Using similar techniques that enable the Nintendo 3DS to display 3D images without the need for special glasses, Panasonic has developed a new image sensor that can capture 3D stills and videos without the need for multiple lenses.
Using lenticular lenses and a layer composed of digital micro lenses to further focus the light hitting the sensor, the system could in theory give any camera 3D capabilities, from expensive DSLRs to cheap point and shoots. And while there is some tomfoolery being done with post-processing to produce the final 3D images, Panasonic claims the depth calculated by its algorithms and the actual depth of objects in the scene only differs by about five percent. And that’s presumably going to be improved even further by the time these sensors are rolled out in mobile devices starting some time in 2014.
[Tech-On!]
