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Camera captures bug’s-eye-like image

May 2, 2013 by
bug eye camera

 

bug eye camera

It’s not the first time I’ve seen reports of insect-inspired imaging, sensors and optics that are modeled after the extreme designs of nature in a bug’s eye. But now the science journal Nature reports researchers developed a camera that mimics the entire curved, compound structure of an insect eye.

“These cameras could be used where wide viewing angles are important and space is at a premium,” the journals notes, such as surveillance systems, unmanned flying vehicles, and endoscopes.

The scientists at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign made a lens about 1 centimeter in diameter, an with an array of microlenses layered on top of a flexible array of silicon photodetectors.

The full report is here.

 

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Pelican demonstrating focusing-free camera module

April 18, 2013 by
pelican camera module

pelican camera module

While I don’t see much ongoing appeal to post-capture focus as popularized by Lytro, there is much to be said for being able to take a shot much more quickly when using a camera that does not need to focus first.

Pelican Imaging is now showing a camera module small enough for phones that does just that. Close foreground and distant background are all captured in sharp focus instantly thanks to multiple optical elements on the sensor. That, and lots of fancy math and algorithms.

The resulting 8-megapixel image can also be refocused on-screen, ala Lytro’s 1MP shot, and may also yield depth data for 3D modeling and other uses.

The final camera module may be sold to OEMs for as little as $20 — the same price for current high-end smart phone camera parts.

Extreme Tech got to visit Pelican’s offices and has an extensive look at the technology here.

Pelican’s own brief announcement is here.

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Aptina sensor captures 4K video

April 18, 2013 by
aptina sensor read out

 

aptina sensor read out

That division between what a top-of-the-line SLR can capture and a lower-priced model can’t continues to narrow: Aptina developed a 14-megapixel sensor that captures SLR-quality stills, it says, and 4K-resolution video.

It will capture full resolution stills at up to 80 frames per second, and 4K video at 60fps. Standard 1080p video can come in at 120 fps, “enabling slow-motion video capture without loss of resolution,” Aptina says.

“By merging spectacular image quality with extremely fast frame rates, Aptina is enabling top consumer camera makers to develop the next generation of mirrorless, bridge, high-end compact, and broadcast digital video cameras,” the company claims, adding that the sensor has already “attracted great interest from market-leading mirrorless camera makers. This 1-inch sensor effectively bridges the performance and price gap between the smaller 1/2.3-inch sensors commonly used in compact digital still cameras and the larger APS-C and full-frame sensors that are used in DSLR cameras. The AR1411HS image sensor delivers superior image quality and the ability to capture still shots and video very fast, in virtually any environment.”

The new sensor is now in mass production.

More information is here.

 

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Camera captures 3D from a kilometer away

April 11, 2013 by
OpEx_ 3d

 

TOpEx_ 3dhis is going a long way past a telephoto lens:
To get 3D information such as the distance to a far-away object, scientists today bounce a laser beam off the object and measure how long it takes the light to travel back to a detector. The technique, called time-of-flight, is used in machine vision, navigation systems for autonomous vehicles, and other applications — but most have a relatively short range and struggle to image objects that do not reflect laser light well.

That’s according to a team of Scotland-based physicists — who say they’ve tackled these limitations, and have a system that can gather high-resolution, 3-D information about objects that are typically very difficult to image, from up to a kilometer away.

At Heriot-Watt University in Edinburgh, Scotland, the new system works by sweeping a low-power infrared laser beam rapidly over an object. It then records, pixel-by-pixel, the round-trip flight time of the photons in the beam as they bounce off the object and arrive back at the source.

The system can resolve depth on the millimeter scale over long distances using a detector that virtually counts individual photons.

Other approaches have better depth resolution, but the new system images objects like items of clothing that do not easily reflect laser pulses makes it useful in a wider variety of field situations, say the researchers. “Our approach gives a low-power route to the depth imaging of ordinary, small targets at very long range. This single-photon counting approach gives a unique trade-off between depth resolution, range, data-acquisition time, and laser-power levels.”

The primary use of the system is likely to be scanning static, man-made targets, such as vehicles. With some modifications to the image-processing software, it could also determine their speed and direction.

The scanner is particularly good at identifying objects hidden behind clutter, such as foliage. However, it cannot render human faces, instead drawing them as dark, featureless areas. This is because at the long wavelength used by the system, human skin does not reflect back a large enough number of photons to obtain a depth measurement.

The system is not maxed out: it could someday scan and image objects located as far as 10 kilometers away, and be miniaturized and ruggedized. “A lightweight, fully portable scanning depth imager is possible and could be a product in less than five years.”

More information is here.

