Dew Drop on Spider Web Declared More Technically Perfect Than Any Photograph of It

An optical analysis of a dew drop suspended on a garden spider web has confirmed that the droplet — approximately 1.2 millimeters in diameter — functions as a nearly perfect spherical lens with optical properties that exceed those of the $2,400 Zeiss Milvus macro lens used to photograph it. 'The droplet has a refractive index of 1.333, essentially zero chromatic aberration at its focal point, and a surface curvature that an optical engineer would describe as theoretically ideal,' said Dr. Cristal Refraction, a photonics researcher who analyzed the droplet at the request of macro photographer Yuki Surface. 'The Zeiss has 14 elements in 8 groups specifically designed to correct aberrations that this drop of water doesn't have in the first place.' Surface, who photographed the droplet during a dawn shoot in her garden, noticed that the dew drop was projecting a sharp, inverted image of her neighbor's house onto the silk strand behind it. 'I was trying to photograph the droplet,' Surface said. 'But the droplet was doing a better job of photographing than I was. The image it projected onto the silk was sharp edge to edge. My macro lens can't do that. It has field curvature. The water drop doesn't know what field curvature is, and that's why it doesn't have any.' Dr. Refraction noted that while the dew drop is optically superior in isolation, it lacks certain features photographers value, 'such as autofocus, a filter thread, or the ability to exist for more than forty minutes before evaporating.' Surface has begun a project documenting what she calls 'nature's optics' — natural structures that function as lenses, mirrors, or diffraction gratings. Her next subject is a beetle elytron that she suspects may be 'a better diffraction grating than anything Edmund Optics sells.' 'Nature had four billion years of R&D,' Surface said. 'Camera manufacturers have had about 180. The gap shows.'