Google's Cultural Institute was founded in 2011 with the goal of having "important cultural material available and accessible to everyone and to digitally preserve it to educate and inspire future generations." In their pursuit of said goal, Google has just announced their new Art Camera; a robotically controlled gigapixel camera specifically designed for photographing some of the finest works of art in existence.
The camera utilizes laser and sonar technology to measure the distance from the camera to the artwork to ensure every shot is in focus. The robotic system automatically adjusts the camera between shots to get every inch of high-definition detail. By moving to robotic technology vs a human operator making each shot adjustment, Google is greatly reducing the amount of time necessary to produce these ultra-resolution gigapixel images.
The Port of Rotterdam by Paul Signac | Via: Google Cultural Institute / Museum Boijmans Van Beuningen
To celebrate their new Art Camera, Google is releasing the first 1,000 images of artwork by artists such as Pissarro, Signac, Rembrandt, Van Gogh, Monet, and more. With more than 25 new museums partnering with Google in the past several months, this collection of images is going to continue growing in leaps and bounds. If you are an art lover who wants to be able to take in every minute detail of these priceless works, this latest update to the Cultural Institute's collection is a treasure trove waiting to be explored.
[Via Google]
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I remember the manager at the camera store I worked for saying "the megapixel war is over" when the D200 hit 10MP
I remember getting upgraded from a 40GB to 60GB hard drive, and being told I'd never fill it.
the tripod mounts available are nowhere near as sophisticated as the unit Google built specifically for capturing paintings.