Femto Imaging, The Future of Photography

Today I watched a very entertaining video on ted.com featuring Dr. Ramesh Raskar, Associate Professor of Media Arts and Sciences at MIT. In the video, he discusses a new type of imaging called "Femto Photography" to a large audience at the University.  Basically, he and his team have developed (pun intended) a new type of camera that can capture images in trillionths of a second, a million times faster than high speed cameras.

Current high speed cameras can capture a bullet in slow motion passing through at object, such as a piece a fruit or a cinder block.  This new camera can actually photograph photons of light as they travel through the same objects.  In this presentation, a video made using a composite of frames taken from the new camera actually shows a beam of light travel through a plastic bottle.  Unexpectedly, it shows the light reflect off of the various surfaces of the bottle, creating an image of what looks like waves rippling in a pond.  The frames on the femto camera are so fast, that a video just a few seconds long becomes gigabytes of data.

Dr. Raskar then goes on to explain possible future applications of this new type of imaging and that's when things start to get really interesting.  Imagine a camera that can see inside a human body without the need of x-ray or can be used to "see" what's around a corner.  The applications for that second part are virtually endless.  Imaging could be developed to help doctors make better endoscopes or even help soldiers stay one step ahead on the battlefield.

Another really interesting aspect of femto photography is its use in art.  Shortly after high speed cameras were invented, photographers found they were able to record images never seen before by the human eye.  This new camera should allow photographers to go one step further and create images more spectacular than anyone could have imagined.  Picture (again pun intended) a femto camera taking pictures of a lightning storm... Could be pretty amazing!

As with most TED Talks videos,  I found it very entertaining.  Dr. Raskar does a good job of making the presentation fun by using a variety of images and videos to keep his audience engaged.  A few small puns aside (I like puns), he presents the information in a very straight forward manner, which is easy for someone with a limited understanding of photography to follow. 

Dr. Raskar and his team have open sourced all of the data on their new invention, which will hopefully allow researchers all around the world find new and exciting ways to use this amazing technology.  I'll personally be looking forward to seeing what crazy new inventions pop up in the near future.  I don't think anyone would mind a femto camera in their new iPhone 10.