Stauffer’s work at Honeywell and in his home workshop resulted in over 100 patents
Norm Stauffer
Modern-day cameras and even cell phones give us beautiful and detailed images with the push of a single button, using autofocus technology developed by scientist Norman L. Stauffer, who helped take away the tediousness and imprecision of manual focus.
Stauffer, considered the inventor of autofocus for slide projectors and cameras, died last month in Boulder at age 85.
Stauffer, who was born in New York in 1932, showed early interest in paleontology and astronomy during his childhood. He later received a bachelor’s in physics and mathematics from Lewis and Clark College in 1954 and a master’s degree in physics from the University of Oregon in 1956.
He began his career in Denver in 1957 at Honeywell, which provides engineering services and aerospace systems. His early work included the development of the patents used in the first automatic focus slide projector.
Before autofocus was used in projectors, slides would sit unevenly, causing some to be out of focus. The person working on the projector would have to reach out and manually focus the image. Autofocus solved that issue.
“It was a real immersion breaker to have the mixed slide come up,” said Kevin Moloney, assistant professor of emerging design and development at Ball State University. “If it wasn’t aligned perfectly it would be out of focus — whatever magic you were trying to produce would really break your sense of flow.”
With the emergence of autofocus, the aesthetics of production improved significantly, according to Moloney. “You could be more immersed in those projections,” he said.
In 1968 Stauffer became manager of research for Honeywell in Denver and began to work on camera autofocus. Soon thereafter he developed the patents that resulted in the Konica C35AF, the world’s first production autofocus camera.
“The whole photo industry, everything changed with what he developed,” said Dave Feeley, owner of Key Camera Service in Longmont. “It was a breakthrough and development that is used today; it’s everywhere.”
Before autofocus was created, it took a lot of skill and practice to take a good picture, according to Moloney, but once installed into the newest cameras, it allowed many photographers to improve the quality of their pictures.
Stauffer received numerous honors and awards, including the Colorado Governor’s Award of Honor for Science and Technology in 1987, and the Institute of Electrical and Electronic Engineers Inc. Consumer Electronics Award in 1990. His work at Honeywell and in his home workshop resulted in over 100 patents.
“Me and my whole family we are just so proud of my dad and what he has done in his career,” said Stauffer’s son Thomas. “We as a family are all very proud of him for all the hard work he did.”
Once retired from Honeywell, Stauffer spent his last years in Grand Lake with his wife, Carolyn, with whom he had four children: Peter, Eric, Thomas and Susan. Thomas Stauffer said a memorial service will be held in the spring.
https://www.denverpost.com/2018/01/28/autofocus-inventor-norman-stauffer-obituary/
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