Last week, we showcased an image from our multi-camera over CoaXPress demo. In that image, some cameras were rotated counterclockwise, but the scenes they recorded appeared to rotate clockwise. This effect will be explained this week.

Creating a simple schematic makes it easy to understand why this occurs. Let’s start with a camera aligned along one edge of our rectangular object – in this case, a phone as before.

Now consider rotating that camera counterclockwise while keeping the phone stationary relative to its surroundings.

What you’ll notice is that specific areas move out from view first during rotation. Imagine setting up your monitor display so it appears parallel with what would happen if someone rotated both image and physical world in opposite directions simultaneously – essentially mirroring one against each other via software processing choices made by system designers who might use terms like “optical flow simulation” or simply prefer certain visual consistency even when sensor orientation physically changes.

The result is visually counter-intuitive: the phone appears tilted clockwise while we’ve actually mechanically rotated our imaging device counterclockwise.

Last Updated: 2025-09-04 21:07:24