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This video shows a sneak peek of a new Photoshop feature for Creative Suite 6, called 'deblur', which is able to take a blurry image and make it sharper:

How does that feature work? Is there other software available with that feature?

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You could get a lot of possible explanations but the actual algorithm would only be known by Adobe and stored in its super-secret vault. –  Vivek Mar 9 '12 at 19:43

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It almost certainly uses an image analysis technique called "deconvolution." Reading the wikipedia page on it is a good start but it is awfully technical and you might be left just knowing the name of the technique.

I did read a blog somewhere where is suggested that the inverse transform that is needed for proper deconvolution can be known since the blur that comes in our digital pictures comes from the needed anti-aliasing filters in the camera's hardware. This seems like a good theory to me. Except that that would only work for images that were focused properly, not blurry as a result of any hardware limitations. Topaz's infocus certainly works with improperly focused images, at least it does according to their website!

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Deconvolution basically works by undoing the light paths through your lens and remapping them through the magic of math. The best deconvolution algorithms will know the profile of your particular lens and equipment. I've seen deconvolution algorithms applied to microscopy to bring a completely different plane into focus (and consequently blur the original focus plane).

This is possible because the equipment was very carefully calibrated by shooting a laser beam through the optics at various points and recording the image it creates. It is this series of images (and interpolations of them) that are used to deconvolve the original image in order to virtually undo the optics.

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Actually Photoshop does not have a deblur feature - yet...

That video was a demo at Adobe MAX 2011 of something that did not make it into CS6.

However, all signs are indicating that a newer & better version of Image Deblurring makes it into the next release of Photoshop...

Note it will work to correct blur due to camera shake but not to out of focus images, and it works by using a variety of techniques including deconvolution.

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When linking to a site you author/control/are affiliated with please disclose that association in your answer. Thanks! –  Michael Clark Apr 25 '13 at 7:01
Didn't make it in? Well that was my no. 1 compelling reason to get CS6. I guess I'll wait. –  Octopus Apr 25 '13 at 19:09

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