Kinect-like camera interface for taking self-portraits

While digital cameras have made it easier to take self-portraits thanks to the inclusion of self-timers, face, smile and motion detection, and the positioning of displays on the front of the camera - as seen with Samsung's DualView camera - changing the framing or altering settings still requires the user to run back to the camera itself to get things right. Now researchers at the University of Tsukuba's Department of Computer Science in Japan have developed technology that lets shutterbugs put themselves in the picture and snap a pic using Kinect-like hand gestures.

The initial system devised by Shaowei Chu and Jiro Tanaka requires a camera either with a front-facing viewfinder, or one that can be flipped around to face the front. Using a computer vision algorithm created by the researchers, the viewfinder - preferably of a decent size - displays an augmented live video view that can control various camera functions from a distance by tracking and recognizing the subject's hand gestures in real time.

Source: gizmag.comAdded: 20 June 2011