3D images captured with a single lens in Sony TX55 digital camera

Aug. 25, 2011
San Diego, CA--The DSC-TX55 camera from Sony Electronics can capture and output three-dimensional (3D) still and video images with a single lens and single imager.

San Diego, CA--The DSC-TX55 camera in Sony Electronics' Cybershot digital still camera line has 16.2 megapixels with a 5X optical and 10X digital zoom and can capture and output three-dimensional (3D) still images and video with a single lens and single imager. The TX55 uses panorama mode to select two different images to create a stereo pair that is processed and output to a Sony 3DTV; other camera makers are adopting the approach.

The TX55 panorama sweep mode of 3D acquisition adds a new mode called "still" in which the camera takes two consecutive shots. The first one is used to create a depth map of the scene while the second captures a color image. Software then creates a stereo image pair from the 2D image and the depth map.

The Sony camera’s 5X optical zoom lens uses folded optics technology to reduce depth. It measures 12.2mm slim and is called by Sony "the thinnest camera in its class" (defined as cameras with optical anti-shake functions). The TX55 also allows capture of 1080i 3D video that is stored in dual media cards.

Other camera innovations include Clear Image Zoom that boosts magnification without lowering the pixel count in the final image. Sony’s exclusive By Pixel Super Resolution processing further extends the camera’s 5X optical zoom range, allowing full-resolution 16.2 megapixel images with a maximum 10X zoom. The camera includes a large 3.3-inch organic light-emitting diode (OLED) touchscreen and will ship in September at a $350 suggested retail price.

SOURCE: Insight Media’s Display Daily from August 18; www.insightmedia.info/displaydaily.php

About the Author

Gail Overton | Senior Editor (2004-2020)

Gail has more than 30 years of engineering, marketing, product management, and editorial experience in the photonics and optical communications industry. Before joining the staff at Laser Focus World in 2004, she held many product management and product marketing roles in the fiber-optics industry, most notably at Hughes (El Segundo, CA), GTE Labs (Waltham, MA), Corning (Corning, NY), Photon Kinetics (Beaverton, OR), and Newport Corporation (Irvine, CA). During her marketing career, Gail published articles in WDM Solutions and Sensors magazine and traveled internationally to conduct product and sales training. Gail received her BS degree in physics, with an emphasis in optics, from San Diego State University in San Diego, CA in May 1986.

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