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Nokia to invest in array camera start-up Pelican Imaging

Instead of using a single lens, array cameras are made up of a series of lenses. They build up a picture from the images taken by each lens and open up the possibility of post-capture focusing.

Jo Best Special to CNET News.com
This is what an array camera looks like on a smartphone. Pelican Imaging

Nokia's VC arm, Nokia Growth Partners, is set to invest in an imaging start-up.

According to Bloomberg, Nokia Growth Partners plans to put funds into array camera company Pelican Imaging. Based in Mountain View, Calif., Pelican Imaging created its first array camera for smartphones in 2011. Rather than using a single lens, array cameras are made up of a series of lenses and build up a picture from the images taken by each. As well as being thinner than a traditional smartphone camera, arrays open up the possibility of post-capture focusing -- similar to what Lytro does with traditional cameras.

Array cameras "are on the cusp of being commercialized and Pelican does software for that," Bo Ilsoe, a partner at Nokia Growth Partners, told Bloomberg on Monday. "It's very complicated to do this algorithmically and Pelican is one of the companies that has mastered this technology," he added.

Read more of "Nokia's VC arm poised to invest in camera array firm Pelican Imaging" at ZDNet.