> I heard the word virtual used to describe the camera, and couldn't figure out if they were, for sure, talking about taking pictures of a single photon in real

> I heard the word virtual used to describe the camera, and couldn't figure out if they were, for sure, talking about taking pictures of a single photon in real life -- ergo not simulated. I think they were using the word "virtual" to describe the array of camera sensors as one camera. It sounds like basically they had an array of sensors all snapping as fast as they could, but offset in time from each other by some amount, to achieve the effect of having 1 frame for every N fractions of a second. They also had to break down the scene into long strips and repeatedly use the sensors take the same picture on each strip and re-combine the strips later. > I'm skeptical because.. how would you see a photon? Unless photons themselves give off light as they travel, but that would mean photons emit photons... What you were seeing in the video were the photons entering the camera after having bounced off of the scene. It's kind of misleading that they're making it sound like you're seeing the photons as they're hitting the object in real time, When in fact, the photons had already hit the object and are bouncing back into the camera. But the resolution with which they're detecting the incoming photons conveys the "shape" of the waves bouncing and propagating off/around objects. That's my take on it at least.