2y ago

Canon is Making Metalenses, Further Legitimizing the Technology

Metalenses are a relatively fringe optical technology — at least, they were. Until now, it has been largely pursued by startups and scientists but that is changing as Canon has jumped into the fray and not only makes them but also produces the equipment necessary to manufacture them.

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The goal of a metalens would be to, eventually, wholly eliminate the smartphone camera bump.
They'll do anything to avoid giving us a slightly thicker battery...
- Right? Why not increase battery thickness, then no more camera bump!
  
  Reviewers then write "it's got great battery life, but it's so bulky" and take a star off. It's possible nobody actually cares, or that most people think extra battery life is worth the bulkiness. But that's what reviewers will write, and it will affect sales.
  See also: laptop bezels. Reviewers say you're supposed to want the thinnest one possible. Problem is, web cams tend to be better if they can be bigger, and there isn't enough room in those thin bezels for a good one. Thus, your laptop web cam looks substantially worse than your smartphone.
  Reviewers need to think harder about what they emphasize.
  
  My previous phone was a motoG power and though it was bulky and a bit laggy the battery life was amazing. It's I think 3 years old now and I still use it in airplane mode for reasons. The battery lasts 3 weeks when I don't touch it. Compare that the s22 I'm typing this on which barely lasts 1 day in standby with batter saver enabled. I hate this phone after having that sweet multi day battery life.
- Fuck smartphones, I wanna finally have glasses that are thin, light, and without distortions, reflections, or chromatic aberration
  
  And have a bigger sweet spot.
  Same for VR headset optics.
  
  And I want a pony.
- I'd take a thicker battery any day of the week.
"Oddly, Canon declined to provide PetaPixel with detailed information about its metalens technology and also chose not to provide any photos of its tech" Oddly a megatech corporation elected to keep a tight grip on its early IP? 🤔
Nah, used to get these in the bottom of a packet of chips with a pokemon on em.
- Tazos
Really cool tech, hopefully this means the costs of producing them will eventually decrease to affordable levels.
So basically nano-scale Fresnel lenses?
- Those are beautiful. A couple years ago I went on a hunt trying to find one to hang up as wall art. They are pricey.
I wonder when companies are going to shift from making stupid stuff we don't need like this and start working on things to clean up the environment they destroyed making things for the last 40 years.
- Why would they?
  I'm not being trite, I'm being serious. If they're not given a reason to do so, companies don't do things.
- If you really think that is a viable business then you should be shifting towards creating said business that makes money working on things to clean up the environment.
  
  He didnt ask when companies will shift to making money. He asked when will companies shift to making things we need.
  Money is a useful tool, but it is not life sustaining by itself. Our species existed without money for longer than we've had money.
  What humans really need is a habitable planet where we can feed ourselves, have shelter and cultivate culture with others.
  Unfortunately the desire for money has disincentivised taking care of the ecosystem that provides food, protects us from solar radiation and keeps us and our crops from baking or freezing to death.
  
  Please shut up.
- But you gotta admit that this is fucking cool. And its relatively innocent compared to some other inventions.
I wonder if they have any application in optical networking, like making wavelength selective switches (WSS) cheaper, more reliable, or smaller.
- I think they're metal enses

36 comments