German researchers create zooming liquid lenses

Liquid lenses have been kicking around as the Next Big Thing for a while, but outside of cameo appearances in a couple Samsung cellphones, they haven't exactly made waves in the market. That may be in part due to the fact that they can be made smaller and cheaper than conventional optics, but haven't been able to provide zoom or particularly high resolution. All that might be changing, however, as a Fraunhofer Institute team working in conjunction with French firm Varioptic has developed a system of 4 liquid lenses that can snap from 1 - 2.5x magnification at the touch of a button. The system isn't quite ready for primetime yet -- exposure times are still a little long, it can't zoom continuously, and the assembly is a little big at 29mm -- but the team is already considering solutions to those problems and is ready to go to the prototype stage. With all the interest from cellphone manufacturers, we'll bet they solve those problems right quick.

[capn @ Jun 12th 2007 4:13PM]

at first glance, i thought this was referring to a new contact lens that would allow a user to see further. that would be cool.

[alex @ Jun 12th 2007 4:33PM]

Will the lens "freeze" during the winter?

[zed @ Jun 12th 2007 4:59PM]

http://www.dpreview.com/news/0403/04030302philipsfluidlens.asp
Old news Philips 3 years ago...For mobile phones etc etc.Blah blah blah.Please come again in 2010.

[the other steve jobs @ Jun 12th 2007 5:17PM]

that's all we need... someone to make phones with these lenses, and then some stupid company in Texas sues us for using them.

no thanks!

[Lee @ Jun 12th 2007 5:22PM]

very very cool!

[ethana2 @ Jun 12th 2007 8:22PM]

You ready your cell phone camera to take a picture. You bring it up to your eye, and the liquid lens spins up. Someone bumps you, and your cell goes flying. It hits the ground and snaps shut violently and, after bouncing once or twice, comes to a slowly spinning stop. You go to make sure it's not damaged. Looks ok. You go to take a picture again. The liquid shorts your phone's backlight. Then it explodes. Turns out motorola put pure potassium rods in the phone because people kept covering those little color patches with tape.

Random scenario. Probably won't happen, but it's a big world. ;)
Let's hope the lens units aren't made in China.

[ethana2 @ Jun 12th 2007 8:23PM]

And yes, I know the lenses don't use centripetal force for curvature control. That would take, what, someone sitting on patents?

[drtekger @ Jun 12th 2007 9:30PM]

Deutschland pwnage!

[Smarty Pants @ Jun 12th 2007 9:31PM]

That would be so cool to put those in glasses!

[Vinay @ Jun 13th 2007 4:06AM]

Wouldn't the weight of the liquid mass make the bottom liquid boundary of the lens bulge more than at the top? In other words, is it gravity friendly?