Image Formation

Abstract

In this chapter we discuss how images, discussed in previous chapters, are formed and captured. It has long been known that a simple pinhole is able to create an inverted image on the wall of a darkened room. Some marine mollusks, for example the Nautilus, have pinhole camera eyes. The eyes of vertebrates use a lens to form an inverted image on the retina where the light-sensitive rod and cone cells, shown previously in Fig. 10.6, are arranged. A digital camera is similar in principle – a glass or plastic lens forms an image on the surface of a semiconductor chip where an array of light-sensitive devices converts the light to a digital image.