FlexibleCamera
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Flexible lens sheets could change way cameras see
Cameras are already embedded in a lot of devices, but what you could wrap them around things like a "skin?" That's the premise of "flexible sheet cameras" developed by scientists at Columbia University. Rather than having just a single sensor, the devices use an array of lenses that change properties when the material is bent. The research could lead to credit card-sized, large-format cameras that you zoom by bending, or turn objects like cars or lamp posts into 360-degree VR cameras.
Art Lebedev introduces 'Fleximus' camera concept
Well, it looks like Art Lebedev has more than the rather ingenious Transparentius concept in store for us today -- it's also introduced this so-called Fleximus concept for a flexible digital camera. Not exactly anything new there, per se, but Art Lebedev seems to be pitching this one specifically to photographers, not just folks that want to peek in hard-to-see places. To that end, the Fleximus comes equipped with a proper viewfinder on one end of camera, which can also be detached and replaced with a 3-inch LCD module (check it out after the break). Of course, this is still just a concept so there's nothing in the way of specs, but you can get an exhaustive look at the design process at the link below.
MIT researchers weave "flexible camera" out of fiber web
We've seen liquid camera lenses and cameras shaped like an eye, but a group of researchers from MIT's Department of Materials Science and Engineering are now taking things in yet another shape-shifting direction with a so-called "flexible camera" that uses a special fiber web instead of traditional lenses. Those fibers are each less than one millimeter in diameter, and are comprised of eight nested layers of light-detecting materials, which the researchers are able to form using an extrusion process like that used to make optical fiber for telecommunication applications. Once woven into a fabric, the researchers say the "camera" could be anything from a foldable telescope to a soldier's uniform that gives them greater situational awareness. Of course, they aren't saying when that might happen, although they have apparently already been able to use the fiber web to take "a rudimentary picture of a smiley face."
