I like this text and I agree that a large part of the future is in code yes, but there are still fancy optical techniques not tapped yet. Like wavefront shaping

I like this text and I agree that a large part of the future is in code yes, but there are still fancy optical techniques not tapped yet. Like wavefront shaping (for the flash) or using other parts of the spectrum or deformable lenses or ultra-thin lenses from meta-materials (with a negative refractive index?) And then there is the lyttro camera (which can be combined with the techniques mentioned before). I've never heard of smartphone camera's with a Fresnel lens, is this because we can't manufacture them with molecular precision yet? Perhaps there will be camera's with ultrasound sensors, non-optical (active?) sensors that still yield optical information. Perhaps we find smarter ways to use polarization information... etc. I'm not an expert but I have spend some time in the optics field and saw some quantum optics talks that may at some point lead to significant improvements of the physical aspects of cameras again, imho. Of course, combining all the input together into something humans would like will require... computation :)