Olympus announces 360-degree CCD sensor prototype, surveillance firms drool

Around this time last year, we got wind of CCD-based projectors and cameras from Olympus that were outfitted with a curious "axial symmetrical free curved surface lens." Now, said company is finally providing a few details about its current prototype, which essentially enables 360-degree photographs to be taken. Unfortunately (or fortunately, depending on perspective), the sensor isn't quite ready to be pushed out into the world, but as you can certainly imagine, it'll likely make a B-line for surveillance outfits just as soon as it's ready.

[Via AkihabaraNews]

[thedesolate1 @ Jun 30th 2008 1:05PM]

Drop your pants and bend down. Big brother is horny.

[ShadowKain @ Jun 30th 2008 1:07PM]

"HAL, open the pod bay doors!"
"I'm sorry Dave, I'm afraid I can't do that"

The second picture made me laugh. But who knows, these things are probably going to be expensive as hell and available only to few...who knows...

[andres @ Jun 30th 2008 1:11PM]

this can only take porn to a whole new level

[Seraphim @ Jun 30th 2008 2:17PM]

.. to where you can see the sweaty cameraman? o_O

[Michael Moody @ Jun 30th 2008 1:21PM]

This is really old news. Back in 1999, Cyclovision released Parashot, which was a parabolic mirror lens for Agfa and Nikon cameras. We used it to take pictures for real estate agents to do virtual 360 walkthroughs of houses.

http://www.dpreview.com/news/9906/99061401parashot.asp

Michael

[Freakin Ijit @ Jun 30th 2008 2:11PM]

It's a wee bit older than that:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anamorphosis

[jjd @ Jun 30th 2008 1:23PM]

I know I'm being an ass, but the word you were looking for is "beeline" not "B-line".

[Mile @ Jun 30th 2008 1:29PM]

Troof! LOL!

[jason @ Jun 30th 2008 2:53PM]

maybe they were referencing it was sub-par, like a b-actor.

[Kaiser-Machead @ Jun 30th 2008 1:24PM]

"Quick, Agent Johnson, where's the suspect headed!?"

"He's headed up.....no wait going back down........OH MY GOD HE'S RUNNING IN CIRCLES!"

[jjd @ Jun 30th 2008 1:25PM]

I know I'm being an ass, but the word you are looking for is "beeline" not "B-line".

[ev01 @ Jun 30th 2008 1:30PM]

I too, am being an ass - and the word you are looking for is "beeline" no "B-Line".

[drumstyk1 @ Jun 30th 2008 1:35PM]

ooo i am ready for the webcam version!

[Evan @ Jun 30th 2008 1:39PM]

It's not a sensor, it's a lens. The sensor is a normal CCD.

[Gman @ Jun 30th 2008 1:39PM]

Tell Ethan Hunt that the blind spot is directly above it.

[Danakin @ Jun 30th 2008 1:49PM]

cool beans

[helloUser @ Jun 30th 2008 2:11PM]

Can I be an ass too?

[Seraphim @ Jun 30th 2008 2:20PM]

only if you are covered with brightly colored streamers and your innards are composed of candy

[andres @ Jun 30th 2008 2:30PM]

only if nobody else is a dick

[Adam @ Jun 30th 2008 2:41PM]

TAKING SCREENSHOTS OF IMAGES WITH THE TOOLTIP DISPLAYED BOTHERS ME MORE THAN NAILS ON A CHALKBOARD.

I can't make it go away, yarg.

[Zgradis @ Jun 30th 2008 3:02PM]

Osaka university had this over a year ago, already saw it live in person. Fking copy cats!

[fieldcar @ Jun 30th 2008 4:01PM]

@ Adam

I agree, tooltiped Screenies are totally lame.

Solution: right click image > Adblock Image > OK > Loving firefox.

[billedluh @ Jun 30th 2008 4:29PM]

the equipped with a ccd camera lens.

[Mark @ Jun 30th 2008 4:52PM]

Yeah, I saw this just over two years ago in a trade fair in Yokohama, they were also demonstrating software to flatten out the image into a panorama.

[Wwhat @ Jun 30th 2008 5:04PM]

There were actually painters that painted that way in the pre-industrial age already and you needed a mirrored cylinder and put it on the middle to see the picture.
The use in cameras is old too, and when I say old I mean decades.
What I gather from the translated bit is that it's specially designed from glass to avoid having too odd effects? It's hard to tell to be honest.
Try it yourself:
http://translate.google.com/translate?u=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.olympus.co.jp%2Fjp%2Fnews%2F2008a%2Fnr080630fclabj.cfm&hl=en&ie=UTF8&sl=ja&tl=en
and
http://66.102.9.104/translate_c?hl=en&sl=ja&tl=en&u=http://www.fc-lab.jp/jp/activ/hikari/gallery/index.html

[skulldriveshaft @ Jun 30th 2008 10:41PM]

get the christmas decorations out kids.

[JohnnyGTO @ Jul 1st 2008 12:49AM]

Big deal, been done by everyone from iPix to Sony. The real trick is getting the software to flatten the image into a useful NVR package like Milestone's XProtect.

[Abhinav @ Jul 1st 2008 11:00AM]

Guess i'll be making those IR embedded goggles now :P

[alienvenom @ Jul 1st 2008 1:24PM]

The screen shot of the image with the tooltip included is totally throwing me off... Thanks for inducing me an aneurysm Engadget!