If you take a photo from far away, regardless of the camera you use, when you zoom in on one part of the picture that portion will appear pixilated, arguably less crisp than the original shot. According to folks at Duke University, however, it is possible for a camera to preserve the detail, even when zoomed in on the smallest detail in a picture.
Engineers at the Duke Imaging and Spectroscopy Program (DISP) have been working on such a camera for a while now. It is called AWARE-2 camera, and it features 98 sensors of 14 megapixels each, creating a 1-gigapixel image. Imagine 98 individual cameras capable of rendering incredible detail - the AWARE-2 camera can show objects just 1.5-inch wide from 1 kilometer away (0.62 miles). Don't get too excited just yet, however, as it is going to take some time before consumers can purchase a gigapixel camera.
"Everything works, but the challenge right now is that the electronics are too large. With the next generation we are shrinking the electronics," said David Brady, a professor of engineering at Duke and Principal Investigator at DISP, as cited by ABC News. By "too large" Brady actually means huge: engineers use a version that weighs over 100 pounds, and can only take photos in black and white. DISP received funding from the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA).
Brady, however, hopes that by the end of the year they will have a professional model of the camera ready, and media companies will use such cameras to capture important events. When it comes to wider availability, there is no word yet as to when or if the camera will be available for consumers. "Our initial market isn't for consumers; rather, we want to be able to give consumers these detailed photos that they can interact with," said Brady.
The recipe for this high-end camera is making a bunch of little cameras - 98, to be exact - work together. "We wanted to make an analogy with computers," explained Brady. "People kept trying to make computer processors faster and faster. Only recently did we realize parallel, multiple processors did the trick. You don't need better ones, just more, working together."
With AWARE-2, 98 tiny cameras blink in unison in just one-tenth of a second, and computer software stitches the images together. "It can take a (finely detailed) picture of you and your 500 best friends," said Daniel Marks, and assistant research professor of electrical engineering at Duke, who participated in the project.
