The paparazzi might be happy with this new “dark flash camera,” because now they can photograph celebrities without startling them at night. That’s right, this camera, invented by Dilip Krishnan and Rob Fergus at New York University, possesses a unique invisible flash, which has a bulb that emits IR and UV rays but light.
The duo modified the regular flash bulb to radiate a wider spectrum of light and filter out the visible part. To achieve this they had to remove the IR and UV filters from the camera. The dark flash camera image suffers from color misbalances that closely resemble a picture shot from a night vision camera. Therefore, a second, flash free, exposure had to be provided instantly after the dark flash image to impart the image with natural hues.
The dark flash image has fine details but unnatural hues and the flash-free image has accurate color balance, but is blurry. Hence the two are complementary to each other. New software has been developed to combine the two images, resulting in very natural and fine images. Like all newborn inventions, it has some flaws; the objects that can absorb UV and IR light don’t appear in the dark flash images or the reconstruction, like freckles. This camera will be unveiled at Siggraph conference in New Orleans this August.
Via: NewScientist/FastCompany
