3d lens, 3d, 3d imaging, camera, gadgets, imaging, lenses, multi aperture array

New Camera Chip Design Can Take Photos in 3D

A new camera chip design from scientists at Stanford University has opened up the possibility of 3D photos. The chip has stacked 16 x 16 pixel arrays and a host of micro-lenses, much like a fly's eye, enabling the whole chip to "see" in three dimensions, unlike a normal 2D pixel array digital camera sensor. Here's how it works:

Data from the "multi-aperture array" then goes through image processing to extract a standard RGB image, along with a "depth map" for each pixel—very useful for applications like face- or object-recognition.

Essentially, each tiny sub-array of pixels in the Stanford sensor sees objects in front of the camera from a slightly different viewpoint. Software then looks for relative shifts between the same object's image in different lenses, and processes this parallax data to work out the object's distance.

As well as giving depth information, the design may reduce the color-crosstalk problems current sensors suffer from. It can also take macro close-ups in restricted spaces, making it potentially useful in medical situations.

Adobe has demonstrated a similar device in the past, but this new design is compacted onto one chip, and much simpler to integrate into current camera technology. For now, the pixel count is limited, and the image processing requirements would put a hefty strain on camera batteries. But, given a little time, your DSLR might one day be able to snap 3D family groupings, ready to show on your holo-display. [Crave via GadgetLab]

1:03 PM on Thu Feb 21 2008
By Kit Eaton
11,115 views
24 comments

Comments

tehronin at 01:11 PM on 02/21/08
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Oh man, I can see the porn industry running with this and not looking back! And I'm all for it.
comp_wiz101 at 01:12 PM on 02/21/08
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...and now, 3d Pr0n! Let's face it... it will be the natural progression.
comp_wiz101 at 01:13 PM on 02/21/08
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....aw dang Tehronin. You got me before the refresh!
Kaiser-Machead at 01:28 PM on 02/21/08
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This should make the infamous picture-day zit all the better for achingly insecure teenagers.
Noobs-R-Us at 01:59 PM on 02/21/08
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I'm sure those nerds at Stanford thought of the same when they invented this thing..."humm..how do I make the porn more real cus I don't have a date???"
Brock at 02:00 PM on 02/21/08
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I'm picturing the ability to "move the point of focus" within a single picture. Assuming that the depth information is not stripped out during compression there's no reason you can't focus on any point in a picture just by clicking on it. That's pretty cool.
Noobs-R-Us at 02:01 PM on 02/21/08
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"the design may reduce the color-crosstalk problems current sensors suffer from."

Ever heard of Foveon?
Loremaster101 at 02:03 PM on 02/21/08
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3d Porn, that would be akward......
razordu30 at 02:04 PM on 02/21/08
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Processes the parallax data? Are these objects half an inch away? It's either that or the lens is four inches wide. Don't expect this on your pocket point and shoot.

I mean, it's a little "neat" but you could just as easily do this using two cameras. They've been doing that since the 19th century.
detach at 02:09 PM on 02/21/08
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I bet you this is already used in the 5.5 terapixel camera from penchan! That creative lil ducky is cute
szrimaging at 02:12 PM on 02/21/08
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@Brock: This concept was shown by Stanford last year. It does allow you to change the depth of field in post.

It is an interesting technology, I just wonder what it is going to do to photography as a medium. How will it change the purpose of the photographer?

Where I could really see this helping is in robotics. Should make for more accurate visual targeting/tracking systems.
Hiphopopotamus at 02:18 PM on 02/21/08
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Wow, the 1st time I've ever had to know the word parallax since learning it 2 decades ago.
reddingofish at 02:22 PM on 02/21/08
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Will I have to wear those glasses like I did at Beowulf?
rudeadly at 02:25 PM on 02/21/08
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help me obi wan you're my only hope
pek at 02:27 PM on 02/21/08
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it's not real 3d... it's like a Bas-relief or "low relief" or whatever it's called in english (in italian it's "bassorilievo")

[en.wikipedia.org]
birdgirl39 at 02:27 PM on 02/21/08
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You know, I've always considered porn to be so, I don't know, ONE dimentional....
shpe11 at 03:09 PM on 02/21/08
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ok, this is stupid
for a 3D foto U need not a slightly difrent angle but a bigger one

ok, imagine U are watching trough a hole and you move your eye slightly to see difrent things, but that image does not contain 3D data. this is what that lentile makes to the 16x16 grid

ok lat's say I have 100x100 3D pixels like in this article, and this will give me 100x100x16x16 data pixels to workwith

why not use standard 100x100 pixels and the 16x16 grid is not made by software with the pixels around each pixel?!?!?

i know lenticular technology (those photos with 3D look), so personaly this kind of lentila should be used in lenticular photos to give 3D verticaly too...
ANoel at 03:47 PM on 02/21/08
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Girls, this is from the minds at Stanford.
It isn't for porn shots, it's for research imaging...
[gizmodo.com] G-Spot Shots in all their textural glory.
Brock at 04:04 PM on 02/21/08
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@shpe11: "for a 3D foto U need not a slightly difrent angle but a bigger one"

That's the point of the fish-eye lenses, dumbass.
Lasarett at 04:07 PM on 02/21/08
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Man, the last thing that came to my mind was porn.

Maybe cause I love taking pictures as a hobby.
Mindbleach at 04:27 PM on 02/21/08
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Pek: we just call it bas relief.

Brock: he means you need a bigger angle than this provides.

While I'm glad to see integral imaging lens arrays in plans for digital cameras, this is somewhat tacked-on. Good idea, sure, but with 16x16 subarrays it's almost a joke. Proof of concept or not, interpolation only goes so far.

The proper way to implement this would be to eschew the traditional camera model. An integral digital camera's front should be studded with a mesh of tiny, fixed lenses; its image sensor gigantic by current standards. As a programmer and a fan of long battery life, I'd just store the raw data (like that chopped-up parrot example above) and decode later for viewing & conversion.
Atsumi at 05:17 PM on 02/21/08
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I love how everyone jump to porn. That's great.
Spaceboy at 09:45 PM on 02/21/08
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some of the earliest porn was 3d (NSFW)

[users.telenet.be]
shpe11 at 05:22 PM on 04/03/08
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@Brock:
for real 3D U need smal and many shifts witch are spread to a large area (spheric one)

fish eye is from one point of view, but the captured area is larger