Prototypes
2001–2013: the cameras I built when the ones I needed did not exist, from the periscope XCam to helmet and inspection cameras for homeland security.
When the camera I needed did not exist, I built it. This is twelve years of prototypes, from two camcorders facing each other in 2001 to helmet, vehicle and inspection cameras for homeland security customers in 2013. Some became products, some became case studies, all of them taught me something.
XCam
In 2001 sensors were large and the only affordable video cameras were DV camcorders. Put two of them back to back and their lenses sit too far apart to stitch cleanly. So I turned them to face each other and folded the light through a prism and mirrors, the way a periscope does, to bring both optical centres together. Every camera on this page descends from that idea.
PL54 lens
Then 360° on cinema cameras. Two 220° fisheye lenses, each on a C-mount, joined by a T-junction in the middle, with a PL54 adaptor ring as the main mount, so the whole assembly could sit on an Aaton 35 mm film camera. The first live test was with Photint on the bank of Dubai Creek, on a Sony HD camera.
Vehicle camera
A proof of concept for vehicle integration. The optics were known by then; the real work was the casing, designed and moulded in fibreglass so a 360° camera could live on a car roof.
TCam
The periscope idea, shrunk. Two camera boards and their optics folded into one compact aluminium body, then an IP version built for surveillance networks.
The H2
Everything above, built into a Hummer: a 360° camera, four panoramic cameras and a long-range PTZ, four operator screens, its own power and live transmission. It has its own page.
Styx
An unmanned surface vehicle: a 360° camera on a small twin-propeller hull, driven with a gamepad. One screen showed the live 360° view, the camera controls and the map.
Karez inspection system
Built for an army customer, to inspect karez, the underground water channels. A small series was made: a camera unit lowered on a tether, and a rugged tether unit in a camouflage case. Most of it was disposable technology by design.
360° rugged time-lapse
A pole-mounted 360° camera that ran for hours on its own, outdoors, in Dubai heat. It recorded the concerts and New Year’s Eve 2011 at Atlantis The Palm.
Bus simulator
A whole bus in a flight case. Onboard cameras, doors opening and closing, and accelerometer simulation to bookmark what happens to a vehicle: acceleration, slowdown, crash, GPS position and speed, all tied into one database timeline linked to the cameras.
For homeland security
A dual-dome IP camera, a helmet camera, a modular desk camera, and three more designed in CAD: the Hammer, S and USB cameras. All of them were built, and used as consulting material with homeland security customers.
In your pocket today
Today a dual-fisheye 360° camera fits in a pocket and stitches on a phone, and every IP camera maker sells a fisheye with a PTZ beside it. Each prototype on this page solved a version of those problems first, with the parts that existed at the time.
Built, then used
Stephane modified the products to produce spherical images, and developed innovative software products to record, stitch and de-warp digital video streams. He is always thinking two steps ahead, exploring new possibilities, and is a great sparring partner for difficult technical issues.
His creation was (and remains) quite special: a real 360 degree camera. His technical understanding of the camera was 2nd to none as he himself was the creator of the camera system, a system which could be modified to client's needs.
Doo Interactive (2001–2005) and Doo Technologies (2008–2013). Design and engineering: Stéphane Jacob, with the Doo team.