Samsung starts production of touch screen that can 'see' like a CMOS sensor

[Andrew Reid]

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[img]http://www.eoshd.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/12/RGB-Table-small.jpg[/img]

This is big. Samsung has begun mass-production of a new screen technology which is also sensitive to light like a digital camera. It has hybrid pixels which display an image as well as sensing it. It represents the start of a complete merging of display and imaging device.

The surface of the 40″ panels contains optical sensors in every pixel. The panel is not just a mix of sensor and display, it is both at the same time.

[url="http://www.eoshd.com/content/5787/samsung-starts-production-of-touch-screen-that-can-see-like-a-cmos-sensor/"]Read full article[/url]

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[Guest Atlasman]

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I can see this technology provide a greater variety of gestures, but then I’m reminded that less is better.

It could serve to provide a finger print to eliminate passwords?

It will be interesting to see what Samsung will do with this.

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[Guest gavinhawk]

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This is why I love your blog, Andrew, because you bring us interesting information related to the future of the camera world, and not just camera and tech reviews.

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[Guest johngriswell]

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Actually this makes me think more of Orwell’s 1984 then some utopian future …

“The voice came from an oblong metal plaque like a dulled mirror which formed part of the surface of the right-hand wall. Winston turned a switch and the voice sank somewhat, though the words were still distinguishable. The instrument (the telescreen, it was called) could be dimmed, but there was no way of shutting it off completely.
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The telescreen received and transmitted simultaneously. Any sound that Winston made, above the level of a very low whisper, would be picked up by it, moreover, so long as he remained within the field of vision which the metal plaque commanded, he could be seen as well as heard. There was of course no way of knowing whether you were being watched at any given moment. How often, or on what system, the Thought Police plugged in on any individual wire was guesswork.”

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[Guest tetaberta]

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interesting news, but it is still just an imaging sensor. It would need a proper lens to be used for taking pictures just like any other technology. It works in touch screen, because no lens is needed, when you touch the sensor.

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[Guest Andrew Reid]

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What a brilliant book. Have you read A Brave New World?

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[Guest Andrew Reid]

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True but they will sort that out in a few years I am sure.

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[Guest Andrew Reid]

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Thank you, I like the mix of both myself!!

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[Guest Andrew Reid]

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Good idea about the fingerprints / passwords.

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[Guest johngriswell]

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You know, after making this post I was saying to my officemate that I need to read A Brave New World.

Love the site. Thanks,

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[Guest B3Guy]

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great book. I thoroughly enjoyed it.

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[Guest B3Guy]

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possibly. the immediate benefit I would see, should it be pixel-pixel input-output (think of how high res the retina display is) . . . it could allow your phone screen to be essentially an instant scanner. The backlight lights the surface, the screen scans/images. Stitching/mosaic programs are already very good at what they do. just wipe your phone over the surface you desire to scan, the phone stitches, and voila!

The one sensor tech that REALLY has me excited right now is the Lytro. The folks over there haven’t even scratched the surface of what they could do with the “light ray mapping” that their sensor is capable of. With some savvy programmers, they could easily shoot at (let’s just say f1.2) and stop down to f4 or whatever they wanted to in post. They could stop down to a star shape, a smiley face shape . . . gosh they could even create an oval bokeh filter all with programming, and it would be REAL (as in the actual image that one would get if the aperture internal to the lens were oval in shape).

I’m also fairly convinced that they could do some lens imperfection correction on a very precise level, to the point where the resulting “virtually corrected lens” just might actually be “perfect”. Of course, once you have a perfect lens, they could easily “reinvent” via software the effects of all sorts of lenses. You want Panavision flares? Sure! tilt/shift? Why not? This little sensor technology reinvents the camera, really it does. sure, it is probably up to a “pro” image quality in terms of DR, color, sharpness, etc. but you bet your bottom it will be in the not too distant future. All one would need on front would be a good zoom lens with a wide aperture. It doesn’t even need to focus, so lens designs will change too. And it needn’t be absolutely perfect, because the software should correct for imperfections. This lets filmmakers get down to business . . . framing, lighting, set, content. A huge chunk of on-set worries are moved to the controlled environment of post production.

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[Guest VideoMan]

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Can we tone down the hyperbole a bit please? It’s a screen/camera hybrid. It’s not mind bending.

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[Guest sam rides a mtb]

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Reminds me of the original cinema camera called the cinematograph invented by the Lumiere brothers. The thing was not only tiny in comparison to Edisons kinetoscope of the same period, but it shot moving film, developed it, and projected it, all within a self contained unit that could be carried anywhere weighing only 5 kilos. Edison’s camera on the other hand was so big, it could not be transported, and so a studio had to be built around it. Too bad the Lumiere brothers and the cinematoscope disappeared from a train one day, never to be found… sure there were others manufactured.. though never became as mainstream as Edison’s machine – which set the precedent for studio/hollywood style – where as Lumiere’s style was more documentary/realist which only recently has gained the mainstream attention that hollywood has owned. BTW, the Lumiere brothers made this cinematograph in 1895!!!

Ever since learning about this nearly 10 years ago in film school, I have yearned for a digital version. I am pretty close at the moment, as I have my GH2/GH1′s, quad core pc, and my Casio Exilm projector – all totaling right around 5 kilos! Now only if my GH2 could project the image back through all the wonderful glass we can use on it! That’s where I think this technology is headed – because after all, you do need some sort of lens to narrow the light, otherwise, all it can function as is a 2d surface scanner. Now if each pixel gets its own lens..then thats a whole nother thing and happy days! The touch screen capabilities are almost a byproduct of the technology.. useful in some applications, not so much in others.

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[FHDcrew]

What an old thread.