increase resolution, part two
Ok, so after some thought on the concept of increasing resolution, and some research of companies performing similar functions I’ve come to perhaps a second part of all this (Here is the first part). By taking the light coming through a lens and splitting that incoming light using a beam splitter into two or more directions, each landing on image sensor chips.
Canon, and many other companies already use a similar system on 3 CCD/3mos cameras to acquire more color. Their systems are simple in that each chip receives a filtered level of RGB, and then combines the result back to one image in processing. The result is great colors (the colors would in theory increase 1/3 fold compared to a bayerfiltered single chip).
The concept I speak of is similar in that you combine the results together, but without the color filters. Instead of building up multitudes of color spaces, it would build up pixel information by having an increased density of pixels. Of course this cannot be a complete substitution of simply having a larger chip with increased photovoltaic cells, but I think it can come close with tweaks.
Comparison 1: High-Dynamic Range Photography uses a similar concept in that a bracketed shot is taken (three shots of the same scene with different exposure settings taken in rapid succession), and then each picture is overlayed; taking from it the best of the picture. The result is great lighting and contrast throughout the scene. Check this hdr site out.
Comparison 2: Image Stacking in Astronomical Photography uses a similar concept as well, it will film a scene with dozens of frames/images for each second for minutes on end. You may have over 1000 images of the same piece of sky. Once completed, software is used to combine all the frames of the video into a single still image– aligning them together and ultimately reinforcing the imagery by running the final set through a series of image enhancing filters. Once stacked image processing is complete, the results are much greater than the sum of their parts in that the image is strikingly clear and crisp– all due to the increased pixel information from the multitudes of pictures taken.
Comparison 3: Video Resolution Increase using frame rate halving. By halving or even thirding a frame rate of a video, the extra frames can be used to increase the resolution and overall picture with the extra information they hold. Here’s an example of what I am talking about. Obviously it is an imperfect system, and bests with slight motion of the scene, but still it gets the point across. I think this is similar to how your webcam can take a still picture at HD resolution using a small VGA sensor, coupled with interpolation of pixels.
Increasing the amount of image sensors will in essence increase the amount of total pixel information. Two images, or maybe more, taken from the exact same angle at the exact same time would result in the image pixel density of twice that original single sensor amount. Of course you could go one step further and have the incoming light split into exacting halves or quads, each hitting a perfectly aligned sensor. The result would be 2-4 times the amount of pixel resolution almost instantly, by simply combing each sensors buffer into a single image. Though I think simply splitting the incoming light into two duplicate beams of light to hit two sensors, would be much easier to create. The resulting duo image could then be adjusted and combined to a greater picture. Albeit the exposure settings would be the same (though I’m sure this can be built into the camera using filters for exposure). Foveon x3 chips mathematically do this, except with layered translucent-sensors.
