Nikon patents 'toss photography' camera feature

It may take some of the fun away for some, but camera toss photography may soon get less "random" with a new patent from camera maker Nikon.

 

Nikon's patent (No. 2012-189859) seeks to assist in camera toss photography in its compact and mirrorless cameras, PetaPixel.com reported.

 

"Nikon’s camera-toss feature (would have) the camera intelligently snap photos when it’s tossed into the air. An accelerometer would be used to determine the camera’s speed and angle, and would be used to trigger photos at the best points of a toss," it said.

 

Also, the patent suggests protective features to protect parts of the camera from the shock of being thrown, such as retracting a collapsible lens barrel.

 

It said the patent would address problems in triggering the shutters in conventional camera-tossing, including using the self-timer or a wireless shutter release.

 

PetaPixel.com said the more popular self-timer method even requires "a good deal of luck, since it’s hard to time the shot so that it happens at the apex of the toss."

 

But a separate article on Dvice.com said that despite the patent, camera owners will have to remember tossing is not the safest way to take pictures.

 

"Even so, this is certainly not the safest was to take pictures, and we're fairly certain that selecting this mode on some future Nikon camera will force you to hit a button that absolves Nikon from any of the damage or destruction that's about to result," it said.

 

It also said its only criticism about this is that camera tossing is a technique that often "produces the best results when it's at least partially out of your control."

 

"Part of the appeal (for this photographer, anyway) is that the inherent randomness of the toss ensures that the image you get back is always a surprise, and having a system to take over and make the shots perfect would be a bit of a let-down. You could always not use it, of course, but having it there in some automatic mode does take a little bit of the magic out of this one little sliver of photography," it said. — TJD, GMA News