Is an insect’s compound eye similar to a light field lens?

As promised, the video below is a must-see, to correct any misapprehension that an insect with a compound eye necessarily has the ability to focus. This video was made in 2008, depicting robotics work of electrical engineering students, in connection with the Insect Vision Project, at the University of Adelaide, in Australia.

It’s possible, of course, that the computational photographic light field discoveries may, in turn, clarify some aspect of the blurry insect vision theory illustrated in this video.

For example, the Lytro camera does not focus. Focusing is done by computational software. Do we know, for sure, that insects with compound eyes do not have a similar computational focusing mechanism?

If you have an hour to spare and would like to see a video by Mark Levoy, who was a partner in the Michelangelo “Night” project, visit the next page.