THE first #5000 award made by the Glasgow Innovation Fund has gone to

Chris O'Kane and Richard McKelvie of Panomorph. The pair have developed

a photographic system which captures panoramic views and allows them to

be projected on to a large screen.

Present panoramic systems involve a great deal of technical fuss and

expense, according to Mr O'Kane and Mr McKelvie. Their system uses much

less technology and is more economical.

Their special lens compresses the image and allows panoramic views to

be taken with an ordinary hand-held 35mm SLR camera. Being hand held

means that aerial shots can be taken from a plane or helicopter.

Existing systems usually require a tripod because of the slow shutter

speed. In addition only one ordinary 35mm projector is required compared

with two or sometimes three on existing systems incorporating soft edge

matching to marry the two or three shots on screen.

The Panomorph system can be used not only on landscapes but on

anything panoramic and can capture moving images such as trains, boats,

rally cars, racehorses and so on which would normally appear as a blur

on normal panoramic photographs.

Mr O'Kane and Mr McKelvie maintain the effect produced by the standard

camera shot of, say, Loch Lomond is rather like closing one eye on the

view. The Panomorph system allows the photographer to shoot almost what

he sees and the effect on a 15ft-wide screen has to be seen to be

believed.

Mr O'Kane said: ''There never really has been a simple and effective

system that allows you to take panoramic images easily and use a

projection system that is so portable you can present them to a large

audience anywhere in the world. Effectively it is a panoramic system in

a suitcase.

''We are now looking for serious backing from interested companies.''

The two men have already carried out demonstrations for interested

parties and see a commercial future for the invention among tourism

bodies, visitor and heritage centres, in fact, any business which

requires audio-visual conferencing.

Mr O'Kane, an audio-visual technician, and Mr McKelvie, a Glasgow

Underground train driver with freelance photography experience, have

been working seriously on the project for two years and have opened a

workshop in Argyle Street, Glasgow.

The #5000 will go towards the costs of patenting the invention and on

a marketing campaign. The patent applications have been submitted.

The Glasgow Innovation Fund has been set up by Glasgow Opportunities

with the help of the TSB Group and the Glasgow Development Agency

matched with funding from the European Development Fund.

The aim is to help inventors, innovators, and small companies with

development costs. Awards of up to #5000 will be made every two months

particularly for clearly identified financial needs