That SLR around your neck might lose the huge lens in the future, thanks to lessons learned from biology. Scientists from the University of Illinois and Northwestern have created a camera with a liquid lens and flexible sensor that can capture images in a method similar to the human eye. Cameras have previously been designed around the same principles that the eye uses, but they have been limited to a single focal length incapable of zooming. This is due to the constraints of using the solid, rigid sensors used in regular cameras, according to a press release. Unlike your eye, this new camera uses silicon photo-detectors connected to a hydraulic system to get a 3.5x zoom, roughly the same as that on high-end compacts like Panasonic’s Lumix LX-5. When water is pumped into the lens to change the thickness, the sensor adjusts accordingly and the image zooms in.
The big advantage to this technology is the simplicity of the design. Current camera lenses use a number of elements together to create the image that you see on your sensor. The light has to be corrected for a number of aberrations to make the resulting image as sharp as possible. Even the simplest lenses that can’t zoom, like a 50mm f/1.8, can have around six elements. This system uses only one, shaped to correct imperfections using water pumped into it.
Though the tech is still a while off from showing up in your next Canon, the team responsible for it says they see it being used in everything from night-vision to consumer electronics. Maybe in the future, you and your camera phone might be looking at the world through the same kind of lens.
