Stereo DSLR Software - Feeler

[mjhoward]

A colleague of mine and I have been kicking this idea around for a bit and have decided to move forward on it. We will be creating a software package that allows a photographer/videographer to connect 2 or more cameras and capture images simultaneously. The primary objective will be aimed at capturing stereo images and, later, stereo video. These images and video could then be viewed in 3D by the crosseyed method or by conversion methods outside of our software package that work with the 3D glasses and other methods of viewing.

Features that will already be included:

• Stereo Live View - Live view will be viewable for two cameras side-by-side (stereo). If you are running an array of cameras of more than two, you'll be able to select the left and right cameras to view from the list of connected cameras.
• Simultaneous Capture - We have verified that capture of a stereo pair is simultaneous down to ~1/1000s. It may be more simultaneous however the stopwatch that we took a photo of only went to 3 decimal places.
• Full Exposure Control - full exposure control will be available including ISO, Aperture, and Shutter Speed settings. This is similar to the software that came with your camera only you won't have to switch back and forth between two applications AND you'll be able to control these settings for any and all cameras connected to your computer. I believe the supplied applications only control one device.
• Intervalometer - For those that wish to do time lapse or stop-motion 3D video, we will implement an intervalometer adjustable up to every 24 hours.
• HDR - we plan to have a stereo HDR function. In addition, we plan to offer extended bracketing for the HDR. We havn't decided exactly how far to go with this but we could offer bracketing for the full range which would be +/- 3EV in 1/3 increments... so up to 19 Bracketed Exposures.

Initially, it will only be available for Canon bodies because we already have experience developing software for Canon but support for Nikon bodies would soon follow. These are the ideas we currently have and have implemented in bits and pieces. We have begun to develop the user interface for this but in the mean time I would like to ask the forum members if there are any other features that you could think of that would be desirable in this type of software? Thanks in advance.

 

[IByte]

A light meter gauge. Basically the software with ability to control some functions of the camera. For example, your camera should be on manual, then you would be able to control light metering, white balance, ISO etc.