P3D Perfect digital camera for twinning?

[Bill Costa - NIS/CIS - University of New Hampshire <Bill.Costa@xxxxxxx>]

    I just saw in "Popular Science" a blurb for Panasonic's new PalmCam
    PV-DC1080 which caught my attention because of how close the lens is to
    the extreme end of the camera.  To see a photo of this camera (and its
    sibling the PV-DC1000) check out:

    	http://www.panasonic.com/PCEC/palmcam/palmcam_frame.html

    When I saw this configuration I immediately thought of how this camera
    would be ideal for twinning based on this lens placement.

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    From measuring the photograph I estimate that you could potentially
    have a minimum lens offset of approximately 1.5" (38 mm).  The camera
    uses a 1/4 CCD with a 5.7mm focal length lens.  The specs claim this is
    equivalent to a 55mm lens on a 35mm still camera.  The lens is fixed
    focus with a macro mode.  Normal focusing area is 0.7m - infinity with
    40cm (approx) in macro mode.

    The camera itself is quite small at 3.58" x 2.36" x 1.24".  If there
    is no built-in remote shutter release (the specs don'd say), this small
    size could make modifying it to add that feature very dicey to say the
    least.

    The blurb gave the MSR price for the PV-DC1080, which comes with a
    flash, is $549.  Even at street prices the thought of spending
    something approaching $1K for photos with only 640x480 resolution
    doesn't seem like that great a deal to me.  But at least it seems like
    with this camera you may at least be able to achieve whatever useable
    offset you could possibly want.  No?

    							Later.....BC

    PS: This camera has an LCD display on the back.  Would it be too much
    to hope that its placement on the camera would make a stereo viewfinder
    on a twinned version feasible?  Nah...

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##    ###   ##    ## | Bill Costa                                          |
##    ####  ##    ## | CIS - Kingsbury Hall                                |
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##    ##  ####    ## | University of New Hampshire    FAX: +1-603-862-4778 |
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