Electronic camera mimics human eye
In an electronic camera modeled on the human eye, a standard video camera is combined with a zoom-and-roam image intensifier. An operator of the electronic zoom and roam (EZAR) camera can use a computer mouse or joystick to identify an area of interest from a complete scene presented on a monitor screen in wide-field mode. The chosen area can then be magnified and examined at much higher resolution. With a 5:1 zoom ratio, for example, a standard 600-line TV camera becomes--in the zoom mode--equivalent to a 3000-line camera. The user can return to the wide-field mode at any time while the electronic storing of zoom and roam functions allows exactly the same area to be re-examined at another time. Applications that developer Photek (St. Leonards on Sea, England) expect for the EZAR camera include medical x-ray imaging and examination of cell cultures. Image intensification should allow use of lower doses of x-rays, and the camera will also enable clinicians to examine possible bone-fracture sites or tumors at high magnification without moving the patient.