Smartphone cameras, while good, will never be able to stand up to proper DSLR cameras. However, that may soon change as researchers at Harvard have developed something that may give smartphones the ability to snap photos that are of DSLR-quality.
This new invention of sorts is dubbed ‘metalens’, a lens that’s created out of quartz plates full of microscopic titanium oxide structures instead of glass, whose patterns guide light towards the camera sensor. According to the report, said lens is capable of providing better focus than a state-of-the-art commercial lens. Perhaps the most impressive part about the ‘metalens’ is its size and cost. Measuring at just two millimeters in diameter, the ‘metalens’ is said to be much cheaper than the lenses the industry uses today. “We wanted to replace bulky optics. We can reduce the cost to two or three orders of magnitude,” says Mohammadreza Khorasaninejad, first author on the ‘metalens’ study.
While ‘metalens’ sounds highly promising, the tech itself is still very much in its infancy. Right now, the lenses were built to refract light at specific wavelengths – more specifically 405nm, 532nm, and 660nm. That said, Khorasaninejad and his team are currently working on developing ‘chromatic’ lens next.
Should ‘metalens’ becomes viable however, do expect some major changes to photography as a whole. ‘Metalens’ would not only allow you to take high-quality photos with just your smartphone, it may also result in a huge price drop for current top-tier lenses.
Source: Popular Science, Harvard