1. A wide-angle video camera capable of high resolution peripheral vision comprising: a) a wide-angle optical system which performs radial distortion to provide a distorted non-rectilinear image of a view, in which a peripheral annulus of the image is magnified, and a central area of the image is demagnified, as compared with a fisheye or similar lens with similar field of view and image size; b) an image sensor which receives said image and converts it to electrical signals suitable for use by an image processing circuit; c) said image processing circuit transforming the optical distortions introduced by said wide-angle optical system to correct the optical distortions and accordingly output a human viewable image with greater resolution in peripheral regions of interest.