The Human Eye and the Camera

There’s a lot of similarity between the eye and a modern camera. Both of them:

· Admit light at the front

· Detect light at the back

· Focus at variable distances

· Restrict the amount of light reaching the sensor

· Have a removable protective cover

· Have various layers of protection

· Have a dark interior which doesn’t reflect light

· Send the image as electronic signals to a processor

Function	Eye	Camera
Admit light at the front	pupil	aperture
Restrict the amount of light	iris	Diaphragm (iris)
Detect light	Retina	Digital Sensor or film
Focus	Lens	lens
protective cover	eyelid	Lens cap
layers of protection	cornea	Glass filters
dark interior		Painted black
electronic signals to a processor	Optic nerve to brain	Wiring to image processor

http://www.geog.ucsb.edu/~jeff/115a/lectures/camera_systems.html