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The end of focus?

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  1. #11

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    I also see advantages. I would assume that the speed of taking photos would be enhanced greatly allowing for quick photos rather than slow auto focus features.

    We have all lost our ability to manual focus in the last 10-15 years, especially for the non enthusiasts.

    edit: actually, just having a quick play with that feature it looks pretty cool and you can get multiple photos with the one shot.

    Last edited by virago; 23-06-2011 at 10:21 AM.

  2. #12

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    Good point, TigerSun. I didn't think about the fact that the viewer can choose their focus as well. Essentially it's any number of pictures in one, depending on how you decide to view it. That does bring up a whole new argument of whether a photograph is from the photographers perspective or not, but will leave that for another thread.

    From the article, it doesn't appear that Lytro is going to license the technology - they are looking at developing their own camera. That might be the deciding factor here - we don't know how good they are at making cameras.


  3. #13

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    I haven't read the dissertation but I will Tigersun.

    It is interesting from the perspective of the viewer, but that's not for me. Maybe I am selfish but I want to project what I see in a photo. :-)

    Virago - I don't see how it would speed the process up because you'll take more time post processing (either in camera or on your computer) than a conventional p+s autofocussing.


  4. #14

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    An interesting thing I just noticed is that there's essentially just 2 planes of focus - foreground and background. If you look at the example in the story and you click on the fence, the background goes out of focus (as expected). Click on the girl serving (extreme left), and the fence goes out of focus (again, as expected).

    However, if you click on any other point in the background, say for example the girl in the no. 9 jersey closest to the net, the focus stays the same! Click on the ceiling lights or the net itself, and nothing changes.

    Tried this with the other sample pictures as well, and it's pretty much the same.


  5. #15

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    This technology is fantastic !



    The Lytro camera captures the entire light field, all of the light travelling in every dimension. Seriously clever was one of the photos on their website of a row of vacuum tubed filament numerals, how you could change the position of focus at either end of the frame and zoom in on each filament, with razor sharpness...

    Check the photo out below, from their link > Picture Gallery | Lytro and have a play around with it with your mouse cursor at different positions, I can really see major advantages with this.







    This is going to be very interesting, I am very keen on getting into this if prices are reasonable and the size/weight of the camera itself isn't bulky. A point and shoot that can produce image quality like this will seriously muller all the bulky gear fan bois....

    Lytro rocks and a welcome photographic development ... I want one lol bad....
    Last edited by Skyhook; 23-06-2011 at 03:47 PM.

  6. #16

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    Quote Originally Posted by luckycat:
    I haven't read the dissertation but I will Tigersun.

    It is interesting from the perspective of the viewer, but that's not for me. Maybe I am selfish but I want to project what I see in a photo. :-)

    Virago - I don't see how it would speed the process up because you'll take more time post processing (either in camera or on your computer) than a conventional p+s autofocussing.
    Yeah, you might be right. Have to wait and see.

  7. #17

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    It will definitely change some areas of photography (sports?).

    Here is the paper:
    http://graphics.stanford.edu/papers/...era-150dpi.pdf

    There is also a picture of their prototype "Light Field Camera" in use. On their web site they promise "portable and stylish enough to bring along, from the beach to the bistro".

    Last edited by 100LL; 23-06-2011 at 04:04 PM.
    luckycat likes this.

  8. #18

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    Quote Originally Posted by 100LL:
    Interesting paper. Appears that the plenoptic camera has it's roots in methods pioneered as far back as 1908!

    I guess at the end of the day, this device isn't going take anything away from photography. It's still going to be difficult to take a good photograph.

    I see more practical applications in industrial use, i.e, surveying & mapping, police & military etc., assuming they license out the technology.

  9. #19

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    I've been taking 4D since I was born!!


  10. #20

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    Very interesting paper. In honesty, I understood about 65% of it.

    Interestingly, they do not make any claims over the size of the data, but TigerSun is correct. Its treatment of light is very sophisticated. What is particulary impressive is the claim over sharpening. A shot taken at f.22 on a conventional camera is blown out of the water by a shot taken at f.4 on the new camera. I can't get my head around *why*, but I suppose that's nothing to feel ashamed about. I am a lawyer, not a physicist.

    It is also interesting that the used very fine pieces of equipment to test on - an MF photo sensor.


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