How does a camera work?

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Cameras are everywhere! There are probably 2 or even 3 cameras in your pocket right now. But how do they work? How can they take some of the most amazing pictures ever?

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Table of Contents:
0:20 Section 1: Intro
1:10 Section 2: System Layout
3:51 Section 3: Analogy between a Smartphone & a Human
7:45 Section 4: Camera and Sensor Details
11:30 Section 5: Questions & Thought Experiment

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Erratum:
0:52 Smartphone is misspelled as Smarphone
9:54 Audio says 4096 when it should be 4095. Text is Correct
13:54 Exoplanet is misspelled as Exoplant.

Animation built using Blender 2.79b
Post with Adobe Premiere Pro and Adobe After Effects

Work Cited Alphabetized:
Fossum, Eric. Hondongwa, Donald “A Review of the Pinned Photodiode for CCD and CMOS Image Sensors.” IEEE Journal of the Electron Devices Society, Vol. 2, No.3, May 2014, pp33-43

Wase, Yashashree, “CMOS Image Sensor and Quanta Image Sensors: Past, Present and Future”, “Advanced CMOS Pixel Technologies.” College of Engineering at University of Idaho, pp1-22

Wikipedia contributors. “Active Pixel Sensor.” , “Photodiode.” , “Sunlight.” , “Visible Spectrum.” , “Eye.” , “Evolution of the Eye.” , “Human Eye.”  Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia, 25 May. 2018.

Music Attribution in Order:
Marxist Arrow by Twin Musicom is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution License

Music: Clover 3 by Vibe Mountain
Video Link:

Daydream Bliss Sybs

Timelapsed Tides, Asher Fulero

You Will Know, Text Me Records / Leviathe

Sunburst, Tobu & Itro is licensed under Creative Commons Attribution License

#HowDo #Camera #Smartphone

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28 Comments

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    Life on an exoplanet with a different stellar light spectrum or atmospheric composition would likely depend on the specific conditions, with major adaptations necessary for energy, climate, and biochemistry. A different light spectrum could alter photosynthetic processes or even favor non-water-based life forms, while different atmospheric gases would influence temperature regulation and potentially support entirely new forms of biochemistry, such as the hypothetical methane-based life on Titan.

    Impact of Different Light Spectrum

    Energy for Life

    : Life on Earth relies on photosynthesis to convert sunlight into energy. If a star emits a different spectrum, such as more infrared light, life might evolve different pigments or biological processes to capture these longer wavelengths.

    Temperature Regulation

    : The type of light from a star significantly impacts a planet's surface temperature. A star emitting primarily in the infrared could lead to warmer planets with less ice.

    Habitability

    : Planets orbiting red dwarf stars (which emit more infrared light) would need to be closer to their star to be in the habitable zone, potentially exposing them to intense radiation and flares, although this radiation could also fuel prebiotic chemistry.

    Impact of Different Atmospheric Gases

    Climate and Temperature

    : The composition of an atmosphere dictates its ability to retain heat. A different mix of gases, for instance, could lead to an extremely hot or cold climate, even if the planet is in the traditional habitable zone.

    Alternative Biochemistry

    : The presence of different atmospheric gases, such as methane, could potentially enable entirely different forms of life. Hypothetical methane-based life on Titan suggests that life could exist with solvents other than water.

    Radiation Shielding

    : An atmosphere's composition also determines its ability to shield a planet from harmful stellar radiation, such as ultraviolet rays from powerful stars.

    Respiration and Metabolism

    : Different gases could serve as respiratory or metabolic substrates for life. For example, life on a planet with a methane-rich atmosphere might use methane as an energy source.

  2. Digital camera sensors have twice as many green pixels as red or blue because the human eye is most sensitive to green light, a principle called the Bayer pattern. This increased green sensitivity allows cameras to capture better detail and tone in images, matching how we perceive visual information and reducing image noise. The Bayer filter array uses a 2×2 pattern of two green, one red, and one blue pixel to achieve this.

    Why the Bayer pattern favors green:

    Human eye sensitivity:

    Our eyes are most sensitive to the brightness and detail of green light, so duplicating green pixels helps produce a more accurate and pleasing image.

    Luminance information:

    The green pixels act as "luminance-sensitive" elements, capturing brightness information, while the red and blue pixels focus on "chrominance" or color information.

    Improved perceived resolution:

    The redundancy of green pixels helps to create a more detailed image by better capturing the light's intensity, which we notice more than color differences.

    How it works:

    Color filter array (CFA):

    The Bayer filter array is a layer of colored filters (red, green, and blue) placed over a digital camera's sensor.

    Demosaicing:

    When you take a picture, the raw data from the sensor (which has different R, G, and B values for each pixel) undergoes a process called demosaicing. This "interpolation" uses the information from neighboring pixels to construct the full RGB value for each pixel.

    Better detail:

    Because there are more green pixels, the demosaicing process has more green information to work with, resulting in a sharper and less noisy final image that better matches our visual perception.

  3. Liked the way it is explained, very detailed way. Loved the interesting fact about color red, green and blue. The way the photon hit the light sensor and the short term memory RAM stored it. I like the analogy with the eye.

  4. You guys have come a LOOON way! I am a new subscriber and I just watched one of your newest videos. Then I liked it SO MUCH that I thought I'd go back and binge watch all of your videos, all the way back to this one, your first one. And yes… you have improved A LOT! And that is awesome! Don't stop, EVER! 🙂

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