http://www.bugsforthugs.com/2007/05/09/ask-an-entomologist-insect-vision/ An Entomologist's Blog Fri, 21 Nov 2008 20:47:32 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.3.3 http://www.bugsforthugs.com/2007/05/09/ask-an-entomologist-insect-vision/#comment-996 Tony Sat, 21 Jul 2007 13:26:04 +0000 http://www.bugsforthugs.com/2007/05/09/ask-an-entomologist-insect-vision/#comment-996 Kelly, Are you saying each ommatidia forms an "image" on the sensory cells? That would be a tall order for such a simple optical arrangement. I'm pretty sure an ommatidia can merely gather and channel light to these cells. So each ommatidia would contribute a single "pixel" of a relatively low resolution image compiled in the brain from all the pixels sensed together. There is also some sensory crosstalk among adjacent ommatidia that would help smooth out the transitions between pixels. Interestingly the modern ccd and cmos sensors in the best digital cameras use this technique to limit pixelation in the images they produce. Kelly,
Are you saying each ommatidia forms an “image” on the sensory cells? That would be a tall order for such a simple optical arrangement. I’m pretty sure an ommatidia can merely gather and channel light to these cells. So each ommatidia would contribute a single “pixel” of a relatively low resolution image compiled in the brain from all the pixels sensed together. There is also some sensory crosstalk among adjacent ommatidia that would help smooth out the transitions between pixels. Interestingly the modern ccd and cmos sensors in the best digital cameras use this technique to limit pixelation in the images they produce.

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