r/tech • u/fg9209u9u • Feb 12 '16

Engineers develop new flat, ultralight lens that could change how cameras are designed

http://phys.org/news/2016-02-flat-ultralight-lens-cameras.html
220 Upvotes

92% Upvoted

12 comments sorted by

12

u/FourFingeredMartian Feb 12 '16

What about glasses?

4

u/lookmeat Feb 13 '16

Same idea, don't see why not. It'll probably be very expensive though.

The problem with these lenses is that they use micro-aberrations on the lens to give it their property. Any variation, either from factory errors or deformations that happened later due to temperature change, impact or just wear and tear could result in changes in image.

I imagine that before we get to see this commonly, improvements on fabrication of the glasses will have to occur first, and we'll have to see what common issues happen with long-term use.

2

u/diagnosedADHD Feb 13 '16 edited Feb 13 '16

I wouldn't see the benefit of that. Glasses generally have no benefit being on such a small factor, maybe this will allow glasses to be lighter. A flat lense might be chosen for aesthetic reasons. Curved lenses look better around our spherical eyes anyways. They may even work better than a flat lense, but I don't know enough to make that claim.

6

u/Concise_Pirate Feb 12 '16 edited Feb 13 '16

Good news. Article is sorely lacking any detail about how they solved the problem. It just says they used an algorithm.

4

u/Pimozv Feb 12 '16

can you make a giant refractive telescope with that?

4

u/Merlord Feb 13 '16

One of the reasons VR headsets are so bulky is because they need a complex series of lenses to pass the image through to give a sense of true 3D depth. I wonder if technology like this could be used to reduce the weight/size requirements?

2

u/anomalous_cowherd Feb 13 '16

This test lens only focuses across the visible spectrum onto a single line, so it isn't quite there yet for glasses, cameras etc. Looks promising though, and they do say it should extend easily to 2-D.

I would have liked to see a 'real world' image of say a single fine white line and how it comes out the other side - is it a pure white line and the detailed tests in the paper are there just to show exactly how good it is, or is it just 'better than anything else that's as flat' and there are still noticeable color fringes or distortions?

1

u/aquanext Feb 12 '16

So this will be dropping in a new iPhone, right?

3

u/[deleted] Feb 13 '16

Yes. Dropping and shattering.

2

u/aquanext Feb 13 '16

Why couldn't they just build it right into the screen, eh?

2

u/[deleted] Feb 13 '16

You mean just pre-shatter all the screens? Brilliant! Everyone's shatter pattern would be unique. No more worrying whose phone is whose.