4 ms·

I love this. I collect interesting obsolete hardware; I bought a Light L16 recently for cheap but it can no longer update itself, unfortunately. Lytro is on my

by joshu 4y ago

I love this. I collect interesting obsolete hardware; I bought a Light L16 recently for cheap but it can no longer update itself, unfortunately. Lytro is on my list as well. The lytro itself is a lightfield / plenoptic camera. It captures the angle of light coming into the camera as well, which lets you calculate focus AFTER the photo has been taken. Focus is, of course, itself just another computation. http://graphics.stanford.edu/papers/lfcamera/ http://graphics.stanford.edu/papers/lfcamera/

sacnoradhq 4y ago
-- Media -- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Smell-O-Vision https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Smell-O-Vision https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MiniDisc https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MiniDisc Toshiba Twin S-VHS changer https://youtu.be/aEEYuJw7vFk https://youtu.be/aEEYuJw7vFk https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HitClips https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HitClips https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pocket_Rockers https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pocket_Rockers 0.85" / 22 mm HDD used in MP3 players https://web.archive.org/web/20120718025547/http://www.toshiba.co.jp/about/press/2004_03/pr1601.htm https://web.archive.org/web/20120718025547/http://www.toshib... -- Computing peripherals -- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/CueCat https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/CueCat https://www.computinghistory.org.uk/det/12416/Logitech-Cyberman/ https://www.computinghistory.org.uk/det/12416/Logitech-Cyber... -- Alternative computers -- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amiga_500 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amiga_500 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/IBM_PCjr https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/IBM_PCjr -- Electronics -- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Capsela https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Capsela https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Heathkit https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Heathkit Grandparents had a Heathkit TV like this with an ultrasonic remote that could also be controlled by jingling keys: https://www.nostalgickitscentral.com/heath/products/tv/gr2502.jpg https://www.nostalgickitscentral.com/heath/products/tv/gr250... == Of course == Grandpa's Polaroid 350 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Polaroid_Corporation#/media/File:Polaroid_Automatic_350_instant_camera.jpg https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Polaroid_Corporation#/media/Fi...
- jacquesm 4y ago
  > Grandparents had a Heathkit TV like this with an ultrasonic remote that could also be controlled by jingling keys I wished my Sony A7 had such a nice and elegant shortcut for remote video recording. Instead it has a crappy little remote control that eats batteries like candy and that seems to un-pair spontaneously in mid recording session and other such niceties.
- joshu 4y ago
  I have a cuecat and a pc jr keyboard in my collection, as it focuses on tech innovation failure. A bunch of other items on this list are good additions. I should probably make a list of my collection. A working juicero. A rolleron. An itanium cpu. A working General Magic device. The iBook I wrote del.icio.us on… I had capsela as a kid. Hadn’t thought about it in decades. Thank you.
- steanne 4y ago
  librarything still sells and works with cuecats
slopperyslip 4y ago
Was curious about a Light L19 seeing how cheap it is now and did some digging around for how to update. This Github project from an XDA thread may do the trick https://github.com/helloavo/Light-L16-Archive https://github.com/helloavo/Light-L16-Archive
- joshu 4y ago
  Thank you for this.
- icelancer 4y ago
  Oh wow, this camera! I saw it years ago and never thought about it again. It's such an interesting idea for my field of work that wants variable focus throughout a video shot with high speed photography, but can't get it with the equipment that exists on the market.
- fire 4y ago
  thanks for this, I've been needing to factory reset my L16 but I couldn't locate any of the firmware
d1sxeyes 4y ago
That’s a really interesting way of phrasing it I’d never fully considered: of course you are right, a physical lens is just performing predictable mathematical transformations on the light passing through it. Thank you, that was something of a revelation in understanding how these cameras actually work.
- joshu 4y ago
  More importantly, focusing a lens is one of many possible transformations. Look up coded apertures. so much is possible.
- weinzierl 4y ago
  "just performing predictable mathematical transformations" Just linear algebra, to be precise. A lens is just a matrix and rays are simply vectors. Combining lenses is merely matrix multiplication and complex optical systems can be represented by the result, which is a plain simple matrix again. The Eigenvalues tell you interesting properties of your optical system. I've always enjoyed this part of physics because it is so simple and elegant, yet so powerful. If you look closely linear algebra pops up in many places.
  - ddalex 4y ago
    Going on a metaphysical tangent, it is a bit weird that A LOT of physical processes can be modelled with linear algebra, and don't require something way more advanced ...
    - fhars 4y ago
      That is actually deliberate, we tend to organize everyday life and the devices we build around processes that are easy to model, that is why many things look like linear processes and harmonic oscillators (the first two term of the Taylor expansion of the actual behavior). We change the type of spring we use if the current one starts to wear out early under normal operational conditions.
      - 4y ago

