National Science Foundation - Where Discoveries Begin

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Inspired by the complex fly eye, a University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign and Northwestern University research team has developed a hemispherical digital camera with nearly 200 tiny lenses, delivering an exceptionally wide-angled field of view and sharp images. The new camera--a rounded half bubble, similar to a bulging fly eye--has 180 microlenses mounted on it, allowing it to take pictures across nearly 180 degrees. Only a camera shaped like a bug's eye can do this. Full Story