Very Cool Camera Tech

[Admin]

This allows you to refocus and change perspective at any time after a photo is taken.  Play with the viewer at the link below.  Click on an area to refocus. Click and drag to change perspective.  Lytro introduced this tech a few years ago but the advancements have it looking really interesting for so many applications. 

http://pictures.lytro.com/lytro/albums/149429/embed?token=6cb04136-c43a-11e3-9416-22000a8b14ce

[SeaMe]

CNN.com had a story about this yesterday with a different photo:
http://www.cnn.com/2014/04/22/tech/innovation/lytro-illum-camera/index.html?hpt=hp_bn5

The photos are fun to play with for a little while, but once the novelty wears off...if I had $1,600 to burn, I think I'd rather get another board. 

[PonoBill]

The cost will come down quickly as the tech gets commoditized -- unless the patents are really restrictive and licensing is expensive. The underlying data is present in any digital photograph to do something like this. It just isn't saved. Each photon that hits the sensor has the potential to be recorded and it's frequency, phase angle, and polarization analyzed. The big trick with this camera is that the data has been simplified by the sensor deign so it can be relatively easily processed.

[ENCINITAS_SUP]

I saw that they released a new SLR like camera but the Lytro tech has been around for a while and the old cameras were significantly cheaper.

http://www.bhphotovideo.com/bnh/controller/home?O=&sku=929425&gclid=CLuPocev970CFYdrfgodyScAWQ&Q=&is=REG&A=details

If you want to play around with it they have models as cheap as $199.

A buddy of my bought one and his conclusion was the same as SeaMe.  It was fun until the novelty wore off.

i haven't looked to see what is significantly different about this new camera. 

It would be fun to have a large digital touchscreen picture frame on the wall that you could load the pictures on and scroll through and change the focal point of the images at will to suit your mood or time of day, or set it to scroll through your album and display each image with a random focal point selected.

[Admin]

I don't see this as a consumer fad at all.  It would likely have been better if they had done the consumer side last. Right now data is still the limiting factor so to do relatively inexpensive consumer devices has it backed down to small sensors, small files, fixed lens, etc.  But...higher up the food chain (and as data rates continue to progress at the lower end) this no novelty.  Depth of field is so critical in so many aspects of photography and videography (which will also hapen with this tech). 

Being able to move the focal plane, broaden it, narrow it, tilt it, shift it, all after the fact is beyond epic.  This hugely simplifies the requirements (and expense) of lens design, offers incredible freedom in shot settings, lighting, etc.  On a large sensor with an amazing lens (whew!).

Areas like macro with a moving subject (where you are dealing with razor thin depth of field), sports wide open, architectural (where perspective control is key and TS lenses start well above the price of this camera).  Not to mention the interactivity for the end user and video (where pulling focus is an art but also requires a lot of takes).  This is bomber tech and I hope that it gets gobbled up by a group that will advance it in the best direction(s).

[Bean]

Seems like it might be a great teaching tool.