Coaster-sized origami-optics lens boosts focal length, shrinks photog egos

Sports photogs aren't compensating for something by swinging gigantic, monopod-mounted lenses; they need the focal length. Focusing and zooming on outfielders usually means glass far from the camera body, but not so when using so-called "origami optics," flat lenses being researched at UCSD Jacobs School of Engineering that use internal reflection to achieve long focal lengths. Only the outer ring actually captures the image, while the others bounce it around before depositing light onto the film or sensor. The military is sponsoring this research, wanting better eyes on its UAVs, and we're hoping for improved optics in our gadgets -- though we were equally jazzed about liquid lenses, and those haven't exactly revolutionized mobile photography yet. A snooze-inducing Engineering TV clip after the break explains it all in more detail, so don't click on until you've had your morning cuppa -- or two.

[sirenoremac @ Sep 4th 2008 10:25AM]

Actually the real reason those lenses are so big is because they are both long focal lengths and wide apertures. They are designed to let a lot of light in so that the exposure can be short for action shots. I don't really see this type of lens letting in a whole lot of light, but who knows.

[Dave Zatz @ Sep 4th 2008 10:28AM]

Damn, that Xbox 360 power button is huge.

[NPH @ Sep 4th 2008 10:29AM]

someone better get that thing back into tony stark's chest ASAP

[Hellaphunt @ Sep 4th 2008 11:27AM]

Someone stole Dr. Doom's urinal cake...

[linuxamp @ Sep 4th 2008 10:43AM]

I can't wait for the day I can ditch my huge lens bag for something small and versatile. I'm sure it'll be a while before something like this rivals the quality and flexibility of current SLR optics but it's certainly a great start.

[BloodyGerman @ Sep 4th 2008 10:46AM]

Basically a good idea, heard about it some time ago. But he should have mentioned the limitations of this design as well. With mirror lenses you tend to get doughnut shaped out-of-focus highlights and bokeh. This design gives you just the very outer ring so the picture will look even worse than a normal mirror lens. Also the amount of received light is reduced compared to a normal e.g. f/1.4 lens shown in the video.

Hopefully they can do something about the out-of-focus picture quality, otherwise this technology will be limited to some technical applications and astronomy.

[David @ Sep 4th 2008 11:18AM]

Seems like they're targeting applications for which bokeh isn't relevent. Think compact spotting scopes, spy satellite cameras and so forth. Anywhere you need magnification primarily for information gathering purposes.

[neihprome @ Sep 4th 2008 10:54AM]

Sounds like it'll have similar bokeh behavior to mirror lenses. If the image quality and speed can match the big teles though I could see this being interesting.

[psilver @ Sep 4th 2008 11:06AM]

I think this is almost the same as a reflex lens (500mm, fixed f/8) in concept, only smaller. This design is not as good as a regular 500mm, large aperture lens. I'm very sure that this lens has its drawbacks but which the target market for this lens won't mind.

[David @ Sep 4th 2008 11:13AM]

"A snooze-inducing Engineering TV clip"

Engadget, where we care only about consuming things and are bored by how they actually work. Seriously, this video did about as well as any video that actually attempts to explain an engineering concept and wasn't at all hard to understand. Anyone put to sleep by it likely has a hard time learning anything.

[Adam @ Sep 4th 2008 11:15AM]

Its important to watch and keep track of new ideas like this but I think it will be a long time before we see something like this giving us the same quality image that you get from major manufacturers (canon and nikon) 400, 500, 600 and 800mm zooms. They have spent mega $$$ and time making our current selection fast, sharp and high quality for the price and I find it hard to believe that these will fit into photographers budget since we don't exactly work in the highest paying field around.

[Geir E @ Sep 4th 2008 12:35PM]

This will never be anything for professional use. Might end up as a low cost alternative for amateurs but I doubt that many will adopt it due to the mirror lens nature.

http://i.pbase.com/o4/83/267083/1/56276981.01BOK_chrlz_old.jpg

you see the light enter in a form of a ring, and that ring will be represented in the out of focus area of the image. So to get good pictures with mirror lenses you have to stay away from light or reflective sources that cause this effect.. Sonys 500mm f8 is the only lens available with autofocus as well, all others are manual focus. And you are limited to one aperature.

So I can't say this in any way applies to photography as an artform.

[E92 @ Sep 4th 2008 11:17AM]

I want it just for the fact that it looks so damn cool!

[dcm @ Sep 4th 2008 11:23AM]

UCSD!!! TRITONS BABY!

[Joe @ Sep 4th 2008 11:29AM]

This is just mirror lenses taken to the next level. Surprised it hasn't come out sooner, it seems really nicely matched to the tiny CCD optics that are common today.

[BeniRose @ Sep 4th 2008 11:54AM]

That last sentence is even funnier if you know what cuppa is slang for in most Slavic languages.

[R @ Sep 4th 2008 1:05PM]

Best if served with slice of cheese pizda.

[Kurt @ Sep 4th 2008 1:36PM]

So it's a recursive reflex lens. From the design it may be possible to incorporate an adjustable iris. If they can make this lens so it's not stuck at one f-stop like the common f-8 mirror reflex lenses we're used to, this could be pretty cool. It will all come down to how good the IQ is when all is said and done.

[Oleg @ Sep 4th 2008 4:49PM]

It's just a mirror lens, very old technology. These are generally not good for photography, since they don't let much light through. You can get a new 500m mirror lens for $90 on ebay.

[Dave @ Sep 4th 2008 7:50PM]

I doubt very much that lenses like this will get anywhere in photographic applications. Similar lenses have existed for some time - catadioptric, or so-called "mirror" lenses. These have two major shortcomings - fixed apeture, and more importantly, awful ring-shaped out-of-focus highlights or "bokeh" as it is called in the photographic industry.

In addition, I agree with an earlier comment - the design of this lens doesn't look like it's going to admit an awful lot of light, and light gathering is one of the main objectives of those huge lenses used by sports photogs.

That's not to say that these lenses aren't an advance for applications requiring extreme compactness, but I don't see that they're necessarily all tha different from the folded optics said to have been used in spy satellites since the 70's.

[Daniel at UC San Diego @ Sep 8th 2008 12:43PM]

You can read the original UC San Diego press release describing this research at:
http://www.jacobsschool.ucsd.edu/news/news_releases/release.sfe?id=617

...and a condensed version of the story in Pulse, the alumni magazine for the Jacobs School of Engineering at UC San Diego:
http://www.jacobsschool.ucsd.edu/pulse/spring2007/cover1.shtml