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Characteristics of a Light Field Camera From Lytro

Just finished half way through Ren Ng's thesis on Light Field Camera--Ren Ng is the CEO of Lytro.

If I understand it correctly, these are the characteristics of his LF camera:

  • An array of micro lenses is fitted in front of the image sensor. A micro lens will cover a group of pixels on the sensor, so basically a micro lens will represent a pixel in the output image.
  • Image resolution will be reduced. How much it is depends entirely on the number and size of the micro lenses. The minimal size of a micro lens is limited to the lens optics. Optimal resolution appears to be reduced to 1/16th (16MP to 1MP).
  • The purpose of a micro lens is to capture the directions of the light. Conventionally, a pixel records photons from all directions. A micro lens would directionalize the light hitting the pixels (forcing a pixel to record photons only from one direction). One direction each, a group of pixels under the micro lens will record light from all directions. I use "directionalize" here because technically it isn't the same as "polarize".
  • To digitally refocus and to get the final image, the software program simply ray traces the light, one pixel at a time. Ray tracing is normally a computationally intensive task in 3D but for LF data, this should be extremely fast since the RGB values of the pixels are already there; it's just a matter of picking the right pixels on the sensor to produce the final image. Per-color-channel ray tracing could be used to completely eliminate chromatic aberration from the image.
  • Show Stopper: I'm not too sure about this but I believe such LF camera will not make the depth of field shallower beyond the lens'. The way it works, we should be seeing only LF cameras equipped with a large sensor at least APS-C size and with standard DSLR lenses. If you put the array of micro lenses on top of a P&S sensor, it wouldn't make a difference anyway since the DoF is already too deep; it would be pointless. Besides, it's probably extremely difficult to produce smaller micro lenses for P&S sensor. So my speculation is we will only seeing LF cameras in DSLR, ILC or Fixed Lens Camera instead of LF P&S.
  • So yes, if you want shallow DoF, you'll need to get a lens that gives shallow DoF. 
  • While can't get shallower DoF, it can however extend DoF to get everything in focus. Again, it's just a matter of picking the right pixels.
  • Ren Ng talks about producing a 160MP sensor so that the final image will get around 10MP. Such LF DSLR however will greatly reduce the low light performance. It would be like losing 4 stops of light.


The promise of a LF DSLR is to allow you to refocus after the fact. Make no mistake, it can be a paradigm shift in photography. It could probably be the age of point-and-shoot APS-C Mirrorless Compacts!

 

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Internet Banking in Cambodia

Internet banking offers the convenient new ways to checking the account balance, transferring fund and even pay bills through your own internet-connected computer. There is no line to wait, no dirty note to count, and there is no need to drive out anywhere. Everything is all done at home.

I did some research and found four banks in Cambodia that provide the internet banking service to the customers. (There could be more since Cambodia's banking industry grows so rapidly.)

FTB - http://www.ftbbank.com/

You can request the internet banking service applied to your savings account for $10. You will be given an One-Time-Password device (OTP) and a password to log in to your account. This OTP device offers another layer of protection in a way that even if somebody else knows your password, the person will not be able to compromise your account without the OTP device given to you.

Services:

  • Check account balance and transactions
  • Fund transfer
  • ATM
  • Pay electricity bills

ANZ Bank - http://anzroyal.com/en/Personal/

ANZ provides everything FTB does except the OTP device. They rely entirely on your password to protect your account. They do however employ a basic protection against attacks. Basically, if somebody attempts to log in to your account with the wrong password three times, your internet banking account will be locked out, and that you would have to pay a visit to ANZ to reactivate your internet banking access.

Services:

  • Check account balance and transactions
  • Fund transfer
  • ATM

ABA Bank - http://ababank.net/

Advanced Bank of Asia, or ABA, really do offers a set of advanced products and services to its customers. Internet banking with secured OTP device and CryptoCard is provided to all account holders. You may check all the transactions at your convenience through your computer. On top of that, you may sign up for a VISA debit card and have it linked to your bank account, and that allows you to make purchases on the internet and at credit-card POS nationwide. What is more advanced is that, through the internet banking system, you may issue your own virtual credit cards with a custom maximum balance you set for temporary uses. This allows you to limit how much a merchant may charge you for the purchases. Once the transactions are completed, you could just cancel the card to ensure that you will never get recharged. You will never have to worry that the credit card number is compromised.

Services:

  • Check account balance and transactions
  • Fund transfer
  • ATM
  • VISA debit card
  • Virtual credit cards

CPB Bank - http://www.cpbebank.com/cpeb/index.html

Cambodian Public Bank, Campu, or CPB also provides the internet banking service, ATM and debit card. More details will be added.

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