Slashdot Mirror

← Back to Stories (view on slashdot.org)

New Digital Camera Lens Made of Liquid

Posted by ScuttleMonkey on from the can-you-see-me-now dept.

Clarinase writes "101reviews is running an article about a new type of camera lens called Fluidlens. This patented lens made of liquid is no bigger than a contact lens, but can still achieve up to 10 times optical zoom by changing its shape similar to the human eye."

9 of 267 comments (clear)

  1. changing shape by jest3r · · Score: 5, Insightful

    I have yet to master the art of 10x zoom by changing the shape of my eye ..

    1. Re:changing shape by dcurley · · Score: 2, Insightful
      From TFA:
      Currently there is no practical alternative to compensate for the fixed focus lens system where a camera lens, for example, is moved along a linear axis until the image comes into focus.

      So, they're not talking about how your eye zooms, which it obviously doesn't. They're talking about how the lens changes shape to focus while zooming, like your eye changes shape to focus. Of course, I aint no optician.

  2. Pardon the ignorance... by lpangelrob · · Score: 3, Insightful
    ...but is this really only useful for cameras in camera-phones?

    Since it seems the lens size is necessarily very small, will the maximum resolutions of the resulting picture be limited in any way? Or is lens size correlated with the maximum resolution of a camera?

    --
    -Rob

    Biblical fiscal responsibility

  3. Improvements for the smallest cameras by Sv-Manowar · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Being able to get good image quality in tiny cameras is becoming increasingly useful because of the adoption of cameras into phones and similarly small devices. The amount of times I've see something I want to take a picture of, but don't have my camera is pretty significant, and I've found that since getting a camera phone its filled this void nicely. Being able to get a high quality image from a phone would be a great step forward for those who are using phone cameras for this kind of role. (Especially as the amount of storage available increases)

    --
    Business Voyeur
  4. Glad to see a real invention for a change by The+I+Shing · · Score: 3, Insightful

    I'm glad to see someone patenting an actual invention instead of just claim-jumping someone's idea for a website layout.

    --
    You are in error. No-one is screaming. Thank you for your cooperation.
  5. the question is... by Avohir · · Score: 3, Insightful

    is it waterproof?

    --
    To err is human, to really foul up requires a computer
  6. Now *THAT*... by Twinkle3 · · Score: 2, Insightful

    ... is intelligent design!

  7. Re:New Digital Camera Lens Made of Liquid? by jim_v2000 · · Score: 3, Insightful

    Actually, the article you cited says at the bottom that there is no clear answer as to whether or not glass is a liquid.

    Thanks for playing!

    --
    Don't take life so seriously. No one makes it out alive.
  8. The bottom? by autopr0n · · Score: 2, Insightful

    If you read the entire article, you'll see that "liquid" is by far the least supported classification. Lots of people think glass flows like a liquid over hundreds of years, but it does not. It dosn't flow, or form to its container at all. So it's not a liquid, although it does have some other properties that are liquid-like. Its more a question of "what do mean when we say 'liquid'" then how glass actualy acts.

    Most people would not call glass a liquid if they knew how it worked.

    --
    autopr0n is like, down and stuff.