Method and apparatus for full-resolution light-field capture and rendering. A radiance camera is described in which the microlenses in a microlens array are focused on the image plane of the main lens instead of on the main lens, as in conventional plenoptic cameras. The microlens array may be located at distances greater than f from the photosensor, where f is the focal length of the microlenses. Radiance cameras in which the distance of the microlens array from the photosensor is adjustable, and in which other characteristics of the camera are adjustable, are described. Digital and film embodiments of the radiance camera are described. A full-resolution light-field rendering method may be applied to light-fields captured by a radiance camera to render higher-resolution output images than are possible with conventional plenoptic cameras and rendering methods.

Methods and apparatus for full-resolution light-field capture and rendering

Method and apparatus for a fast (low F/number) computational camera that incorporates two arrays of lenses. The arrays include a lenslet array in front of a photosensor and an objective lens array of two or more lenses. Each lens in the objective lens array captures light from a subject. Each lenslet in the lenslet array captures light from each objective lens and separates the captured light to project microimages corresponding to the objective lenses on a region of the photosensor under the lenslet. Thus, a plurality of microimages are projected onto and captured by the photosensor. The captured microimages may be processed in accordance with the geometry of the objective lenses to align the microimages to generate a final image. One or more other algorithms may be applied to the image data in accordance with radiance information captured by the camera, such as automatic refocusing of an out-of-focus image.

Fast Computational Camera Based On Two Arrays of Lenses

Methods and apparatus for light-field imaging. Light-field camera designs are described that produce higher spatial resolution than conventional plenoptic camera designs, while trading-off the light-field's angular sampling density. This lower angular resolution may be compensated for by a light-field image processing method that inserts data synthesized by view interpolation of the measured light-field. In one embodiment, a light-field image processing method that performs three-view morphing may be used to interpolate the missing angular samples of radiance. The light-field camera designs may be implemented in hand-held light-field cameras that may capture a light-field with a single exposure. Some of the light-field camera designs are internal to the camera, while others are external to the camera. One light-field camera design includes a single, relatively large lens and an array of negative lenses that are placed in front of (external to) the main lens of a conventional camera.

Methods and apparatus for light-field imaging

A focus detecting device arranged to detect the focusing condition of an objective lens by projecting a light flux from a light source onto an object through the objective lens and by sensing the light flux after it is reflected from the object. The focus detecting device is provided with sensors which produce information necessary for detecting the focal point of the objective lens by sensing the light of the light source reflected by the object. Degradation of the device's detection accuracy due to the eccentrically mounted objective lens is prevented when these sensors are symmetrically arranged relative to a plane containing the optical axis of the objective lens.

Focus detecting device

Methods and apparatus for rich image capture using focused plenoptic camera technology. A radiance camera employs focused plenoptic camera technology and includes sets of modulating elements that may be used to modulate the sampling of different aspects of the range of plenoptic data. The radiance camera, via the modulating elements, may capture a particular property of light, such as luminance, color, polarization, etc., differently in different microimages or in different portions of microimages. With the focused plenoptic camera technology, the microimages are captured at the same time in a single image. Thus, multiple microimages of the same image of a scene may be captured at different exposures, different colors, different polarities, and so on, in a single image at the same time. Captured images may be used, for example, in High Dynamic Range (HDR) imaging, spectral imaging, polarization imaging, 3D imaging, and other imaging applications.

Methods and apparatus for rich image capture with focused plenoptic cameras

PURPOSE:To detect a focal shift with high sensitivity by providing two photoelectric detecting means each having a non-photosensitive body part of the almost same shape as a spot optical image, on a part of the photodetecting surface by shifting them from the image forming surface separated by a half mirror. CONSTITUTION:A luminous flux from a light source 1 is made parallel by a lens 2, reflected by a half mirror 3 and made to form an image on a data 5 by a lens 4. Its reflected light is divided into two by a half mirror 8 through the lenses 4, 7, provided onto glass plates 9a, 10a having circular light shielding parts 9b, 10b, and photoelectrically converted 9, 10. Glass plates 9, 10, for instance, are shifted by (d) forward and backward from surfaces FP1, FP2 on which the reflected light is to be focused. Output of the detectors 9, 10 are amplified by a circuit which is not shown in the figure and denoted as A and B, A+B and A-B are derived and a division (A-B)/(A+B) is executed, and the lens 4 is moved forward and backward by driving a motor 12 so that said value becomes minimum. In such a way, the focusing which is precise and has high sensitivity is executed. It is suitable for observing a pattern of a mask or a wafer.

Sudou Takeshi

Papers

Focus detecting device