Cameras and Digital

Imaging
(Some of this you can actually
use in everyday life)

An Important Number
The wider a camera lens opening
(aperture), the more light enters.
The greater the distance from lens to
sensor (focal length), the more light is
spread out and the fainter the image
If (focal length)/(aperture) is constant,
the image is always the same
brightness regardless of the size of the
camera
(focal length)/(aperture) = f-ratio

F-ratio
Small f-ratio Large f-ratio
Image
Brightness
Exposure
Time
Depth of
Field
Diffraction

Bright

Dim

Short

Longer

Shallow

Deep

Least

Most

Depth of Field

Depth of Field: f/2.7

Depth of Field: f/8.0

Diffraction
Any time light encounters an edge (lens,
mirror, opening of any kind), diffraction
occurs
Diffraction limits the resolution of optical
instruments
Relatively unimportant for film but much
more important for digital imaging
Film is a continuous recording medium
Digital imaging involves discrete pixels

Diffraction

Wide
Aperture
Lessens
Diffraction

Short Focal
Length
Lessens
Diffraction

Diffraction
Creates
Interference

All Images Are Blurry

The Airy Disk

Why Bright Stars Look

Bigger

Image Resolution
Two objects will not appear distinct
unless their Airy disks are separate
Airy disk size = 2.4 x wavelength x fratio
500 nm and f/4 = 5280 nm = 5.3 microns
About the size of retinal cells

Didnt matter much for film

Does it pay to have pixels smaller than
the Airy disk?

Bayer RGB Filter

What is a Pixel?
Digital cameras use Bayer RGB filter
for color rendition
of receptors are red sensitive,
are blue sensitive and are green
sensitive
Matches color sensitivity of eye
Four receptors (1R 2G 1B) = a pixel

Super-Mega-Pixels
Pixels smaller than the Airy disk ( a
few microns) contribute no resolution
Downside of mega-pixel cameras
Fewer photons per pixel = more noise
Bloated file sizes
Probably no harm

Biggest problem with tiny cameras is

inferior lenses

More on Megapixels
HDTV = 2 megapixels
James Cameron filmed Avatar with
2.2 megapixel cameras
Anything over 5 megapixels probably
unnecessary
More pixels dont help, but dont hurt
either

Satellite Imaging
Old Old School
Shoot on film
Develop on board
Scan with oscilloscope and photocell
Reconstruct on ground

Examples
Luna III 1959
Lunar Orbiter

Luna 3, October,. 1959

Lunar Orbiter, 1966

Lunar Orbiter, 1967

Direct
Film
Imagin
g

First
Weather
Satellite
Image
(Televisio
n
Imaging)

Spacecraft Imaging
Photomultiplier tubes are extremely
sensitive and reliable
Television-like technology used on
spacecraft well into 1980s
Galileo (launched 1989) was the first
mission to use solid state imaging
800 x 800 pixels

Landsat Sensors

Sensor Sweep

Tornado Track and Bad

Pixels