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UFO Button

A UFO button on cameras and video cams that locks focus to infinity
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The problem with almost all UFO footage is that the camera struggles to keep focus on the textureless sky. A UFO is something that is usually far enough away that infinite focus would work.

There should be a button on all cameras, including smartphone ones, marked UFO, that immediately sets focus to infinity an intelligently optimizes shutter with the assumption of the user trying to capture a moving object in the sky. If it is night time, very bright lights should also be anticipated and not be overexposed.

Another problem is that when the user is zoomed in that it is easy to lose the erratic moving object from view. Therefore, pressing the UFO button again should cause the camera to rapidly zoom out fully in order for the user to find the UFO again in the viewfinder.

And if you don't believe in UFOs I think the infinity focus thing would still be a nifty feature to have.

Eon, Apr 07 2013

London passive blah blah blah.. http://www.economis...-aircraft-programme
[not_morrison_rm, Apr 07 2013]

[link]






       Could work in tandem with the new London passive radar system...or just a normal bicycle.
not_morrison_rm, Apr 07 2013
  

       would this assist with peregrines?
po, Apr 07 2013
  

       We have a pretty nice digital still/video camera that has a setting called 'INF'. It locks the focal plane at infinity in both modes. It sounds a lot like your idea, although I feel that 'INF' mode is more versatile than 'UFO' mode because it can be used to film anything at an unknown range, not just UFOs.   

       At the moment I'm too lazy to get up and find out which camera has this feature, but it's either a Kodak or a Canon. Or maybe it's my dad's Nikon. Come to think of it, my 12X 32mm AA Countersniper has an infinity setting as well. Anyway, the tech already exists and is OTS available.
Alterother, Apr 07 2013
  

       Another UFO button could be used to superimpose an UFO blurred image on the background.
piluso, Apr 07 2013
  

       The funny thing is that, although the likelihood of any random person having a camera on their person at any given time has increased by 28-fold in the last 15 years, photographs of UFOs and of cryptozoids have actually decreased.   

       This is worrying. It means, clearly, that extraterrestrials and living dinosaurs are both capable of detecting (and thusfor avoiding) mobile phones.
MaxwellBuchanan, Apr 07 2013
  

       How far away are UFOs usually?
tatterdemalion, Apr 08 2013
  

       Pretty much infinity.
csea, Apr 08 2013
  

       I always thought "UFO" was just shorthand for UnFOcused. Imagine my surprise. Welcome Eon.
AusCan531, Apr 08 2013
  

       Unidentified Fuzzy Objects. Meaning that many are now identified as LOLcatz rather than aliens, so the perceived drop in UFO pictures is just because... well, people can tell from your Facebook profile that you haven't actually *been* to Roswell.
lurch, Apr 08 2013
  

       The last couple of point and shoots I've had have a "landscape" setting that does this.
MechE, Apr 08 2013
  

       An analysis of photographs of UFOs take over the past 65 years indicates that nearly all such photos, film or digital, appear to be fuzzy, out of focus.   

       The answer to this seeming problem is that, in fact, a great number of those photos are actually in good focus: UFOs, therefore, are actually fuzzy.   

       I suspect it's a manifestation of the improbability drive used in interstellar travel, as was so brilliantly explained by Douglas Adams.
whlanteigne, Apr 08 2013
  

       It could be something as simple as active camoflage or energetic drive emmissions.
Alterother, Apr 08 2013
  

       Yes, welcome to Eon.
Next to the UFO button could be an Oh-No button, which you press in case the alien being/creature sneaks up on you while you are staring at the fuzzy UFO through the viewer.
sqeaketh the wheel, Apr 10 2013
  

       There needs to be a motion capture Sasquatch setting.   

       The UFO button should also upload your video to the internet on any sudden motion of the camera. Thus if you are about to be captured by the UFO / hugged amorously by Bugfoot you can throw the camera to save the moment for posterity.
bungston, Apr 11 2013
  

       // The answer to this seeming problem is that, in fact, a great number of those photos are actually in good focus: UFOs, therefore, are actually fuzzy.   

       Mitch Hedberg once noted that the problem is that Bigfoot actually is fuzzy.
tatterdemalion, Apr 13 2013
  

       Have you ever noticed- Bigfoot is never around when UFOs are?   

       Hmmm...
whlanteigne, Apr 14 2013
  
      
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