Line Scan Photos from MUNI Heritage Weekend in San Francisco

Posted by plun9 1 day ago

Comments

Comment by dllu 20 hours ago

OP here, ask me anything! I've also written about the process previously:

- Line scan camera image processing: https://daniel.lawrence.lu/blog/2025-09-21-line-scan-camera-... Previous discussions:

  - https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=44996938

  - https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46383593

  - https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46388084

- Standalone line scan camera hardware: https://daniel.lawrence.lu/blog/2026-06-12-standalone-cnc-li...

- Line scan camera image processing 2: https://daniel.lawrence.lu/blog/2026-08-02-line-scan-camera-...

Comment by 0xfaded 1 hour ago

Very cool.

I never thought about it until seeing these, but line scans yield an orthographic projection in the scan direction. There was a little bit of uncanny valley being able to see parts of the front/back of the car that would have normally been compressed out occluded by perspective.

Comment by ramses0 35 minutes ago

Yarp... Mr. Lu, please go to your nearest gigantic poster shop and immediately start selling these prints at art-gallery prices! There's a brief moment in time where you've a monopoly on "pictures that look like this" and you'd probably be able to make your money back (and more) on this highly distinctive photograph style. Do some back and forth chat with AI on "fine art photography pricing structure" and "signature style / visual voice" and you'll likely be pleasantly surprised.

...and I'll be surprised if I don't see these pictures hanging in a bank/startup lobby at some point!

Comment by dole 21 minutes ago

Hell, I'd shop them around to transit authorities. Gorgeous photos, awesome hardware and processing techniques that went into them.

Comment by ramses0 3 minutes ago

Donate copies to sfmuni (no matter what!), or front them as "distribution partner", ie: they sell those posters for $999.99 or whatever and cut checks to Mr. Lu for $99 each (or something).

Comment by plun9 19 hours ago

oh ok

Comment by matja 46 minutes ago

I like the photos, they look like architectural diagrams.

I suppose the subjects moved past the camera perpendicular to the lens direction, so you only see one side.

Are there any examples of what it looks like with a line scan camera when a subject goes past at an angle?

Also, for anyone setting up a tripod with a tripping hazard in public, do consider public liability insurance :)

Comment by abeppu 41 minutes ago

Ok the photos are cool and it's nice to see the vintage street cars. But Muni has a budget shortfall and is planning on cutting a bunch of bus lines and reducing frequency on lines across the system. Meanwhile, it has an internal supply chain to custom build replacement parts for vintage vehicles that no other city will operate, and teams of specialist restorers. Viewed in isolation, they look cool! Viewed in context, is this ... irresponsible?