A smart fast camera

It is generally believed that very fast cameras imaging large Fields of View translate into huge optomechanics and mosaics of very large contiguous CCDs. It has already been suggested that seeing limited imaging cameras for telescopes whose diameters are larger than 20m are considered virtually impossible for a reasonable cost. We show here that, using existing technology and at a moderate price, one can build a Smart Fast Camera, a device that placed on aberrated Field of View, including those of slow focal ratios, is able to provide imaging at an equivalent focal ratio as low as F/1, with a size that is identical to the large focal ratio focal plane size. The design allows for easy correction of aberrations over the Field of View. It has low weight and size with respect to any focal reducer or prime focus station of the same performance. It can be applied to existing 8m-class telescopes to provide a wide field fast focal plane or to achieve seeing-limited imaging on Extremely Large Telescopes. As it offers inherently fast read-out in a massive parallel mode, the SFC can be used as a pupil or focal plane camera for pupil-plane or Shack-Hartmann wavefront sensing for 30-100m class telescopes.