Patent ID: 8525914

Claim:
An image capturing device, comprising: a detector including a plurality of sensing pixels; and an optical system having one or more optical elements disposable into at least two states, the at least two states of the optical system corresponding to at least two angular fields of view, respectively, the at least two states of the optical system projecting at least two distorted images onto the detector corresponding to the at least two angular fields of view, respectively, and distortion in a given distorted image manifesting as a significantly greater pixel density per field angle at a central portion of the given distorted image than at a peripheral portion thereof, wherein a first number of sensing pixels required to realize a maximal zoom magnification Z max at a minimum resolution of the image capturing device is greater than a second number of pixels required for the minimum resolution and less than a square of the maximal zoom magnification Z max times the second number of sensing pixels required for the minimum resolution.