Automatic Focusing Of Digital Video Camera Computer Science

The surge in popularity of consumer video cameras which has taken place during the last few decades is largely due to the increase in their usability, portability and affordability. Nowadays, one does not need to book a professional videographer in advance, because camera phones and compact digital cameras are always at hand. Although these were not mainly intended to be used as video cameras, a special feature offers the possibility of taking a quick video clip.

One asset which has helped increase their popularity is the automation features available, which makes the camera much more user friendly. The consumer can use the video camera comfortably, without having to worry about focusing, exposure and white balance amongst other things. Moreover, automation makes the use of this camera more time efficient. Engineering has clearly played an important role in this process, especially when transforming the technology from analog to digital. This transformation led to the invention of some other features, such as image stabilization and electronic zooming. The features mentioned have improved a lot lately and are all highly important for high image quality.

A properly focused image or video is always presentable and pleasant to the eye. In the following chapters, a study on the improvements of automatic focusing of consumer video cameras is presented which leads to the developed algorithm with convincing results.

Literature survey exploring the various automatic focusing algorithms that exist to date as various literature on this topic was reviewed. Their corresponding results were discussed and compared and their advantages and disadvantages were examined.

Establishing the technique to be used in the project and studying the theory behind it.

Choosing the right software for the project implementation and learning their particular programming languages and function libraries.

Ordering the hardware and other parts for the system design and finding out how to communicate with software.

Writing the source code, programming the microcontroller and interfacing both hardware and software.

Calibration of hardware components, designing user interface application and testing the developed algorithm.

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