Two stereo panoramic systems were designed and constructed, both need further development, but the Panoscancam is most promising.
Bowl Camera ImprovementsTo capture an anaglyph image on one sheet of film using the bowl camera, tricolour filters may be used. The bottom image of the stereo pair is exposed twice. Firstly with the blue tricolour filter, followed by the green. The bowl is then moved vertically and is exposed for the third time with the red tricolour filter. This creates an anaglyph image on one sheet of film, albeit in three shots.
Another way of possibly capturing stereo images using the bowl camera is with the use of two bowls, one above the other, joined by a rod with a dichroic mirror half way between them. A dichroic mirror reflects the blue and green light while allowing the red to pass through. By placing this mirror half way between the two bowls, the camera looking through the bottom bowl will see the blue and green light of the bottom bowls reflection and the red light passing through the mirror from the top bowls reflection. This would be a true one shot system. A difficulty would be to calibrate the system so that the images from the two bowls perfectly overlap.
Panoscancam Improvements
At the maximum optical resolution of the scanner, 300 dpi, a 360 degree paonrama has 4050 pixels. This is good enough for internet display, but needs to be improved for quality imaging.
No good colour images have yet been produced due to the spectral response of the sensor which is very red and infrared sensitive. Colour correcting filters may solve this problem.
The lenses used have no apeture control and only allow shots to be taken in very bright conditons (sunshine), better lenses are required.
Also the lenses should have a shorter focal length for a wider vertical angle of view.
The design of special anaglyph combining software can cut down processing times.