of A and E-mount Wallimex lenses on Gold Box at Amazon Germany (Click here).

SAR reader Remi is one of the lucky super early owners of the lens:

Batis 18mm at [shopcountry 47045].

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Press text: Status of Sony Group Manufacturing Operations Affected by 2016 Kumamoto Earthquakes

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Sony-Image-Sensor-Fabs1

Sony sent out a third press release to inform about the Kumamoto sensor production facility that was damaged by the recent earthquake. Sony plans to resume the production by end of May. I think this will affect the Sony camera release roadmap. This means we may see new E and A-mount cameras announced/shipped 1-2 months later than expected.

Press text:

Status of Sony Group Manufacturing Operations Affected by 2016 Kumamoto Earthquakes (Third Update)

Due to the earthquake of April 14, 2016 and subsequent earthquakes in the Kumamoto region, operations at Sony Semiconductor Manufacturing Corporation’s Kumamoto Technology Center (located in Kikuchi Gun, Kumamoto Prefecture), which is the primary manufacturing site of image sensors for digital cameras and security cameras as well as micro-display devices, were halted and currently remain suspended. With aftershocks continuing and employee safety the foremost priority, inspections of the facility and the development of a recovery plan remain ongoing. The current status of operations for the Kumamoto Technology Center is as follows:
  • Damage to the building itself has been confirmed to be primarily to the upper layer of the building, and reinforcement work will be carried out in this area.
  • The clean rooms used for wafer processing and manufacturing equipment, both located on the lower layer of the building have not been significantly damaged, and preparations are now underway to resume production. Manufacturing operations are targeted to resume around the end of May 2016.
  • Regarding back-end processes, such as assembly and measurement, as well as processing operations for components such as camera modules, which are carried out on the upper layer of the building, Sony has confirmed that there is damage to the clean rooms, manufacturing equipment and other equipment. Further analysis of the extent of this damage is currently underway.
  • Damage to finished product inventory such as image sensors at Kumamoto Technology Center is limited, and shipments of these products have already resumed. The status of semi-finished and uncompleted products is currently being confirmed.

The impact of the earthquakes on Sony Corporation’s (“Sony”) consolidated results continues to be evaluated. In the Devices segment, there is expected to be direct physical damage to Kumamoto Technology Center. Sony expects to incur expenses primarily for recovery and reinforcement work in response to the physical damage to the relevant portion of the Kumamoto Technology Center. Sony may also incur large opportunity losses, mainly in the Devices and Imaging Products & Solutions segments due to suspension of production for a certain period of time.

In addition, due to the suspension of manufacturing operations at Kumamoto Technology Center and potential disruption to the supply of components to Sony from certain third-party suppliers that also have manufacturing facilities in the Kumamoto region, it is possible that business operations within the Mobile Communications, Game & Network Services and Home Entertainment & Sound segments also may be affected. This potential impact is currently being evaluated.

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(SR4) A99 will be discontinued end of this summer

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[shoplink 45722 ebay][/shoplink]

The following info comes via the one source who shared the new “GM lens line” rumor as first (read the rumor here). So it should be quite a reliable info: He said Sony plans to discontinue [shoplink 45722 ebay]the current A99[/shoplink] by end of this summer. He cannot share details yet about how the new A99 successor will be. But stay tuned on SAR. As soon as he “can” he will whisper to use some first details about the new A-mount flagship!

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