Nokia to invest in 'array' mobile cameras that use small lenses to capture big images

If the name Pelican Imaging rings a bell, it's possibly because we covered the company's array imaging camera prototype back in 2011. The technology uses multiple lenses that are relatively tiny in terms of how much space they take up in a mobile device, but which work together to capture an image of the same quality as a much larger camera -- just as array telescopes replace the need for one huge telescope.

Now, it appears we weren't the only ones taking an interest, because Nokia's investment wing has revealed to Bloomberg that it's been watching the startup since 2008 and is currently planning to invest in it.

 Bo Ilsoe, of Nokia Growth Partners, describes Pelican's technology as "on the cusp of being commercialized" -- so who knows? One day, a future Lumia might house 41 megapixels, image stabilization and the voodoo known as plenoptics. In the meantime, there's a video after the break which sort of explains how the technology sucks in enough data to allow for focus to be adjusted after a picture is taken -- a trick which also sounds rather familiar.