“In a patent filing discovered on Thursday, Apple describes a digital camera implementation that continuously captures and stores images in a buffer until the user releases the shutter, at which time the system automatically selects the best picture based on a number of predetermined variables,” Mikey Campbell reports for AppleInsider.
“Filed with the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office in October of 2012, Apple’s ‘Image capturing device having continuous image capture’ offers owners of small, portable devices more leeway when trying to get the perfect shot,” Campbell reports. “Apple’s system starts up when a user launches a photo app like Camera, continuously capturing and storing sequential full-resolution images to a buffer. When a request is given (shutter press or screen touch), the system pulls from the pool and chooses one image based on when it was captured, its quality, or a combination of the two. ”
More info, and Apple’s patent application illustrations, in the full article here.
What Apple’s camera needs is a stabilization circuit as good as the one on Will Willis’s show “Special Ops Mission” on the military channel.
My 2006 Minolta had this feature, along with image stabilization. Worked good for things that aren’t moving. Selected the sharpest one and pitched the rest.
A few years ago, Casio introduced a camera that did something like that. Their intended use was action photos, that you get the EXACT best shot of the action.
As a professional photographer who likes to use my iPhone when my DSLR is not with me, I would despise a device that picked the “best” photo for me. Unless I had access to the buffer to pick the best one for myself. What if in the sharpest shot of a group of people they all had their eyes closed? What software could distinguish that? Terrible idea.