Dense lightfield reconstruction from multi aperture cameras

Plenoptic cameras based on micro lens arrays as well as multi aperture cameras are able to capture a multitude of images with slightly shifted viewpoints. Although the amount of parallax between adjacent views is limited, precautions have to be taken in order to avoid alias when performing direct lightfield rendering. Against this background, we present an approach for the dense reconstruction of a lightfield based on a sparse lightfield acquired from a multi aperture camera with subsequent disparity estimation and depth image based view interpolation. Results show that the approach is suitable for all-in-focus-rendering.

1. Introduction

Since the first presentation of a commercial hand-held plenoptic camera by Ng in 2005 [1], the interest on this technology which previously focused on research in the academic sector [2], [3] was extended towards industrial applications and consumer electronics. Lightfield technology promises effects like digital refocus, free-viewpoint or rendering of synthetic apertures. However, many implementations show an inferior image resolution compared to traditional cameras. Active research is performed in the field of optics and algorithmic design with the goal to overcome this problem and to improve image quality.