Introducing The Frankencamera

Photography scientists from Stanford University are engineering an open source camera, which could reinvent digital photography. This would enable a camera to no longer be limited by the software that comes pre-installed by the manufacturer.

"Stanford researchers are particularly interested in bringing some of the photo-enhancing features found in use on computers directly to Frankencamera. Specifically, there are already software packages that extend a camera's dynamic range--its ability to handle many different kinds of lighting in one picture." (read more)

The future of this type of camera would allow consumers to download applications to their open-platform cameras the way Apple apps are downloaded to iPhones today.