Focus AFTER the picture is taken?

[Shaun(OfTheDead)]

Yup.

Someone's figured it out;
Start-Up Lytro Aims to Sharpen Focus of Entire Camera Industry - Ina Fried - News - AllThingsD

For me, the really exciting part is the possibility to make 3D photos. I'd LOVE to try that!

[Shyflower]

I like that it gives you a choice of what object to focus on, like in the first picture.

[ScallioXTX]

Awesomesauce with a cherry on top! I want one!

Really wonder how they do it though, and how much storage is needed per photo if they store all that info.

But still, awesome!

[Stormrider]

I think the technology has been around for a while, but they are figuring out how to make it affordable. Looks awesome though!

[susanneholmes]

Amazing tutorial. I have a Nikon d-5000. I just love clicking and deciding the focus points making my images look the same as shown in the link.

[Shaun(OfTheDead)]

how much storage is needed per photo if they store all that info

True!

I think there's just one more technology missing, and after that 3D will take over the world; Some way to view 3D photos and videos without wearing silly glasses.

If that happens, I think moving from 2D to 3D will be the same as the move from B+W to colour.

Imagine our children will one day look at our movies and photos of today and say, "Oh my god, it's like... flat!... It's so old!"

[Shaun(OfTheDead)]

heh... 3D websites?

Using z-index to bring things closer to the viewer.

That could be friggin' cool too!

[Stormrider]

There are already 3D TVs which don't need glasses. I think they are quite sensitive to viewing distance though.

[felgall]

There are already 3D TVs which don't need glasses. I think they are quite sensitive to viewing distance though.

They are already working on true 3D technology where the image is progected into the middle of the room and you can walk around it to see what it looks like from the other side. From what I read about it that technology requires a minimum of sixteen separate cameras to capture the image from all the different angles. Once they perfect that technology then the 3D TVs where you don't need glasses will then be obsolete.

[samanime]

A 3D website... the bad websites that would come out of that scare me...

The camera, on the other hand, is pretty epic.

[clothbottom1]

Where can I get one of those camera??

[molona]

heh... 3D websites?

Using z-index to bring things closer to the viewer.

That could be friggin' cool too!

I've seen a few of those in the all days when DHTML was the coolest things in the world.

There was one that it was particularly impressive although it wasn't my piece of cake. I don't remember the name though. It used to be in my favorites for a long time back then. It had this background with two planets, one in front of the other, which go closer as you resized the screen.

[make money 100]

how cool is that ! 3d photo's ithink this really is the decade of inovation

[Shyflower]

A 3D website... the bad websites that would come out of that scare me...

The camera, on the other hand, is pretty epic.

Good point samanime!

Hopefully we would all have to wear those ugly 3D glasses in order to NOT enjoy those websites!

[SiberianHuskey]

They are already working on true 3D technology where the image is progected into the middle of the room and you can walk around it to see what it looks like from the other side. From what I read about it that technology requires a minimum of sixteen separate cameras to capture the image from all the different angles. Once they perfect that technology then the 3D TVs where you don't need glasses will then be obsolete.

Yup, they've had this technology for a while the 3D glasses technology is just to see how much many they can make before releasing 'true' 3D holographic. The whole 3D glasses thing is nothing new, they may have improved on it but it's nothing new, I'm not old but I remember it when I was a kid. Identical to what I heard that the US Government had 686 CPU back in the late 60's but 'they' decided when the mass population would see 486, there is a controller at hand, and it's not us.

[Shyflower]

Yup, they've had this technology for a while the 3D glasses technology is just to see how much many they can make before releasing 'true' 3D holographic. The whole 3D glasses thing is nothing new, they may have improved on it but it's nothing new, I'm not old but I remember it when I was a kid. Identical to what I heard that the US Government had 686 CPU back in the late 60's but 'they' decided when the mass population would see 486, there is a controller at hand, and it's not us.

I am old and I remember it as a kid! You used to get those funny glasses with the red and blue lenses as the "prize" in a box of cereal or a box of Cracker Jacks!

[felgall]

funny glasses with the red and blue lenses

Those were replaced with polarised lenses quite a long while back which removed the colour distortion. That in turn was replaced by modifications to the screen itself to do away with the need for the glasses completely and the latest step is to do away with the screen completely and project the image in true three dimensions into the middle of the room.

Quite a lot of steps to get from what was available in the 1940s/50s to what the science fiction writers of that time were writing about but looks like the technology is now possible and it is probably more a matter of how much the companies want to make from the glasses free 3D flat screens before they introduce the screenless versions.

[molona]

the latest step is to do away with the screen completely and project the image in true three dimensions into the middle of the room.

Funny that the first commercial gadget to do it was Nintendo DS 3D. You would think that it is more expensive to implement that technology in something that small

[r937]

I am old and I remember it as a kid! You used to get those funny glasses with the red and blue lenses as the "prize" in a box of cereal or a box of Cracker Jacks!

those glasses are still popular, hang onto a pair if you can

why, just this past thursday, another opportunity to use them came up on the Astronomy Picture O'the Day -- APOD: 2011 June 23 - Stereo Helene

[benbob]

Sounds like a gimmick to me. A photo ( original ) is blurred because some information is not there. There are ways to use algorithms to substitue information for "void", but it will always be a matter of guessing.

[Shaun(OfTheDead)]

Sounds like a gimmick to me. A photo ( original ) is blurred because some information is not there. There are ways to use algorithms to substitue information for "void", but it will always be a matter of guessing.

As I understand it, the camera is somehow recording information from all parts of the scene at once, including the direction of the light, then the software inside puts together the data into an image. But because all of the information is recorded, the image can be re-rendered in a different way.

As least, that's what I get from their explanation.

It sounds very sci-fi, but it seems like it makes sense.

[fvvc]

it will awesome to see pictures in 3d.

[samanime]

If you think about it, when a normal camera (or even your eyes) "focuses" on a picture, you adjust the size/angle of the lens in order to gather light in a certain way, in order to focus on that point.

If you can "focus" on all points at once, you can pull this off. Just those examples would be VERY difficult to fake, because you'd have to be able to take the picture from the same point while focusing on all those different things.

[bulevardi]

Can you still adjust your aperture? Or is aperture not important anymore.
For example, if you have a cheap lens that can go to f 3.5, can you shoot an image and later (after the picture is taken) choose what this picture will look like if it was shot at f1.8 ?

Can you still adjust shutter speed and other stuff to these camera's to set it fully manually?
As I understand from their movie here: Lytro's "Light Field" Camera Adds Fabled Third Dimension to Photography - Core77
As seen on the YouTube video, those pictures are moving, as in movies, but just for a few seconds? So you can only do it with a tripod to avoid blurred images if this picture takes a few seconds?


In the future, the next generation will never understand anymore what focal length, aperture, ... is all about.

Another disadvantage is the image size, which is around 100mb per picture I understood from their information?

[bulevardi]

Such a huge camera just doesn't seem that user-friendly:



But that's just my opinion...