FCam platform for Nokia N900 offers photography apps

Nokia N900 Handset

Members of Stanford University, Nokia and other partners have surfaced with an interesting offering that grew from the Camera 2.0 project. Stanford University has collaborated with Nokia to create FCam which is an open-source digital photography platform for the company’s Linux based N900 handset.

An abbreviation of Frankencamera, the FCam integrates an array of photography related apps. Users can now create novel images and also overcome inadequacies of their gadgets with these apps. The FCamera which uses FCam libraries as well as drivers, can be employed by developers to craft their own camera apps.

“The N900 is a camera phone, but it runs a version of Linux almost as complete as that installed on personal computers,” Kari Pulli, Nokia employee. “For this reason, it was chosen as the host device for the FCam platform.”

With Low-light Assistant, users can capture good quality images even in dimly lit environments. Additionally, it reduces the possibility of dark or blurred images. This app allows users to take two images consecutively and delivers a sharp image by combining them intuitively.

HDR Capture can prove to be useful for operating cameras under brightly lit conditions. Photographers can take up to three images with different exposure settings. All the images can then be merged to display details of objects in the foreground as well as background accurately.

Photo-trickery employs two flash units which operate independent of each other for capturing the position and trajectory of moving objects. The N900’s 5MP camera and Carl Zeiss lens can probably be put to full use with the help of this platform.

N900 users can avail of FCam at no additional cost through FCam’s official website.