Researchers Developing Single-Pixel Camera

Assassin bug writes "According to the BBC, researchers in the US are developing a single-pixel camera to capture high-quality images without the 'expense' of traditional digital photography. The idea behind such a device is that traditional digital photography is wasteful. Most of the information taken in by the camera is thrown away in the compression process. From the article: 'The digital micromirror device, as it is known, consists of a million or more tiny mirrors each the size of a bacterium. "From that mirror array, we then focus the light through a second lens on to one single photo-detector - a single pixel." As the light passes through the device, the millions of tiny mirrors are turned on and off at random in rapid succession. Complex mathematics then interprets the signals assembling a high resolution image from the thousands of sequential single-pixel snapshots. '"

Comments

Yes, it's a dupe.

[Anonymous Coward]

A Single Pixel Camera
Posted by CowboyNeal on 10-20-06 12:44 AM
from the high-tech-pointilism dept.

From the FAQ:

Sometimes I see duplicate stories on Slashdot. What's up with that?

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So if you really want to complain about it, consider contributing a Slashcode patch to fix it.

Not just for cameras

[k4_pacific]

In related news, a major roofing manufacturer has announced the "single shingle" roof. It consists of a small plate that is quickly moved about above a building during a rainstorm to block each individual raindrop. This eliminates the "complexity" of asphalt shingles.

Re:Not just for cameras

[Chandon Seldon]

That would work... if shingles were really expensive and the mechanism to move the one shingle around at the necessary speed were comparatively cheap. Oh... and you knew that you never needed to block raindrops in two places at the same time.

There are tons of ideas that work great in computerized systems that sound *really stupid* when you think of doing something that seems similar but uses other materials / technology. I mean - consider the mechanism of an ink jet printer from the perspective of a portrait artist who works with pencils...

Murphy's Law

[Anonymous Coward]

Bet it'd suck to have a bad pixel with that camera, huh? :-)

Comment removed

[account_deleted]

Comment removed based on user account deletion

RAW format anyone?

[Anonymous Coward]

> Most of the information taken in by the camera is thrown away in the compression process.

Doesn't the RAW format take care of this?

Re:RAW format anyone?

[Pieroxy]

There is always a catch, however. Let's take an example of a 1MP camera, taking a picture at 1/100th of a second. Each CCD can acquire light for a full 1/100th of a second. But each one is small and as such, not very sensitive.

Let's say this new 1 pixel camera is set-up to take a picture of 1MP at 1/100th of a second. Each one of the 1M mirrors will reflect its light on the CCD for ... (1/100)/1000000 th of a second, because only one pixel (of the final image) can be recorded at a time. So yes, the new sensor will be more sensitive. And it better be ! 1 000 000 times to be correct (for 1MP pictures.)

Hot or stuck pixel?

[jo7hs2]

Oh great, now I'll end up with a camera with a stuck or hot pixel and be totally screwed. Thanks, progress.

I used it for my holiday snaps

[Timesprout]

This is me skydiving
.

This is me swimming with dolphins
.

This is me at the grand canyon
.

Re:I used it for my holiday snaps

[Anonymous Coward]

This is me having sex with my wife (NSFW)

.

Re:I used it for my holiday snaps

[MindStalker]

Dude, you should link stuff like that and no post directly.. I really didn't want to see your ugly whale of a wife..

Ah, more moving parts. THAT's helpful.

[ScentCone]

Is it just me, or does the concept seem inherently more complex and fragile than a multi-pixel sensor with light cast on it?

And how can this possibly deal with the equivalent of a range of shutter speeds in front of a standard sensor? Perhaps it's a matter of how many times the pixel is exposed to the same part of the lens' projection in repeated scans... but that just seems clunky, and that much harder/slower to re-assemble into a stored image.

And it doesn't stop the megapixel chest thumping - it just starts up megamirror arguments, instead.

Contradicts itself.

[Xoltri]

The article says that this new camera will have do do "Complex mathematics to interpret the signals" but at the same time will "do away with the need to process and compress each image". So which is it? I just don't see how this will save anything if you have 1 pixel doing something 5 million times or 5 million pixels doing something one time.

Re:complex mathematics?

[Jerf]

It's a little clue for those "in the know" that the described benefits are entirely imaginary.

Re:Dupe

[orson_of_fort_worth]

Shh. We can score some karma by copying the +5 posts from the original story.

mod parent down!

[Achoi77]

freakin goatse trolls!