The camera lens is currently one of the greatest innovations that allow people to capture the unrepeatable moments in life. Different camera gadgets are being enhanced to provide the best photos and videos that people can watch across the globe.

Camera Lens Optic Made From Water? Would Canon Have It? — Paul Skorupskas on Unsplash

Even smartphones, such as Samsung Galaxy and iPhones, are getting some camera lens improvements that would allow them to produce the same outputs that the big cameras can provide. On the other hand, cam recorders and DLSRs have some downsides aside from their huge sizes.

Their camera lens usually suffers from a fungus when professional photographers shoot in a very moist place or when they accidentally let some water sip into their gadget. However, some researchers claimed that they found a way to solve this issue.

They said that water can be altered to become the optic of a camera lens. This is quite impossible if you will imagine it, but this method was already used years ago.

Bruno Berge, an accomplished scientist and a successful entrepreneur from the University of Grenoble, France, said that he found the phenomenon that already existed in the 20th century. This idea states that water can be altered to be used as a camera lens’ optic.

Berge believed that manipulating the shape of a liquid would also change the way it refracted light, which would turn it into a DSLR lens. Comparable to a drop of water that can function as a magnifying glass, two clear, non-mixable liquids can serve as a lens, depending on the curvature of their interface.

He explained that this curvature changes when a current is applied, enabling it to become a DSLR lens that can focus and capture images. With the aid of a research grant, Berge was able to design the prototype of a liquid lens that changes focus when a small amount of electricity is applied.

The liquid camera lens

After he developed a prototype, he contacted the popular camera-maker Canon to make his idea a reality. However, the giant camera manufacturer declined the offer since it believed that turning water into a DSLR lens is nonsense. But, Berge was still able to attract some sponsors, including the technology transfer organization France Innovation Scientifique et Transfert SA, as well as the leading French and international investment funds.

The expert’s idea was adopted by different organizations and companies after a few years. These include NASDAQ-listed machine vision manufacturer Cognex, which is one of the earliest companies to adopt the new method of turning liquid into a DSLR lens.

Cognex has equipped both handheld and fixed versions of its ID readers with Varioptic’s liquid lenses, after the two companies entered into a partnership in January 2010. On the other hand, the new Lattice Semiconductor Corporation also announced a new video camera development kit in 2012. This company stated that it will equip its manufacturers with the new Varioptic liquid DSLR lens technology.

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