SPIE publishes an article on curved sensor optics benefits "
Current trends in miniature camera lens technology" by Dmitry Reshidko and José Sasian. The curved sensor are said to give a 1-stop advantage due to allowing optics with a larger aperture:
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| MTF of a mobile camera. (a) Conventional flat field design at f/2.2. (b) Representative lens imaging on a curved sensor at f/1.6. The lens imaging on a curved sensor is one f-number faster and shows more uniform performance over the field. OTF: Optical transfer function. |
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| Sensitivity to lens element decenter (left) and tilt (right). Lens imaging on a curved sensor shows better as-built performance. The horizontal line indicates the nominal criterion value. RSS RMS: Root sum square, root mean square. |
I'm really not sure if 1 stop is worth the trouble, assuming this is all we get from it. Any other benefits?
ReplyDeleteYes there is also a much shorter lens leading to a thinner form factor. The MTF is also better across the image as is light fall off. So 1 stop faster, better image and thinner.
Delete1 stop is a big deal! It's enough reason for many people to spend thousands of dollars going from APS-C to "Full Frame". I suspect it's difficult or impossible to optimize a curved sensor for a zoom lens though, but it's still a great solution for cell phone cameras.
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