Travelling light: how tech will let you take holiday snaps in the blink of an eye
Sony’s contact lens camera patent is harbinger of a time when we’ll use bodily implants for all sorts of things; for now, be happy with smartphones and apps that turn photos into a short-burst video
Imagine Kowloon Pier without cameras and smartphones. No posed photographs, no selfie sticks, and no phones being dragged through 180 degrees to create identical panoramas of Victoria Harbour. Not even a gaggle of tripods waiting for the Star Ferry and the Aqua Luna. Just people walking, talking and … blinking a lot.
The lives of tourists, travellers and photographers may be heavy on gadgetry for now, but a new concept from Sony promises a completely hands-free way of capturing views and recording precious memories. A patent registered recently by the Japanese electronics giant appears to show a kind of smart contact lens that can the wearer can use to take photos and videos purely by blinking. Once for a photo, twice to roll the video.
It may be the ultimate way of travelling light, but whether Sony’s eye cam ever becomes reality is another matter; its engineers will have to find new ways of shrinking a camera sensor, and there’s also the small matter of where the photos and videos would be stored, and how the product would be powered. Power could theoretically be transmitted wirelessly from an external battery pack, which could also be equipped to receive photos from the contact lens via Bluetooth.