Attached Link: http://www.wired.com/gadgetlab/2011/06/lytro-camera-lets-you-focus-photos-after-you-take-them/

This is really something. Have you ever taken a digital picture only to find out later when you’ve loaded it onto your computer to see it in its full glory that in fact the picture was disappointingly slightly out of focus? Well **Ang25** has sent me this link introducing the Lytro Camera. This camera comes with software which allows you to selectively bring into focus any part of the picture you want. Actually quite amazing. At the moment though the software is available for the Mac only but they’re working on a Windows version. While at the page let the application download automatically so that you can have fun playing with the focus of the picture of the diver standing by the shore. And they have a gallery link at the bottom where it says; “Lytro Picture Gallery [Lytro via All Things D]” or go to this link:

http://www.lytro.com/living-pictures#living-pictures/282?&_suid=198

Thanks Angela!

 

That sort of takes care of worrying were the diagram aperture is at...

  Also it reminds me a little of the photo projector Bade Runner was using to find the snake woman...  It had the ability to crop in and focus on any area..

This software lets you do it too, though you need to take multiple pictures:

http://www.heliconsoft.com/

 

The lytro camera is cool. I imagine we'll see this ability in consumer cameras before too long.

Attached Link: https://www.lytro.com/camera

This you can already buy...it goes for between $400.00 to $500.00 on pre-order.

Here's another link with more fun pics:

http://allthingsd.com/20110621/meet-the-stealthy-start-up-that-aims-to-sharpen-focus-of-entire-camera-industry/

 

Most cameras now have auto focusing systems and can take multiple shots in succession. The limitation being how fast the successive shots can be taken. I imagine the multiple focus shots could be taken at a lower resolution to speed up capture, and then the algorithm could apply the results to the higher resolution image.

That assumes the technology can be licensed by other manufacturers.

Thats my theory anyway. :)

Some current Canon cameras can have their software replaced with customizeable functions that could do something similar.

The CHDK (Canon Hack Development Kit) is for Canon, but there may be something for other camera makes as well:

http://chdk.wikia.com/wiki/CHDK

With some searching it may be possible now to do this without buying a new camera.

 

 

I think you’re missing the point and should really read the articles. This is a new technology where supposedly the camera…”will bring the biggest change to photography since the transition from film to digital…The breakthrough is a different type of sensor that captures what are known as light fields — basically, all the light that is moving in all directions in the view of the camera. That offers several advantages over traditional photography, the most revolutionary of which is that photos no longer need to be focused before they are taken…Lytro’s camera works by positioning an array of tiny lenses between the main lens and the image sensor, with the microlenses measuring both the total amount of light coming in as well as its direction.

The technology also allows photos to be taken in very low-light conditions without a flash, as well as for some eye-popping three-dimensional images to be taken with just a single lens.”

“The Lytro camera is a light-field, or plenoptic, camera. An array of micro-lenses sits over the camera’s sensor, capturing all the light in the scene being photographed (11 million rays of light, to be precise). The Lytro then saves your image in a proprietary file format to deliver a “living picture” that you can manipulate on your computer, much like a raw file. By manipulating key attributes, you can effectively change the focus of the image. That’s right: After the image has been taken.”

http://www.wired.com/gadgetlab/2011/10/lytro-camera/

I don’t purport to be an optical lens or software engineer. I’ve had my share through the years of semi-professional Canon, Minolta and Nikon cameras and darkrooms. And I’ve handled the “raw” format as well. But this sensor innervation seems to fulfill that little nag that most of us get when we bring our photographs home and become dissatisfied when we didn’t get that perfect focus shot we thought we had captured. The whole camera measures 1.61 x 1.61 x 4.41 inches and only has two buttons…one for shutter and one for power. It has an f/2 lens with an 8x zoom and an LCD display for composition. The pictures aren’t measured in megapixels but megarays instead. I think the progression of the technology is just wonderful.

 

 

 

 

** **

WOW, that is way cool!
A bit expensive, though.

Corrie

Yes, I should have read the article. From your description its actually better than just processing multiple images. It takes the images differently, and it may have use for 3d photography as well.

My point is that if you want to do the variable focus with equipment you already have, its possible with some software and perhaps alternative firmware for existing cameras.

I'm sure all those smart phone will be getting this feature... 

Next thing will be capturing scattering light beams from objects behind other objects... kind of seeing around corners...

Tom271: “Next thing will be capturing scattering light beams from objects behind other objects... kind of seeing around corners...”

LOL…Tom271, funny you should say that…this is a quote from one of the articles: “First is that the camera can shoot in much lower light. Second is that, as the sensor is recording direction information, you can peek “behind” the edges of the foreground objects.”

http://www.wired.com/gadgetlab/2011/06/lytro-camera-lets-you-focus-photos-after-you-take-them/

 

The way I see it coming.. One day by gathering scattered light you'll be able to see what's on one hair of a caterpillars that's crawling behind a tree..

You'll be able to see underwater like we can see above water.. no murk, no refactoring water light waves.. just clear through...   fish will seem to be swimming as if out of the water...  The cameras will be able through complex operations subtract the unwanted scattering lights from the desired ones..

It seems to be a logical end..

I read the articles and played with the loaded images.  The technology is amazing.  But at this point it is just a novelty to insure a focused shot and the results are apparent only on those compositions that have prominent foreground and background subjects.

I see a definite niche as a security camera.   Those applications would insure focused images no matter the distance from the camera.  Imagine it in an interior setting with relatively low light snapping focused images of everything in its field of view every few seconds. Awesome.

Right off the top of my head, I'm thinking perfect for crowd shots on a street, maybe security or something.

It certainly sounds cool, but I think it'll be quite a while before processing power gets to a usable level to make it capture enough data to be really useful.  Haven't read that specific link, but I've read about it before and heard a few comments.

It's a really cool system, but I can't see it taking off in professional photography circles. Can't put my finget on why, but I think it'll be limited to two areas of photography; one being a specialised area where it's linked directly to masses of computing power, and the second being a genuinely handy thing to have in something like a compact.

Can't see it taking over DSLR and standard lenses, despite the obvious benefits it brings.