The robots are getting closer! Further to our story a few months back about robotic product photography, Canon has now entered the fray with an announcement of its own remote control device that will allow for operation of the company’s interchangeable-lens cameras.
‘Remote operation of cameras has been growing in popularity among photo agencies and media outlets, as seen in today’s coverage of global sporting and news events,’ the Canon press release states. ‘Canon is excited to develop a powerful solution that reflects years of testing and feedback from the organisations that will benefit the most from this device.’
The so far unnamed ‘solution’ uses a system that enables the camera’s optical axis to be perpendicular to the device’s axis of revolution. This, says Canon, will provide photographers (camera operators?) with operation capabilities that feel similar to handheld or tripod shooting.
The combination of hardware and software allows a photographer to control multiple cameras at once, with the ability to control multiple remote-control or static remote systems from a single computer. Photographers will be able to operate each device to pan, tilt or rotate the camera and zoom the lens, and images can transmit via a network connection to a centralized location, ‘a feature that will prove to be very useful for news outlets and agencies’ (but probably lead to more photographer redundancies at those news outlets and agencies.)
The Canon innovation will allow for image capture from a variety of angles and viewpoints that might not have not been possible through conventional shooting methods. But that’s just the start of it: ‘Moving forward, Canon’s goal is to create a system suited for a wide range of shooting needs that go beyond live sporting and news events, including e-commerce, product photography and more. By developing these types of innovative image-capture solutions, Canon is helping to provide new perspectives to the events that shape the world around us.’
There is no timeline revealed in the formal announcement.
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