 

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Matterport captures everything in 3D

March 13, 2013 by
matterport

 

matterport

What we’ve all been calling 3D cameras for the last few years are really “stereoscopic” — not 3D. That is, they capture two side-by-side images, just like our two eyes, and yield an image with more apparent depth than a typical flat 2D photo.

But while you can see a little bit more of one object or person in a scene by pivoting the viewpoint a little, it’s not like you can turn the whole thing around and see it from the other side. No, for that you need a full three-dimensional capture.

Real 3D photography has meant two things: a simple camera used to take dozens of shots around an object from all angles, and the multiple shots combined on a computer into a manipulatable onscreen 3D object — or large and expensive cameras or laser scanners that capture an entire environment with full depth.

Now, new startups are promising handheld cameras that will provide the best of both worlds. Last month we reported on Austin, Texas-based Lynx developing a tablet-like 3D camera system. Now comes news of Mountain View-CA-based Matterport capturing full interior spaces with its device. And while Lynx is raising money on Kickstarter, Matterport received $5.6 million in venture financing.

matterport 2

Matterport says it will help consumers and businesses create accurate, photo-realistic 3D models, quickly, easily and automatically with its 3D camera. Also, its interactive viewing platform will let you see the models and indoor spaces from a web browser. Matterport says the captured images are converted to 3D models that viewers can walk through. “You control what you want to see and where you want to go.  You have the option of looking at the space in an aerial mode we call “dollhouse” and a layout mode we call “floorplan.” Also, the 3D capture system measures rooms and objects, and creates a video of the 3D model, “giving you the same flythrough effect you enjoy in video games and movies.”

While Lynx highlights its speed, Matterport says capturing a comprehensive 3D model of a furnished 1,500-square-foot space takes between 1–2 hours; an empty space of that size takes 45 minutes.
Matterport’s camera is designed for use indoors, and does not capture small objects or moving people.

The final price isn’t set, but “it will be in the range of what you would invest in a digital SLR camera,” the company says. “The camera unit will be about the size of a lunchbox and weighs about five pounds.”

More information is here.

 

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3D scanning made simple

March 13, 2013 by
makerbot scan

 

makerbot scan

“3D printing” is a confusing term for the increasingly popular technique of using inkjet-like devices to create solid objects from a variety of materials by laying down a thin later at a time until the full form emerges.

But before you could “print” something solid, you needed a 3D model for the device to work from — a computer file showing the underlying geometry and, in some cases, the surface texture. [See here.] Now 3D printer pioneer MakerBot is expanding from the output side to also address the input part of the equation with a prototype of its Digitizer Desktop 3D Scanner.

Using lasers and cameras, “the MakerBot Digitizer is an innovative new way to take a physical object, scan it, and create a digital file,” the company says, letting anyone “without any design, CAD software, or 3D modeling experience at all” make a 3D model — “and then print the item again and again on a MakerBot Replicator.”

3D scanners aren’t new, of course — but they have been pricey industrial devices. While pricing wasn’t announced, MakerBot says its hardware will be aimed at consumers.

“The Digitizer is a great tool for archiving, prototyping, replicating, and digitizing prototypes, models, parts, artifacts, artwork, sculptures, clay figures, jewelry, etc.” MakerBot says. “If something gets broken, you can print it again.”

Brooklyn-based MakerBot announced its first 3D printer four years ago.

 

 

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Full-frame Canon sensor captures video in VERY low light

March 5, 2013 by
canon lowlight sensor 1

canon lowlight sensor 1

A new sensor captures video even when you can’t see anything — at “a level of brightness in which it is difficult for the naked eye to perceive objects.”

The constant developments and improvements in image capture are always encouraging and bode well for the photography business — especially when they may address long-time banes of everyone’s imaging such as getting the shot in almost-dark settings – or in this case, the getting the footage: Canon developed a high-sensitivity 35mm full-frame sensor, but it’s exclusively for video recording, at least in this first iteration.

Why video? Well, even HD video is about a 2 megapixel frame. By making a large sensor have so few pixels, Canon is able to concentrate on the light gathering capabilities of larger pixels/photosites.

“Delivering high-sensitivity, low-noise imaging performance, the new 35mm CMOS sensor enables the capture of Full HD video even in exceptionally low-light environments,” the company says. The sensor features pixels measuring 19 microns square in size, which is more than 7.5-times the surface area of the pixels on the CMOS sensor incorporated in its top-of-the-line EOS-1D X SLR, Canon adds.

