Recently, a team of German scientists said that a new generation of tiny and cordless 3-D cameras can go places where the present tethered cameras cannot reach. The cameras of the present age that are used for deep-sea research or earthquake rubble rescue work can have a limited access due to cables that tend to snag on debris.

Scientists from the Fraunhofer Institute of Applied Optics and Precision Engineering IOF in Jena, Germany have brought out a revolutionary series of dual-lens cameras. With a size of a cereal box weighing around 1 kilo, these cameras are capable of sending radio 3-D images back to a centralized base.

"It consists of two cameras with a projector in the centre," said Gunther Notni, chief of Fraunhofer Institute's optics department. "The two cameras provide a three-dimensional view, rather like two eyes. The projector casts a pattern of stripes on the objects. The geometry of the measured object can be deduced from the deformation of the stripes."

The optical 3-D scan system used in these cameras delivers increased speed for the measuring process. Not only this, since its surface doesn’t touch the scanner, it receives no scratches. Moreover, using the aid of the data obtained, it can immediately correct the process.

A well-known optics manufacturer is at present testing the technology used in these 3-D cameras for measuring particularly lens systems tapping light from LEDs. The marketing of this new method has already begun several months ago by the IVB GmbH.