#962: Flashield

Although even the most intense camera flash is very unlikely to do permanent damage to anyone’s eyes, the effect can be pretty unpleasant at close range.

Parents especially get annoyed at photographers who fire off flash, even inadvertently, in the face of their baby.

Now that cameras are starting to routinely incorporate some level of face detection, today’s invention is to use that, together with the inbuilt autofocus capability, to sense when a face is closer than the minimum comfort radius and to prevent any flash under those circumstances.