I See Your Hasselblad 200MP Camera. I Raise You A 1,000MP Camera.

That’s a gigapixel camera — a supercamera that may sooner than later coming to a retail store near you. In the gigapixel camera are 98 identical microcameras, each with its own set of optics and a 14-megapixel sensor. Do the maths: 98 * 14MP = 1372MP. These microcameras all receive their light through a single large lens. The firmware stitches together all the partial images each microcamera takes into a giant, one-gigapixel image.

The gigapixel camera captures images in less than a tenth of a second but takes 18 seconds to transfer the full image from the microcamera array to the camera’s memory, delivering a one-gigapixel image at a speed of about three frames per minute.

Not satisfied with only one gigapixel, the researchers responsible are already hard at work on a two-gigapixel prototype camera that possesses 226 microcameras. Eventually they aim to manufacture cameras with ten- to 100-gigapixels. Just don’t expect to handhold these beasts.

via thestar