Comparison of reconstruction approaches for plenoptic imaging systems

Plenoptic cameras provide single-shot 3D imaging capabilities, based on the acquisition of the Light-Field, which corresponds to a spatial and directional sampling of all the rays of a scene reaching a detector. Specific algorithms applied on raw Light-Field data allow for the reconstruction of an object at different depths of the scene. Two different plenoptic imaging geometries have been reported, associated with two reconstruction algorithms: the traditional or unfocused plenoptic camera, also known as plenoptic camera 1.0, and the focused plenoptic camera, also called plenoptic camera 2.0. Both systems use the same optical elements, but placed at different locations: a main lens, a microlens array and a detector. These plenoptic systems have been presented as independent. Here we show the continuity between them, by simply moving the position of an object. We also compare the two reconstruction methods. We theoretically show that the two algorithms are intrinsically based on the same principle and could be applied to any Light-Field data. However, the resulting images resolution and quality depend on the chosen algorithm.