This excessive Raspberry Pi digicam mod makes use of a laser to removes the Bayer filter array
There are a whole lot of explanation why one would possibly wish to have the sensor of their digicam modified. We see it on a regular basis for individuals who want to shoot infrared or ultraviolet images. There are even corporations on the market who will do the entire course of for you. Normally, although, it doesn’t contain stripping off the Bayer filter array. Usually it’s simply eradicating the filter that blocks UV and IR.
Nicely, for Les Wright at Les’ Lab, simply eradicating the blocking filter on his Raspberry Pi camera wasn’t sufficient. he wished all of the uncooked information, with none color interference in any respect from each pixel on the sensor. So, he went on a mission to determine away to take away it with out killing the sensor. In the end, the very best methodology proved to be to burn it off with a laser!
It’s a fairly excessive mod. Most likely probably the most excessive modifications I’ve ever seen on a digicam sensor – particularly when you think about what lasers typically do to camera sensors. And simply three weeks in the past, Sony issued a warning to not expose your lens to laser beams as a result of harm it will possibly trigger to your sensor. After all, sending a laser by way of your lens and having absolutely the management that Les has in his experiment are two various things.
Les says he killed a whole lot of Raspberry Pi digicam sensors attempting to determine the right approach to strip the Bayer sensor from the digicam sensor. He tried all kinds of abrasive and chemical solvent-based options earlier than lastly giving it a go together with his nitrogen laser. The issue was merely that the circuitry surrounding the sensor is simply far too delicate and really simply broken. And the slightest bit of injury kills your complete module.
Why would anyone wish to do that? Nicely, not everyone makes use of cameras for his or her aesthetic skills. For some, they’re scientific instruments. And with the Bayer sensor faraway from the sensor, it’s capable of see gentle at wavelengths far past the visible spectrum, and even additional than many IR and UV-converted cameras, letting him see particular chemical substances and emissions current within the scene that will in any other case be undetectable.
To carry out the laser surgical procedure, Les constructed a rig that will enable him to primarily CNC management the motion of the laser over the sensor, together with a imaginative and prescient system utilizing a Raspberry Pi with one other PiCam (naturally!) that will let him align all the things correctly and monitor the progress in real-time. In whole, it took about half an hour to carry out the removing of the Bayer array, and it opens up a whole lot of choices for each scientific and artistic makes use of of the Pi digicam.
I’m wondering if the Pi Basis could possibly be satisfied to fabricate one which comes shipped with out the Bayer filter array or an IR/UV blocker in any respect? I imply, they already make an infrared camera module, so it wouldn’t be an excessive amount of of a stretch!
[via DPReview]
