Sony Develops Affordable Camera for the Visually Impaired

pcmag.com:

Let's face it, either as a hobby or vocation, photography has an ableist tilt. And while there are plenty of assists available for creators with physical disabilities that prevent them from holding heavy gear or manipulating tiny knobs and button, the concept of giving sight to those who don't see the world clearly has been, to date, a concept best left for Star Trek: The Next Generation.

Sony is hoping to change that with its new Retinal Projection Camera Kit(Opens in a new window), a Frankenstein device that affixes the QD Laser's Retissa Neoviewer to its HX99 point-and-shoot camera. The Neoviewer sends an image directly to your retina using a safe, low-power laser, and offering a clearer view of an image than folks with visual impairments enjoy without assistants.

It sounds a little sci-fi for certain, but creators with low vision who have tried the Neoviewer are already singing its praises. I spoke to Chris Gampat, editor-in-chief at The Phoblographer(Opens in a new window), who has long enjoyed picture making, despite being legally blind himself. He suffers from keratoconus, a condition that impacts daily life. He's not able to drive, even with corrective lenses, to say nothing of photography. In day-to-day life, he sees the world with a bit of fuzziness, not unlike an impressionist painting or smudged writing on a chalkboard.

Chris tells me that the Neoviewer is a different matter entirely. He doesn't need to fiddle with diopter adjustments to get a clear view of the frame. The Retissa Neoviewer takes a signal from the camera sensor and beams it into his optic nerve, for a clear view. I asked Chris if it was anything like having 20/20 eyesight, but he's just not sure, telling me he's "forgot what that's like." Make