Development of a Single Lens 3D Camera technology by Sony
In an existing 3D camera system where half mirror has been deployed in order to separate lenses for left and right eyes, the depth of the 3D images can be modified thanks to adjustable parallax range. But operating the zoom and focus functions in these systems does not fully coordinate closely to match the sensitivity of human eyes in terms of differences in size and rotational movement of dual images as well as any vertical misalignment or differences in image quality. To address this issue Sony made an announcement earlier this month on development of single lens 3D camera technology which incorporates mirror in place of shutter so that the incoming light can be now simultaneously separated into left and right images and recorded as it reaches the parallel light area of the relay lens. This is the area where diverging light from the point of focus on the subject matter becomes parallel resulting in separation of left and right image processing and then recorded with the help of left and right image sensors.
Since there is no time difference between when the left and right eye images that have been captured, it is possible to capture a natural and smooth 3D images even during a rapid movement of scenes. The newly developed HFR Comfort-3D has a capability of 240fps (frames per second) which represents the limit of human visual perception. Sony has achieved this capability in the newly developed camera by incorporating the 240fps frame rate CMOS image sensor with properties which closely match the human eye capable of capturing natural images of even fast moving subject matter. Use of single lens optical system in HFR Comfort-3D insures that the viewers to be able to see the natural 2D images when the polarized glasses are not worn. Furthermore it eliminates the need for lens synchronization for accurate control of 3D zoom and focus functions. The new camera was on display during the CEATEC JAPAN 2009 in Chiba City, Japan.
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