Hi--

>< >of the "distortion" of fisheyes is that they just aren't very
>sophisticated visually (spherical [fisheye] perspective actually
>is the perspective we see in, but we have been led to believe
>otherwise....;-).>>

>You've got to explain this to me. I don't see curved lines. The brain
>ajusts for inversion and curvature, but most importantly, the difference
>is this a fisheye lens creates an image on a flat surface (the film
>plane), while your retinas are completely spherical. This means that the
>image is actually physically perceived as curved, but on a curved
>surface, which is how the brain can see it as straight. A fisheye
>picture, were it printed on curved paper, and looked at from inside the
>paper, would appear perfectly straight. Same problem you have when you
>make a flat, square world map you get extreme distortion at the top and
>bottom of the map.
Stephane Leman-Langlois

Um, I don't think "the brain adjusts for inversion and curvature" is quite
correct... (it does invert the image, but doesn't straighten out the
curves...). Out in the world "out there", your descriptions of what
happens is correct, BUT...;-) If you present the eye-brain with the curved
image on a flat plane recurved, you have just presented it with the
perspective of the original material, which is then "re"-curved in the
eye...;-) The eye sensitive area is roughly a hemisphere, with the lens
out near the surface of the sphere, so the perspective is not quite fully
fisheye-like (another reason for our not believing in the curves - they are
less than in a fisheye view, and we cannot "step back" easily for the "big
[overall] picture"... - but see the article on my web page, "On Seeing and
Perspective" [under "I babble",
http//www.fcinet.com/ruether/articles.html#perspective ] {if you
are not a believer after that, get back to me...! ;-}]).