Gigapixel Photo
Duke University Imaging and Spectroscopy Program
It sounds like the new 50 gigapixel camera from engineers at Duke
University and the University of Arizona was a simple, intuitive,
Lego-inspired idea: stack 98 cameras on top of each other to make one
big camera. That's the main idea, anyway. What's tough is taking the
information from those 98 flashes and organizing it without the camera
going up in smoke. That's why it uses about 3 percent of its hardware to
do actual
camera stuff, while the rest of it goes to wiring that takes the info and gets it to make sense.
It's a lot of wiring, too; the prototype is two-and-half feet square
and 20 inches deep. Each camera takes a tiny, crisp photo that overlaps
with the others to create a high-resolution mosaic--enough to see
someone blowing their nose from blocks away, even if the photographer
can't notice the detail at first glance.
50 Gigapixel Camera: Duke University Imaging and Spectroscopy Program
So, you ask, when am I getting a 50 gigapixel smartphone? Not for a
while--a really long while. The wires piecing together that photo are
going to have to be condensed
a lot before they fit in your pocket, or even something comfortable to hold in your hands
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