In optics, the word catadioptric refers to a system that contains both lenses and mirrors: dioptrics is the science of refracting elements (lenses) and catoptrics is the science of refracting surfaces (mirrors). A single viewpoint catadioptric camera is a device that captures 360-degree images (such as the one at the bottom of the photo). Today, most standard digital cameras offer the possibility of sequential 360-degree shooting, that is, composing a 360-degree image out of overlapping still shots. But it is an under-developed option. The catadioptric camera would be far more advanced in providing a seamless continuous image around a central point. The majority of the catadioptric cameras I have come across are ad-hoc research prototypes under development in universities and institutes around the world. They are not much of an object, they are gadgety-looking: a curved mirror (hyperbolic or parabolic) placed in from of a standard camera. I have not found commercial catadioptric cameras, although I believe the technology that allows full 360-degree, uninterrupted perception, should have excellent prospects of application in a variety of markets. So far, catadioptric cameras only have (boring) applications in the field of computational vision: surveillance, teleconferencing, model acquisition for virtual reality, etc. But imagine using this technology to document the natural world, or to depict stage-based cultural events where one could see, in the same image, the performance and the reaction of the public to it. Turning new technologies into meaningful objects is what design does best.
