A motor turns the lens, allowing it to pick up light from any place in the camera's field of vision. Each object, regardless of its distance, will at one point be in focus on the plane. And, because the camera scans the scene, it also takes panoramic photographs. A nature photographer for National Geographic magazine, upon reading about the camera, which has been patented, told Ahuja it had been his dream to capture wildlife from a distance, having a focused view of the animal's nose as well as its tail. There are potential medical applications for the camera as well.
Neurosurgeons often use magnifying lenses as they perform delicate surgery.
The shallow depth of field means that the slightest motion disturbs the focus, requiring constant readjustment. Ahuja believes the camera may help surgery go more smoothly. The panoramic and 3D range sensing capabilities of the camera can be equally useful in, for example, shooting family portraits that include numerous figures, and creating virtual reality environments. That led to yet another project, the generation of 2D images that effectively, but economically, depict 3D scenes. If we know the image measurements or structures that are important to our perception of a particular scene, Ahuja says, then we can use only those image characteristics to generate a sort of minimalist reconstruction of a scene.