The sensor’s pixels and readout circuitry employ new technologies that reduce noise, which tends to increase as pixel size increases, Canon says. “Thanks to these technologies, the sensor facilitates the shooting of clearly visible video images even in dimly lit environments with as little as 0.03 lux of illumination, or approximately the brightness of a crescent moon.”

canon lowlight sensor 2

Using a prototype camera employing the sensor, Canon captured a wide range of test video available here, such as footage recorded in a room illuminated only by the light from burning incense sticks (approximately 0.05–0.01 lux) and video of the Geminid meteor shower.

Canon says it is looking to such future applications for the new sensor as astronomical and natural observation, support for medical research, and use in surveillance and security equipment.

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Depth imaging: Toshiba develops light-field sensor for phones; Panasonic 3D chip

March 3, 2013 by
panasonic 3d

 

panasonic 3d

I’ve made no secret that I’m not too thrilled with Lytro’s light-field capturing cameras that lets you change the point of focus in  photo after it’s captured — after all, how many times will you enjoy doing that? But now Toshiba seems to think that not only is the technique worthy of a niche specialty pocket camera — it’s fit for phones as well.

Toshiba demonstrated image modules that shoot light-field photography, IDG reports, and says it will start production with the year.

Photos captured with the chip will contain depth information lacking in standard 2D shots — and Toshiba says this means the modules will not just delver refocusable images, but allow you to control the phone with gestures such as taps in midair.

The modules has a CMOS sensor and main lens, with a sheet of tens of thousands of micro-lenses between the two, IDG reports — with which it can capture the scene at slightly different angles, yielding data to produce distance information or refocus.
More information is here.

Also offering depth imaging: Panasonic, with a CMOS sensor that captures 3D video.

Most 3D requires two lenses or a beam splitter, to emulate how light enters our left and right eyes at slightly different angles to yield stereoscopic vision.

But Nikkei Electronics reports the new chip works with a single lens. The 2-megapixel sensor has digital micro-lenses.

Panasonic will first offer the technology to industrial and mobile devices in 2014.
The full story is here.

 

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Faster focus for phones

February 27, 2013 by
memsIcam 2

 

memsIcam 3

One key area in which cameras maintain a performance advantage over smartphones is autofocus speed — so of course many developers are looking to address that mobile market need. Recently, two companies unveiled innovations in the area:

With a new autofocus camera module for smartphones, DigitalOptics claims the “micron-level precision” of its mems|cam modules “harness the performance advantages of MEMS technology [microelectromechanical system] to deliver dramatically improved speed, power, and precision in smartphone cameras.”

mems|cam also uses just 1 percent of the power consumption of traditional voice coil motor autofocus technology, the company adds.

It will also allow for even thinner phones: DigitalOptics’ first mems|cam module, with an OmniVision image sensor, is an 8 megapixel, 1/3.2-inch format camera —and has as “ultra-low z-height of as small as 5.1mm.”

DigitalOptics is a subsidiary of Tessera Technologies.

 

polight

poLight’s micro-optic autofocus components for mobile phones are based on deformable polymers and optical MEMs. poLight’s tunable lens actuator yields high-speed and low-power autofocus lenses. The “TLens” boosts smart phone camera performance with a response time 20x faster than traditional VCM technologies, the Norwegian company says while consuming 40x less power consumption.

Now poLight says its focusing technology’s high-speed focus and field-of-view stability “can create a new set of applications that will make a difference for camera-phone users.”

Touch & re-Focus software lets a user refocus a picture once it has been taken. “By simply touching the area where to focus on the smart phone screen, the new generated picture can then be saved at full sensor resolution… alternatively, the photographer may decide to get their image all in focus by using a simple slider from the application screen.”

An explanatory video is here.

 

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Aptina promises improved mobile imaging

February 26, 2013 by
aptina logo

 

aptina logo

Phone photography has improved a lot in recent years, but still suffers from the inherently small sensors crammed into the slim devices. Now sensor-maker Aptina says its “disruptive imaging technology” advances color filter and sensor design along with imaging and control algorithms to provide increased sensitivity and dynamic range.

The “new level of performance” will drive 1.1-micron pixel adoption into the Smartphone market, and the smaller sensors will surpass today’s top 1.4-micron BSI pixel sensors, Aptina claims.

The Clarity+™ technology increase camera performance while enabling thinner, slimmer mobile devices with higher resolution, Aptina adds, and increased performance for high quality still and videos image capture.

The AR1231CP  is a 1.1-micron, 1/3.2-inch BSI sensor, capable of 12MP resolution at 60fps, and 4K UHD video at 30fps. It is now sampling.

 

And: for forward-facing smartphone cameras, the AR0261 captures 1080p HD video or 720p at 60fps, which “enables new gesture applications that open up a new way for users to interact with their devices.” It is also sampling now.

 

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