bokeh target

Here's my try at MIT's Media Lab's Bokode idea, where a physically small illuminated target behind a lens focused to infinity can encode data, to be collected by an ordinary camera, also focused at infinity. Although everything else in the image is blurred, the target image appears in focus in the "bokeh" of the out-of-focus blur of the light coming out of the lens.

 

Here's the camera-eye view. I'm one of those old-skool freaks who still has an enlarger kicking around, so I used it as the image projector because it has a convenient film holder and a nice bright light.

 

Here, the bokode targets from yesterday are now recorded on slide film, and the film is in the "bokeh projector" enlarger, which focuses the bokode target image at infinity or thereabouts. The camera is about a meter away, looking through a 135mm f/2.8 lens.

 

The top image is the camera focused on the business end of the enlarger. The bottom image is the camera focused at infinity. You can see the bokode in the image, though it's overexposed here. See the related photos adjacent in my stream to see more.

Done