One of the things that I say about the new technologies that have developed in photography, digital cameras and post production via Photoshop, etc, is that you can fix almost everything, except focus. This leads to me sometimes sacrificing light considerations in the momen,t so that I can at least get the damn thing in focus. After all, I can change the color and light a little in post.
Now, however, all of that is changing.
Meet Lytro, a new, lightweight camera that captures light and color, but lets you manipulate the focus afterward.
(These images are from the Lytro site.)
Here is the scoop: (direct from the Lytro site, again)
“Lytro lets you take pictures like never before. Unlike a conventional camera that captures a single plane of light, the Lytro camera captures the entire light field, which is all the light traveling in every direction in every point in space.
Capture everything – instantly.
Capture living pictures with the press of a single button. By instantly capturing complete light field data, the Lytro gives you capabilities you’ve never had in a regular camera.
Focus after the fact.
Since you’ll capture the color, intensity, and direction of all the light, you can experience the first major light field capability – focusing after the fact. Focus and re-focus, anywhere in the picture. You can refocus your pictures at anytime, after the fact.
And focusing after the fact, means no auto-focus motor. No auto-focus motor means no shutter delay. So, capture the moment you meant to capture not the one a shutter-delayed camera captured for you.
Share the love.
Don’t keep the fun to yourself. Easily share from the desktop or from Lytro.com to friends and family on Facebook, Twitter, email or your blog.
And best of all, friends and family can explore your living pictures – having fun interacting with them like you did – on nearly any device, like your mobile phone, your web browser or your tablet. “
I’d encourage you to go to their site and click around to see how the images work (go to the gallery tab). It’s stunning.
Go ahead, I’ll wait….
Back? OK…How awesome! And why is everything I want $400!?!?