A related phenomenon in art is anamophosis . This applies to two different things really. One is the method of painting something that is meant to be viewed from some funny angle. Here is a large version. Curved mirrors are known as catoptrics and conventional lenses systems are known as dioptrics .
Devices consisting of both are know as catadoptrics .
There are several nice things about catadioptric sensors. First of all, they can give a wide field of view. The nature of this transformation depends on the shape of the mirror. And of course, the transformation occurs very quickly. So in some sense catadioptrics are analog computers, albeit not very programmable ones.