Photonics Dictionary: P

A camera designed to form a continuous record of an expansive section of the horizon. The typical panoramic camera is mounted to rotate about a vertical axis. A slit opening in the film plane and the...

The image distortion produced by a panoramic camera with a swinging lens or a swinging mirror in front of a fixed lens. The magnification is greatest in the center and diminishes to each side in the...

Parallel scanning refers to a method of acquiring data or images simultaneously from multiple sources or in parallel, rather than sequentially scanning each source one after another. This approach is...

In a camera or cathode-ray tube, distortion that is designated by a lateral skewing of the reproduced image.

A whole-flow-field technique providing instantaneous velocity vector measurements in a cross-section of a flow that is seeded with micron-sized particles. CCD or CMOS cameras and laser light sheets...

A thin, stretched plastic membrane cemented to a rigid supporting ring. It may be coated to act as a beamsplitter, for example, in a color camera; it is so thin that no perceptible image doubling...

The distortion that is the result of viewing a print from a point other than the center of perspective. The center of perspective is that viewpoint at which the angular subtenses of points in the...

A photodetector, also known as a photosensor or photodiode, is a device that detects and converts light into an electrical signal. Photodetectors are widely used in various applications, ranging from...

The special cameras, film and other means for forming maps by aerial photography.

Photogrammetry is a technique used to obtain accurate three-dimensional measurements of objects and environments through the analysis of photographs or imagery. It involves extracting information...

The maximum angle of view that can be recorded by a camera. Field is a function of lens focal length and film format.

A still or motion-picture camera designed to photograph through a microscope. Photomicrographic equipment usually contains a beamsplitter or other means for simultaneously viewing, orienting and...

The use of a microscope in photographing objects. A device for photomicrography includes a light source, microscope and camera mounted on a rigid base.

A type of copying camera in which the object is placed on a horizontal easel and photographed by a horizontal camera above the easel through a 90° reversing prism. The image is recorded on a...

A camera equipped with angular scales in altitude and azimuth. The scale readings are imprinted on the film when an exposure is made. The exact point indicated by the scale readings is shown by...

A lensless photographic camera that uses a small sharp-edged hole as its aperture. The light passed by this aperture onto the camera's film plane produces a soft-edged image that has a wide field of...

Pixel binning, also known as pixel merging or pixel combining, is a technique used in digital imaging and camera technology. It involves the combining or grouping of adjacent pixels on an image...

Pixel pitch refers to the distance between the centers of two adjacent pixels on a display screen or imaging sensor. It is typically measured in millimeters and is a crucial specification in...

A pixel, short for "picture element," is the smallest controllable element of a digital image or display. It is a fundamental unit that represents a single point in a raster image, which is a grid of...

A camera system used for microphotography in which the document to be recorded is on a flat bed, perpendicular to the lens axis. The camera head is located above the copyboard on a column and may be...

The point spread function (PSF) is a fundamental concept in imaging that describes the response of an imaging system to a point source or point object. It characterizes how a single point of light is...

A camera system that uses a fine powder to diffract x-rays from the specimen. A beam of monochromatic x-rays passes through a collimator onto the specimen. Diffracted x-rays are recorded on the film...

A technique used in radiography to determine a crystal's structure by obtaining radiographs of it in powder form, normally by the use of a powder camera that forms an image of the crystal's x-ray...

A prism is a geometric optical element with flat, polished surfaces that refract light. It is typically a solid, transparent object with at least two flat surfaces that are inclined relative to each...

A photographic camera designed to produce reproduction film of visual information (pictures, line drawings, graphs) for printing purposes.