For those fed up with the family photos where one person is perpetually frowning, a new Japanese camera is said to automatically weed out pictures when a person isn’t smiling.
Electronics giant Sony said on Wednesday it will begin sales this month of the compact “Cyber-shot T” series that can detect a smile and immediately drop the shutter.
The photographer can program the camera to detect which type of facial expression to look for, be it a faint smile or a tooth-baring grin, a Sony spokesperson said.
But the camera is not exclusively designed to take pictures of happy moments, she added. The user can turn off the function and use it as a normal camera.
Similar technology is also available on other Japanese cameras, including those made by Olympus, although each company develops the technology independently.
Sony’s DSC-T200 and DSC-T70 will be launched on September 21 at a price starting at 40 000 yen ($345). — AFP