Camera set to revolutionise industry

A BRITISH revolution in camera design could one day herald the end of conventional photography, it was revealed yesterday.

The invention makes it possible to shoot video of a fast moving scene or capture a single pin-sharp moment without changing cameras.

If successfully developed, it could turn separate video and still cameras into technological relics.

At present single frames of a piece of video footage can be “grabbed”, but the quality is always poor.

Alternatively, a still camera can freeze objects in motion – a football or racing car, for instance – at high resolution.

The new technology allows one camera to do the jobs of both video and still photography with equal ease.

It works by effectively turning small groups of light-sensitive “pixels” into tiny individual cameras that take a sequence of pictures at high speed.

The pixel groups are evenly distributed, and the whole of one sequence lasts as long as it takes to take a “normal” snapshot.

The user then has two choices. Either all the “mini-pictures” captured by the pixel groups can be displayed together as one high-resolution image, or they can be “played” one after the other as a movie.

Researchers who tested the concept believe it could have a multitude of applications in industry, science, security systems, the media and the consumer market.

Plans are underway to compress the technology into a sensor that could fit inside normal cameras.

The invention was the brainchild of Dr Gil Bub, an imaging expert belonging to a group studying heart cells at Oxford University.

The technology, called “temporal pixel multiplexing” (TPM), was tested in the laboratory using a prototype that took images of a falling drop of milk.

TPM, described in the journal Nature Methods, is patented by the Oxford University company Isis Innovation Ltd, which helps researchers commercialise their ideas.

The search is on for industry partners who can market the technology.