This Camera Sensor Is As Small As A Grain Of Sand

With every year passing, the power of today's smartphones’ cameras is getting better. Some cameras can even shoot photos that seem like they were shot on a DSLR.

Now researchers have just developed the smallest camera in the world with the size of a grain of sand, taking capturing pictures and videos to a whole new level.

The camera is from a company called OmniVision from California. The dimensions of the camera are 0.575x0.575x0.232mm. OmniVision’s camera has received a Guinness World Record as the “Smallest Commercially Available Image Sensor.”

With an RGB Bayer chip, the sensor can take color images with 40,000 pixels. The camera also comes with a 1/36-inch optical format to capture videos at 30fps with 200x200 pixels resolution.

The size of the sensor might be small but it doesn’t mean the camera lacks performance as it can take pretty good pictures in low-light environments. The sensor can take images at a 120 angle and its depth of field can reach 30mm. According to the company’s claim, this is the only tiny chip-on-chip camera supporting backside illumination.

You might think where this small camera can be used. First and foremost, the camera could create a revolution in the medical fields like helping with catheters and endoscopies processes. The smaller camera can make the experience more comfortable for both the doctors and the patients. OmniVision says that the camera can also be used in other fields, as a spy equipment or a wearable, etc.

A post on the website of the company read:

OmniVision is not the only one who tries to create a smaller camera. University of Utah engineers also developed a camera lens which is extremely thin (thinner than a human’s hair). While the normal lenses have a curved surface, the glass of this lens is flat.

A conventional lens captures the light of the object. The light is then bent before reaching the sensor. But with the new lens, the light is directly bent at the sensor, using microstructures.