Core Advantage:
Light field cameras capture directional light rays (4D data: x, y, θ, ϕ), enabling natural autostereoscopy without depth sensor fusion.
Key Capture Metrics & Methods
1. Spatial-Angular Resolution Trade-off
- Microlens Arrays (e.g., Lytro, Raytrix):
- Angular Resolution: # of views (e.g., 9×9). Higher = smoother parallax but lower spatial resolution.
- Metric: Spatial resolution (MP) per view vs. total views.
2. Depth Reconstruction Accuracy
- Epipolar Analysis:
- Extract depth from ray disparities (error <1% of scene depth).
- Metric: Compare to ground-truth LiDAR (RMSE in mm).
3. Optical Artifacts
- Vignetting: Light fall-off at edges due to microlens occlusion.
- Cross-View Aliasing: Moiré from lens-sensor misalignment.
- Metric: SNR (dB) per sub-aperture image.
Calibration & Processing
- Geometric Calibration:
- Map microlens centers (pixel-level accuracy).
- Refocus Algorithms:
- Synthetic aperture (Fourier slice theorem) or deep learning (e.g., LFNet).
Validation Setup
- Test Scenes:
- Translucent objects (stress-test refocus).
- High-contrast edges (check aliasing).
- Tools:
- Light field toolbox (e.g., MATLAB LF toolbox).