by joshu 4y ago

sacnoradhq 4y ago

-- Media -- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Smell-O-Vision https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Smell-O-Vision https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MiniDisc https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MiniDisc Toshiba Twin S-VHS changer https://youtu.be/aEEYuJw7vFk https://youtu.be/aEEYuJw7vFk https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HitClips https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HitClips https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pocket_Rockers https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pocket_Rockers 0.85" / 22 mm HDD used in MP3 players https://web.archive.org/web/20120718025547/http://www.toshiba.co.jp/about/press/2004_03/pr1601.htm https://web.archive.org/web/20120718025547/http://www.toshib... -- Computing peripherals -- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/CueCat https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/CueCat https://www.computinghistory.org.uk/det/12416/Logitech-Cyberman/ https://www.computinghistory.org.uk/det/12416/Logitech-Cyber... -- Alternative computers -- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amiga_500 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amiga_500 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/IBM_PCjr https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/IBM_PCjr -- Electronics -- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Capsela https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Capsela https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Heathkit https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Heathkit Grandparents had a Heathkit TV like this with an ultrasonic remote that could also be controlled by jingling keys: https://www.nostalgickitscentral.com/heath/products/tv/gr2502.jpg https://www.nostalgickitscentral.com/heath/products/tv/gr250... == Of course == Grandpa's Polaroid 350 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Polaroid_Corporation#/media/File:Polaroid_Automatic_350_instant_camera.jpg https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Polaroid_Corporation#/media/Fi...

jacquesm 4y ago
> Grandparents had a Heathkit TV like this with an ultrasonic remote that could also be controlled by jingling keys I wished my Sony A7 had such a nice and elegant shortcut for remote video recording. Instead it has a crappy little remote control that eats batteries like candy and that seems to un-pair spontaneously in mid recording session and other such niceties.
joshu 4y ago
I have a cuecat and a pc jr keyboard in my collection, as it focuses on tech innovation failure. A bunch of other items on this list are good additions. I should probably make a list of my collection. A working juicero. A rolleron. An itanium cpu. A working General Magic device. The iBook I wrote del.icio.us on… I had capsela as a kid. Hadn’t thought about it in decades. Thank you.
steanne 4y ago
librarything still sells and works with cuecats

slopperyslip 4y ago

Was curious about a Light L19 seeing how cheap it is now and did some digging around for how to update. This Github project from an XDA thread may do the trick https://github.com/helloavo/Light-L16-Archive https://github.com/helloavo/Light-L16-Archive

joshu 4y ago
Thank you for this.
icelancer 4y ago
Oh wow, this camera! I saw it years ago and never thought about it again. It's such an interesting idea for my field of work that wants variable focus throughout a video shot with high speed photography, but can't get it with the equipment that exists on the market.
fire 4y ago
thanks for this, I've been needing to factory reset my L16 but I couldn't locate any of the firmware

d1sxeyes 4y ago

That’s a really interesting way of phrasing it I’d never fully considered: of course you are right, a physical lens is just performing predictable mathematical transformations on the light passing through it. Thank you, that was something of a revelation in understanding how these cameras actually work.

joshu 4y ago
More importantly, focusing a lens is one of many possible transformations. Look up coded apertures. so much is possible.
weinzierl 4y ago
"just performing predictable mathematical transformations" Just linear algebra, to be precise. A lens is just a matrix and rays are simply vectors. Combining lenses is merely matrix multiplication and complex optical systems can be represented by the result, which is a plain simple matrix again. The Eigenvalues tell you interesting properties of your optical system. I've always enjoyed this part of physics because it is so simple and elegant, yet so powerful. If you look closely linear algebra pops up in many places.
- ddalex 4y ago
  Going on a metaphysical tangent, it is a bit weird that A LOT of physical processes can be modelled with linear algebra, and don't require something way more advanced ...
  - fhars 4y ago
    That is actually deliberate, we tend to organize everyday life and the devices we build around processes that are easy to model, that is why many things look like linear processes and harmonic oscillators (the first two term of the Taylor expansion of the actual behavior). We change the type of spring we use if the current one starts to wear out early under normal operational conditions.
    - 4y ago