Methods and apparatus for performing zoom in and zoom out operations are described using multiple optical chains in a camera device. At least one optical chain in the camera device includes a moveable light redirection device, said light redirection device being one of a substantially plane mirror or a prism. Different zoom focal length settings correspond to different scene capture areas for the optical chain with the moveable light redirection device. Overlap between scene areas captured by different optical chains increases during zoom in and decreases during zoom out. Images captured by different optical chains are combined and/or cropped to generate a composite image corresponding to a zoom focal length setting.

The present invention provides a projection apparatus that projects line-light onto an object by a projection optical system, the apparatus comprising a generation unit configured to generate line-light by reflecting a portion of incident light, and an optical member having a reflecting surface configured to reflect the line-light generated by the generation unit to guide the line-light to the projection optical system, wherein the generation unit and the optical member are arranged so that an optical axis of the incident light to the generation unit, an optical axis of light incident on the reflecting surface, and an optical axis of light incident on the projection optical system are included in the same plane, and wherein the generation unit generates the line-light such that a direction orthogonal to the plane is a longitudinal direction of the line-light.

Methods and apparatus for capturing or generating images using multiple optical chains operating in parallel are described. Pixel values captured by individual optical chains corresponding to the same scene area are combined to provide an image with at least some of the benefits which would have been provided by capturing an image of the scene using a larger lens than that of the individual lenses of the optical chain modules. By using multiple optical chains in parallel at least some benefits normally obtained from using a large lens can be obtained without the need for a large lens. Furthermore in at least some embodiments, a wide dynamic range can be supported through the use of multiple sensors with the overall supported dynamic range being potentially larger than that of the individual sensors. Some lens and/or optical chain configurations are designed for use in small handheld devices, e.g., cell phones.

An observation device capable of observing a subject plane. The observation device includes a light receiving surface and an imaging optical system for forming an image of light from the subject plane onto the light receiving surface. The imaging optical system includes a concave primary mirror, a secondary mirror, and a flat extraction mirror. The beam of the light from the subject plane is reflected at the concave primary mirror, the convex secondary mirror, and the concave primary mirror in the named order, after which an image of the beam is formed on the light receiving surface via the flat extraction mirror. The observation device changes an angle and an angle .

A head-up display device includes a housing, a projection unit projecting light representing an image, and an optical unit leading the light projected from the projection unit to a windshield of a vehicle. The optical unit includes a magnifying optical unit attached to the housing and reflecting the light toward the windshield, a screen attached to the housing and reflecting or transmitting the light toward the magnifying optical unit, and an incident angle changing unit changing an incident angle of the light that goes incident on the screen.

An optical device includes: a diffraction grating; a depolarization plate containing a birefringent material to eliminate polarization dependency of the diffraction grating; and an optical corrector configured to optically correct diffraction angle deviation of diffracted light due to diffraction at the diffraction grating. The optical corrector may be configured to bend back the diffracted light diffracted by the diffraction grating to re-emit the light to the diffraction grating.

In various embodiments light redirection device positions of one or more optical chains are moved between image capture times while the position of the camera device including the multiple optical chains remains fixed. The sequentially captured images are combined to form a larger image than is captured during a single time period. Multiple optical chains are used in parallel, each with its own image sensor and light redirection device, in some embodiments. Depth information may and in some embodiments is generated and used to combine the images in a manner intended to minimize or avoid parallax distortions in the composite image which is produced.

An optical redirection adapter for an electronic device having a camera includes a housing and an optical element. The optical element is attached to the housing and positioned such that, when the adapter is attached the electronic device, the optical element is positioned in the camera's field of view. The optical element reflects light in the camera's field of view from a redirection angle that is offset from the camera's field of view. The optical redirection adapter facilitates ergonomically sound use of the camera.

A system for measuring thermal degradation of composites, may include a housing having an interior with an opening shaped to expose a test area of the composite to be tested to the interior; a light-emitting diode that emits primarily ultraviolet radiation, the diode mounted on the housing to direct the ultraviolet radiation into the interior and through the opening; an image sensor mounted on the housing and open to the interior to receive radiation emitted from the test area passing through the opening into the interior; and an image processor connected to receive a signal from the image sensor, the image processor determining a presence or absence of thermal degradation of the test area in response to the signal.

Providing an image extraction section with a plurality of video light reflection surfaces that are Fresnel-shaped reflection surfaces allows reduction in the thickness of a light guide apparatus and hence the thickness and size of a virtual image display apparatus. In particular, providing a dispersion elimination section for eliminating wavelength dispersion in correspondence with the image extraction section suppresses image deterioration resulting from dispersion (chromatic aberrations) on a wavelength band basis.