Actually, going back to my previous annotation, there's scope for a sort of whacky bluetooth co-operation protocol. What you tend to see at public events is lots of pathetic little camera flashes going off, none of which have a chance of illuminating the large space the holder is trying to take a picture of. The WBCP would, when you press the shutter buttton, hesitate for about 0.5s during which it would coordinate with other cameras being used so that all the photos which might have been taken in a 0.5s-1s period of time get taken simultaneously, each taking advantaage of the combined flashpower.

---------------------------------------------------- hippo, Dec 04 2003 [edit, delete]

Which would be quite interesting in a sort of oblique P2P kind of way, as the result would also be a thousand or so individual well-lit pictures, each containing an individual unique viewpoint. Taken together as a work, the collection could probably even encompass the subject matter (for example, at a sports ground or stadium). If a sequenced ID number could be distributed among these cameras while the coordination is occurring, then it would be possible to spider the web for this exact metadata, later, and assemble a QuicktimeVR Object movie of the scene (of which your photo is but one facet of).

---------------------------------------------------- Rods Tiger, Dec 04 2003

Thats a cool idea [hippo], I think you should post that separately.

---------------------------------------------------- krelnik, Dec 04 2003
-- hippo, Jul 28 2004

Bluetooth Flash Parrot http://www.halfbake...th_20Flash_20Parrot
Taken from here [hippo, Oct 05 2004]

Bluetooth Ad-Hoc stuff http://cmc.rice.edu...2May5UsingBluet.pdf
This paper evaluates bluetooth in the context of moving vehicles (needing very quick setups!) [Jinbish, Oct 05 2004, last modified Oct 21 2004]

Your idea technically falls under the expertise of these people http://wwws.sun.com/software/jini/
Sun Microsystems: Jini [sartep, Oct 05 2004, last modified Oct 21 2004]

In all likelihood, these people are all photographing the exact same thing. It seems like you could save film (electrons?) by just having one camera (the closest?)take the picture, then arrange for all the other users to receive it.
-- GutPunchLullabies, Jul 28 2004


This is gonna be tricky to bake. Neither Bluetooth, nor Ad-Hoc networks are my bag (baby) but I think that linking each device may take too long to have a 0.5-1 second interval for discovering and linking to other nodes. [see link]

However, that is only assuming that you are starting the comms links as you want to take the picture. With a little functionality in the camera the ad-hoc network could be maintained - reducing the blackout window. There might be master-slave setup (as far as when exactly is the exposure to take place) issues but I guess thats what the protocol itself would deal with.

I like the idea in any case [+]
-- Jinbish, Jul 28 2004


Or you could design them to all go off at the same time in full power at a stadium and fry the person in the center. Hmmm. Buahahahahaha! ++
-- sartep, Jul 28 2004


Don't think Bluetooth would do it, but that's one supercool idea.
-- bpilot, Jul 29 2004


+ but I wanna see the second picture when the entire wedding party is stumbling blindly around and bumping into each other!
WUUMPPHH!
-- gnomethang, Jul 29 2004


Interesting - if you were at some sort of event with a large crowd of people and you took a photo, then everybody's whacky bluetooth synced flashes would flash and the scene would be beautifully and ambiently lit.
-- st3f, Jul 29 2004


Interesting idea, but what happens when you're trying to conserve your flash's battery life and some prick keeps snapping shots? Would there be a disable feature?
Also, if it's wireless, eventually you'd have people cracking it, tripping your flash at odd and inopportune times for a quick laugh or circumventing any disable feature that may be implemented so they can secure their own well-lit photo.
-- scott_r_uber, Aug 13 2005


Anything can be abused. That shouldn't prevent an idea being baked. That logic would see us without Internet, because it could be hacked.

I defy you to circumvent a physical "off" switch.
-- david_scothern, Aug 13 2005



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