One Camera, 12,616 Lenses

Stanford researchers are developing a digital image sensor equipped with 12,616 lenses to generate 3-D images
By Matt Ransford Posted 03.21.2008 at 1:11 pm 6 Comments

Multiple Cameras, One Chip: The testing platform for the multi-aperture image sensor.  L.A. Cicero/Stanford University
Last year, we reported on the Adobe light-field camera, a prototype device with 19 lenses which captures 19 versions of the same image at different focal lengths. The associated software then lets the user choose which parts of the resulting photograph should be in focus, which can produce a virtually 3D image. We also briefly mentioned a project at Stanford University which is experimenting with their own multi-lensed device.

The Stanford camera goes a few steps deeper by taking the many lenses off the main lens assembly (the Adobe model), and miniaturizing and attaching them directly to the image sensor. This technique means the traditional main lens doesn’t need to be of high quality, as it’s now only a gateway for the lenses on the sensor. The 12,616 lenses together on the chip produce a powerful tool for three-dimensional imaging and modeling. The researchers see robotics as the ideal application for the system, potentially giving machines better depth perception than humans so they can perform delicate tasks. Other uses include facial recognition in security applications and three-dimensional biological imaging.

6 Comments

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Maiky-NiSuTe
03/21/08 at 2:48 pm

that is impressive but what will it be used for in the future? 3d tv?

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LordConti

from Baltimore, Maryland

03/22/08 at 1:31 am

The uses of such a camera are certainly abundant. From three dimensional images of areas on other planets to ones of our own (GoogleEarth for example), to biological recreations in labs, to (and I think the most looked forward to) better three dimensional replication in gaming graphics.

I watched a video regarding such a camera that was used in graphical software to generate a three dimensional area for a physics-based virtual car to run around on that was made from pieces of cardboard (or something of the like) on a tabletop. In the video, the woman interviewing the guy displaying it put her hand on the table, and within seconds, the computer had incorporated her hand into the virtual environment by use of the single camera.

Really, the uses are infinite.

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VenerialDisease
03/22/08 at 3:32 am

I'm drooling over the implications this new technology presents, think of its use in the criminal justice field, or on your cell phone. :. To LordCanti .: I've to see that video you're talking about :)

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Semmster
03/22/08 at 3:58 am

I can't wait to see what uses this tech is put to! This is the kind of thing I've loved PopSci for since I was a little boy.

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DarkFx

from Winnipeg, Manitoba

03/24/08 at 2:39 am

I can see this bringing incredible new aspects in cinematography with stereoscopic video. This could also be useful for a gaming industry, applying each focal length of image recieved and applying it to layers in the game creating a more photorealistic gameplay. Eg, Being a Cyborg, focusing in on near objects bluring the backround, or distant objects making depth of field. Lots of uses on this one.

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DarkFx

from Winnipeg, Manitoba

03/24/08 at 2:43 am

VenerialDisease, the video is on youtube, its called Augmented Reality Test, the software reads the environment from multi cameras, and applys physics to the image it overlays, if the camera moves, the car turns with the image, the software can replicate shapes and turn them into digital creations like a upside down cup into a medieval tower. Very interesting but its from '04

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