News - Is the perfect lens just what the industry is crying out for?
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Harvard fabricates one from gold and silicon - targeting the perfect image.
Read more.
Re: News - Is the perfect lens just what the industry is crying out for?
That sounds awesome but like all the other awesome things Universities are doing I expect a long wait before it gets to market.
Re: News - Is the perfect lens just what the industry is crying out for?
Interesting, though of course this does nothing to address the issues of optical zoom and aperture control (IMHO FAR more important than 'megapixel count'), which for me is the key difference between an SLR and a compact camera of any type. Us amateur photographers are all-too-well acquainted with the idea that there is no perfect lens: no lens that can go from 10-800mm (full frame equivalent) across f/1.0 to f/32 with no optical distortion, weighing less than 100g. That's why many of us have multiple lenses to cover the main bases: a decent zoom lens, a wide-angle lens, a macro lens, a wide-aperture prime (like a 50mm plastic fantastic...) and so on.
For me, the ability to control the depth of field and shutter speed with a high quality wide-open aperture is the most important factor.
With that said, all advances that improve the quality of smartphones and compact cameras are welcome!
Roo
Re: News - Is the perfect lens just what the industry is crying out for?
Digital SLRs do not typically feature separate sensors for each primary colour; the only current SLRs of this type are made by Sigma. All other digital SLRs use a Bayer matrix filter just like compact and 'phone cameras.
In terms of image quality, other than the choice of lenses, one of the main feature that distinguishes a digital SLR from compact and 'phone cameras is that the SLR wil have a far larger sensor for a given pixel count. This means each individual sensor photosite (pixel) is much larger and hence less succeptible to noise as each photosite "collects" more light.
Re: News - Is the perfect lens just what the industry is crying out for?
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Originally Posted by
jphotoj
Digital SLRs do not typically feature separate sensors for each primary colour; the only current SLRs of this type are made by Sigma. All other digital SLRs use a Bayer matrix filter just like compact and 'phone cameras.
Well a Bayer matrix is separate photosites for each colour :p
But your point is correct that camera phones and SLRs use exactly the same type of sensor for the most part.
Back to the article.. yes, lots of people have been trying to do exactly this for ages.
Re: News - Is the perfect lens just what the industry is crying out for?
Judging by that 1 micron magnification, could this be used, in conjunction with some sort of smart controller, to negate slight but predictable scene elements movement with longer exposures or camera shake with shorter? If possible, I can see this technology paving the way for a completely new era in digital photography, from P&S to DSLR and even beyond (like astronomy telescopes and digital optical microscopes). How fast can a phase shift be changed through the entire surface and how precise would the steps be?
Re: News - Is the perfect lens just what the industry is crying out for?
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Originally Posted by
howdee
Judging by that 1 micron magnification, could this be used, in conjunction with some sort of smart controller, to negate slight but predictable scene elements movement with longer exposures or camera shake with shorter? If possible, I can see this technology paving the way for a completely new era in digital photography, from P&S to DSLR and even beyond (like astronomy telescopes and digital optical microscopes). How fast can a phase shift be changed through the entire surface and how precise would the steps be?
Well it could correct for front-back misfocus due to movement, but I'm not sure that helps where you have light from an object moving across sensors as either the object, light source, or sensor moves during the exposure, creating blurryness.
Re: News - Is the perfect lens just what the industry is crying out for?
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Originally Posted by
kalniel
Well it could correct for front-back misfocus due to movement, but I'm not sure that helps where you have light from an object moving across sensors as either the object, light source, or sensor moves during the exposure, creating blurryness.
You might be right, the amount of data passed back and forth between the sensor and the controller of such "pre-lens?" would be overwhelming and probably too slow for any movement adjustments in most circumstances. I can still see it learning movement steps in a predictable environment (like long exposures of the night's sky and such) and then doing its magic on second pass. I would really like something like that on device itself and not have the need for less than perfect post-processing algorithms. ;)