By Evan Ackerman

Adequate light has always been a problem for picture taking, which is why someone made the mistake of inventing the on-camera flash, spawning generations of washed out pictures filled with creepy red eyes. A much better way to go about taking pictures in the dark is with a more sensitive lens, but the more sensitive the lens gets, the bigger it has to be.

You can get around this practical limitation by cheating and using electronic enhancement, and the Electrophysics AstroScope 9350EOS-FF night vision module makes this just about as easy as possible by mounting snugly between your DSLR body and the lens of your choice. You can use telephoto lenses, macro lenses, tilt-shift lenses… The AstroScope preserves all the electronic connections between your camera and your lens and just sits there, amplifying photons as they pass through. It works just fine with image stabilization, draws a minimal amount of power from your battery, and is available for both Nikon and Canon DSLRs.

As far as price goes, Electrophysics thoughtfully answers that question in their FAQ:

Is the AstroScope expensive?

The AstroScope 9350-series products are cost effective modular solutions. We designed the AstroScope with modularity in mind to save you money and to “build in” a level of forwards compatibility. You can take advantage of the unique opportunity to “swap” our patented Gen III AstroScope common module Central Intensifier Unit from one night vision imaging platform to another (for example, use one CIU for both a camcorder and an SLR camera setup).

The only other problem with this night vision module is that it turns the whole image that exciting high-tech military fluorescent green color, which might cramp your style if you’re trying to, say, take pictures of animals at night. The solution, of course, is to go find animals that are green to begin with. Like, polar bears.

[ AstroScope ] VIA [ Photography Blog ]

I didn’t put it in quotes because he more endorsed it than straight up said it was happening, but I think we all know that if the big guy sees it happening, it’s probably happening sometime soon. Gates was talking about Natal in a broad and interesting interview over at CNET, and mentioned that Microsoft Research is deep into working on home and office implementations of the flashy stereo-camera setup. Great, because I’m planning on running Windows 7 for the next five years (or more, if it’s the next XP), and the touch and apparently motion controls being researched are making it a more and more versatile operating system than it already is.

The remainder of the interview (to be honest, the Natal part is only a little bit at the end) concerns Gates’ occupations now that he’s left Microsoft’s day-to-day activities, and he talks about some of his investment programs and what he’s looking forward to from Microsoft and other companies.

He gets a zinger off on Google Chrome OS, not exactly on the company or the upcoming OS, but on everyone who is slobbering over it:

When Google is doing anything it gets this–the more vague they are, the more interesting it is.

Is that not exactly right? I like Bill. I ought to call him up.

Don’t have the money to get yourself a Gigapan system, and don’t want to spend the time stitching together pictures from your regular point-and-shoot? Japan has a solution for you. The great thing is, it’s so simple I don’t have to explain it. Actually, that trigger bit looks kind of complicated, but I’m sure you’ll figure something out.

But seriously, if you want to do panoramic photos, get Hugin. The solution pictured is ingenious, though.

[via Reddit]