“The company’s patent details how its biometric sensors could be used to detect the user’s mood at the time a photograph is taken, based on things like heart rate, perspiration, blood pressure, and so on.”

A newly published patent filed by Nikon suggests that biometric technology may be on the verge of catching on in camera equipment.

Like a patent filed by Canon last summer, the new Nikon patent describes a system in which fingerprint sensors are mounted on the parts of a given camera where it is usually gripped by a photographer. In Canon’s system, the fingerprint sensors would be used to identify the user and to personalize settings accordingly, with additional benefits in terms of securing stored photo data against unauthorized access. But Nikon’s aim appears to be different: The company’s patent details how its biometric sensors could be used to detect the user’s mood at the time a photograph is taken, based on things like heart rate, perspiration, blood pressure, and so on.

In terms of how that information could be useful, that’s a bit less clear. In theory, data about the user’s mood could prove useful in adjusting camera settings; but Nikon’s patent seems to only suggest adding an emoji label to a given photo to literally indicate the user’s mood, with the company suggesting that this information could further enhance a viewer’s appreciation of the image.

Such a feature would probably be of questionable value to photographers, especially professionals who might not care to have emoji’s imprinted onto their images. But at the very least, Nikon’s filing further underscores the growing interest in biometric technology in the camera industry, a sign of the technology’s proliferation beyond the mobile sector in which it has become so ubiquitous.

Sources: New Camera, PetaPixel