Is this the future of photography?

Posted on 31 October 2011

Standing as still as an OCD mime, perfect shot framed in your viewfinder, you hold down the button and wait expectantly for the click capturing your image. Or not. Often you are more likely to hear instead the whirring and buzzing of the autofocus mechanism struggling to find the correct focal point and often choosing the wrong one. The moment has passed and is gone forever.

Following the persistent trend of recent years where the focus has shifted to post-production, a new camera is being produced that will take the guesswork (if you aren’t a professional) out of focusing your images correctly. The new Lytro camera doesn’t use a single sensor but rather hundreds of tiny sensors that capture the entire light field of a particular scene. This result is obtained because each micro sensor captures a different version of the image. This allows you to focus on which ever point you choose – after the image is taken. Analogous to ‘RAW’ images taken with the current generation of digital cameras, the Lytro will take in all the possible light information in a given situation up to a maximum  of 11 megarays (I have no idea what this means) of data.

Previously only achievable with one hundred cameras and a supercomputer, this new system was developed out of Lytro founder Ren Ng’s PhD thesis. For cameras with small display screens where it is hard to see minor blur this will be a great improvement. It does, however, continue down the path slowly detracting from the actual process of taking a photograph and the skill involved in that. Post-production has now replaced ‘a good eye’ in many cases; with programs like Lightroom and Photoshop allowing images to be created that have more to do with how good you are with a computer rather than how good you are with the camera.

It is debated whether or not this new technology will be just another gimmick or as some see it – the future of photography. In the end it is still up to you to capture the image you want and frame it correctly. This new technology works with what is already there, if you didn’t include an element in the frame it won’t be there when the picture comes. So for the average person who wants the best possible photo, this new technology will prove a great boon.

If you want one, don’t be put off by its look. A rectangular box that looks somewhat like a stalker spy camera, it stands out from anything else you have used. The 8GB version (350 images) will cost $399 (around R3000), and the 16GB will cost $499 (around R3 850).

If you are interested in the science behind the camera, you can read the PhD thesis that led to the Lytro by their CEO Ren Ng here.
Lytra cameras are available here.

 

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Photo by laihiu (from Flickr)






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