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Why does "lensless" mean "has a bunch of lenses"?

by sp332 4y ago

jaclaz 4y ago
>“We consider our camera lensless because it replaces the bulk lenses used in conventional cameras with a thin, lightweight microlens array made of flexible polymer,” said research team leader Weijian Yang from the University of California, Davis. Opinions are opinions, peronally I would consider it multi-lens or poly-lens.
- hackernewds 4y ago
  Multi-lens would imply more lenses. Which wouldn't get the same amount of attention or marketability
pavlov 4y ago
It’s the same logic as “serverless”?
jfengel 4y ago
Because it's a very different concept from a conventional camera lens. It does not produce a focused image. Each lens corresponds to a single sensor, which is manipulated to receive light from multiple angles. A regular lens manipulates the light so that each sensor corresponds to one pixel, mimicking the way a piece of film would produce a color at each spot. With a light field camera the actual image has to be constructed computationally afterwards. In effect, the software computes the effect a lens would have had on the light -- meaning you can set the focus later. There is a lens-like apparatus built into each sensor to allow it to gather the types of data it needs but it's not at all like a conventional camera lens. You couldn't put on a conventional camera lens, and none of the things that a photographer uses a "lens" for are necesary. "Lensless" seems as good a word as any for that: it accurately conveys a camera that you do not and cannot focus, and has no object corresponding to the lens.
- nomel 4y ago
  > It does not produce a focused image I don't think this is technically correct. There are many focused images being produced: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rEMP3XEgnws https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rEMP3XEgnws > but it's not at all like a conventional camera lens The physics is exactly the same as a conventional lens, because each micro lens is conventional lenses. It's all conventional, up to the point of having to separate all of the real, focused, images to make one clear image. For proof, if you block all the micro lenses, except one, you would see a boring, focused, real image projected onto the sensor. In fact, the original light field cameras, that you could buy off the shelf, had a single, separate, image per microlens. Looking at the image in this press release, it looks the same.
  - eloeffler 4y ago
    So it's also not a single exposure because each microlense-sensor team has its own exposure. At this point we could connect each sensor to its own circuitry and storage and then say it's a cameraless photo altogether :)
deleted 4y ago
[deleted]
anigbrowl 4y ago
'compound lens camera' would be better. Much of this work has roots in the study of insect vision.
zakki 4y ago
i think the naming got infected from a computer virus named serverless.

Why does "lensless" mean "has a bunch of lenses"?

by sp332 4y ago

Why does "lensless" mean "has a bunch of lenses"?

>“We consider our camera lensless because it replaces the bulk lenses used in conventional cameras with a thin, lightweight microlens array made of flexible polymer,” said research team leader Weijian Yang from the University of California, Davis. Opinions are opinions, peronally I would consider it multi-lens or poly-lens.

hackernewds 4y ago
Multi-lens would imply more lenses. Which wouldn't get the same amount of attention or marketability

pavlov 4y ago

It’s the same logic as “serverless”?

jfengel 4y ago

Because it's a very different concept from a conventional camera lens. It does not produce a focused image. Each lens corresponds to a single sensor, which is manipulated to receive light from multiple angles. A regular lens manipulates the light so that each sensor corresponds to one pixel, mimicking the way a piece of film would produce a color at each spot. With a light field camera the actual image has to be constructed computationally afterwards. In effect, the software computes the effect a lens would have had on the light -- meaning you can set the focus later. There is a lens-like apparatus built into each sensor to allow it to gather the types of data it needs but it's not at all like a conventional camera lens. You couldn't put on a conventional camera lens, and none of the things that a photographer uses a "lens" for are necesary. "Lensless" seems as good a word as any for that: it accurately conveys a camera that you do not and cannot focus, and has no object corresponding to the lens.

nomel 4y ago
> It does not produce a focused image I don't think this is technically correct. There are many focused images being produced: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rEMP3XEgnws https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rEMP3XEgnws > but it's not at all like a conventional camera lens The physics is exactly the same as a conventional lens, because each micro lens is conventional lenses. It's all conventional, up to the point of having to separate all of the real, focused, images to make one clear image. For proof, if you block all the micro lenses, except one, you would see a boring, focused, real image projected onto the sensor. In fact, the original light field cameras, that you could buy off the shelf, had a single, separate, image per microlens. Looking at the image in this press release, it looks the same.
- eloeffler 4y ago
  So it's also not a single exposure because each microlense-sensor team has its own exposure. At this point we could connect each sensor to its own circuitry and storage and then say it's a cameraless photo altogether :)

deleted 4y ago

[deleted]

anigbrowl 4y ago

'compound lens camera' would be better. Much of this work has roots in the study of insect vision.

zakki 4y ago

i think the naming got infected from a computer virus named serverless.