[Edit: of course I meant without EXTRA optics... ie. no special lens]
Since getting a better and zoomed image using optics is often clumsy and expensive why not use several low quality optic but high resulotion images resolved using DSP?
See links for similar breakthru in field of radiation images, where the technique was used to recieve results from dental patients with less radiation.-- pashute, Apr 27 2004 (?) DSP helps use lower radiation http://www.ndt.net/...dtiss99/data/13.htmMethod for Shaping of Improved Radiation Image [pashute, Oct 04 2004, last modified Oct 21 2004] And the outcome http://www.kodak.co...pr20010205-04.shtmlKodak low radiation "dental film" [pashute, Oct 04 2004, last modified Oct 21 2004] MSR: HDR Video Imagery http://research.mic...sualMediaGroup/HDR/High dynamic range imagery constructed from separate tuned exposures and then warped back into a cohesive stream. Watch the video. It's interesting and informative. [bristolz, Feb 09 2006] New Lenslet Electro-optic DSP introduced http://www.digitalt...QSNDBCCKH0CJUMEKJVNPerhaps these new The EnLight256 DSPs will help. [bristolz, Feb 09 2006] not exactly https://en.wikipedi...ki/Wavefront_coding [pashute, Jun 17 2015] “And now, this image shows—”“I’m sorry, what the hell is that?” “It’s the latest in brain imagery—no optics, no radiation.” “Really!” “Yep, it’s a rubbing.” “I’m sorry...you said a rubbing? How do you do that, now?” “Okay, see, you open ‘er up, place this paper on the brain—”“Photo paper?”“No, regular. Then you take a block of charcoal—like this one—and rub like hell.”-- ldischler, Apr 29 2004 That would certainly change the role of porn photographer.-- Worldgineer, Apr 29 2004 By taking a few pictures from your $19.99 webcam you can achieve the same image quality of a $600 digicam. Your PC (or the new lowcost camera) can merge these several blurry pictures into one high quality picture. The technique is called Digital Signal Processing (DSP).
The dentist things were just an example. (BTW for detists I think they should use ultrasound and solve the problem totally.)-- pashute, Feb 08 2006 In some cases, it's possible to combine several blurry pictures to yield one sharper one, but unless the relative positions of all the objects and cameras are known precisely it will be difficult or impossible to eliminate motion or parallax artifacts (and even if the positions are known, it may still not be possible).
Although there are some cases where it's practical to combine many pictures (e.g. capturing video of an unchanging scene) it's generally better to simply get a better capture in the first place.
Slight mathemetical oversimplification: if a given camera produces pictures which differ from the actual scene by quantity 'n', using 4 pictures from that camera would at best reduce the difference to 'n/2', 16 would reduce it to 'n/4', etc. Although it may be worthwhile in some cases to take and blend 2-4 exposures from a single camera, I don't see much point in going beyond that.
Even there, the one way I would see that such a thing would be useful (and this one would actually be quite useful) would be if a camera could take two or three pictures in very quick succession with different exposure times. This would allow levels of both highlight and shadow detail which could not otherwise be achieved simultaneously.-- supercat, Feb 09 2006 How is replacing a polished bit of glass with electronics going to be an improvement?-- Galbinus_Caeli, Feb 09 2006 //a thing would be useful (and this one would actually be quite useful) would be if a camera could take two or three pictures in very quick succession with different exposure times// They can and do - its called auto bracketing. Been around since the days of film camerea.-- coprocephalous, Feb 09 2006 MIT has been extracting print resolution imagery from sequences of relatively low resolution video for several years even when the camera is in motion.
Microsoft Research has a camera system that takes two images in rapid succession, one set for the high luminance portions of the image and one for the low and then merging the two into a master with a dramatically wider dynamic range than a single exposure can provide. They write them out to .hdr. They are also doing this with video (every other frame).
Plenoptic cameras use an array of low resolution optics to generate a single image that is unusually flexible in the ways it can be post exposure modified. Even the depth of field can be changed after the fact.-- bristolz, Feb 09 2006 //a thing would be useful (and this one would actually be quite useful) would be if a camera could take two or three pictures in very quick succession with different exposure times// They can and do - its called auto bracketing. Been around since the days of film camerea.//
How quick are they? I know there are some cameras that will take multiple pictures separated by a quarter second or so, but are there cameras that can do all three in 1/60 (with the faster exposures separated by 1/1000 or less)? Unless using a tripod to photograph a non-moving scene, three exposures 1/4 second apart are not likely to be in perfect registration. Odds are at least one picture will be pretty good, but would not yield the level of both shadow and highlight detail that could be obtained by combining different exposures that were perfectly registered.-- supercat, Feb 09 2006 There are liquid lenses, Ian.-- bristolz, Feb 09 2006 3 x $19.99 cameras could work at 3 times the speed, if synchronized... (and of course the parts cost much less, so making such a camera may very well be worthwhile.)-- pashute, Feb 24 2006 Using three cameras, how do you ensure that the images are in perfect registration? 10%-silvered mirrors?-- supercat, Feb 24 2006 [IT] //glass-less lens// Halfbaked by Isaac Asimov - the anopticon (mentioned in 'Marooned Off Vesta', explained in 'Anniversary') is a lenseless device that uses fields in air to bend light.-- spidermother, Feb 25 2006 2008 and still waiting to be done. 3 low cost cameras merged into one, or just make hardware to accomplish this. Neither MS and nore anyone else, to the best of my knowledge, has produced a hardware camera that does this...-- pashute, Jun 11 2008 Isn't Wavefront Coding this?-- notexactly, Jun 13 2015 random, halfbakery