Hi! Who is it that the company competes with? The likes or Reytrix, Smartphone manufactures or the Camera manufactturers (Billion dollar cos like Cannon, Nikkon and Sony)

As someone who works with 3D graphics and highly data-parallel compute engines, it seems to me that light field photography is an application where the power of APIs such as CUDA and OpenCL could really shine. I was very excited to see this camera – this is a practical vehicle for getting some data to play with. It seems like a brilliant research tool.

Then I saw that it has no Linux support. Why not? I presume it connects as a mass storage device – will you be publishing details of the file formats in which the data is stored, so that the FOSS community can start supporting it?

Very interested in selling your innovative products in our countries, SPain , Portugal, any strategy for selling in european countries?
50 years distributing photographic products already!

Good post, stick with it!

Great goods from you, man. I’ve understand your stuff previous to and you are just extremely excellent. I actually like what you have acquired here, really like what you’re saying and the way in which you say it. You make it enjoyable and you still care for to keep it sensible. I can not wait to read far more from you. This is really a terrific web site.

I searched for deconvolution and I found your blog. I really like it. Keep going – well done!

This really is a marvelous write-up. Thanks a ton for making the effort to explain all this out for folks. It’s a great guide!

I could visualize the innovative ways in which this technology could drive the art format globally. Awaiting to test the product.
Great Work Team Lytro!!!

Salivating over the moment I get the chance to test the camera. Since no posted delivery date – I won’t be holding my breath…
Thank you for sharing this great new technology with the rest of us.
Kudos and good luck with your endeavor wherever it may take you. :)

how do we know that it doesn’t just take a picture with everything in focus and then let you selectively blur areas of the photo?

I have not read all the comments, so forgive if this has been brought up: Do you have any idea of what this means for the underwater photo enthusiast? (Of course, a proper waterproof case has to be designed and built, probably by a third party like Ikelite.) However, as anyone who has taken photos underwater can confirm, fish refuse to pose, soft coral is never static, shutter lag is a bitch and depth of field focusing is an incredible challenge under water. A camera that absorbs more light, does not suffer from shutter lag, and allows one to correct depth of field focusing is huge. However, that said, editing the images and manipulating their color temperature is crucial. So are the other common functions of photo editing (zooming, cropping, sharpening, removal of dust and speckles, adjusting saturation, etc.) But if it can be done, this will blow away everything else on the pro-sumer market.

Photographers use the aperture to set focus on specific parts of the image. Sometimes the other parts shall better be blurred a lot and sometimes as little as possible. I assume that you can get (or at lease simulate) both results from the recorded data, can’t you?
Some modern 3D monitors use eye-tracking to find out where you are and what you focus on in order to provide the best 3D impression. Since nowadays many pictures are not printed out any more but watched in a viewer, you could use this technology to make always that part of the picture sharp that the spectator is focusing on with his eyes, making manual clicks obsolete, couldn’t you?

Fantastic! I’ve already sent my name in to reserve a camera.
Will I be able to print 3D versions of my photos? If so, then where?

I object to your insinuation that photographs are “boring”.
And, as to your “redefining photography,” I submit that the resultant image capture of your product is anti-photography–no art, no talent, no creativity, requiring no effort. Just what we need, more masturbation technology.
Great industrial/commercial potential, however.

Congratulations! It really sounds a revolutionary product. The question is how soon that I can get one? Do you take reservation to get one.

By the way, how can I get in touch with you guys in person?

This is such an exciting product !!

I do want to know how this changes HDR photography.

I take a lot of HDR shots – not the over the top kind, the ones that look natural but takes in all the varying levels of exposure.

Can anyone provide some insights ?
-Tony

Do you have twitter? Great stuff by the way…

Very excited to read about the lytro, as a professional photographer for the last 30 years or so I’ve taken my eyesight for granted but know (as I’ve developed cataracts in both) I’ll need technology like this sooner than later, thanks..

As an avid photographer involved with digital photography since the beginning of the digital camera revolution, and on top of the latest and greatest technology . . . I have to say this is definitely the beginning of another revolution in photography. It is going to completely change the way we take, view, and share pictures, especially with the potential of 3D and holographic images. The possibilities for many applications are endless, your development is impressive, and I believe Lytro will soon become a common name in the photography (and consumer) world. Thank you.

if it needs specific lens and sensor, I may help you.
please contact me.
Does this technology work with a picture?

Beautiful. Inspirational. Genius!

Can I invest all of my money in your company? I want to be part of a sure thing.

Wow. This is pretty stunning. I’d heard rumblings of this technology before, but hadn’t seen a live demonstration of what might be expected until today.

Outstanding!

One assumes that one would be able to manipulate various portions of the image according to their distance from the camera and/or specify some range of distances that would be “in focus,” as opposed to strictly a single or very narrow range of distance(s) being in focus. For instance, if I wanted the cat in the foreground and the cat in the background to be in focus, but everything fore and aft of them to be fuzzed out to some appropriate degree, could that be specified? I would assume so, as this seems to have some form of ability to recognize 3D space and appropriately focus on some given region clicked on.

Also, it would be amazing if somehow this technology could be married with HDR imaging. I just wonder how the lighting level interacts with the image and whether different parts of the scene could hae their lighting adjusted independently? Such as we do in Photoshop or GIMP when applying some change to the background lighting, while trying to maintain the proper foreground lighting, etc.

I love the idea of this for video, as well, and hope this technology makes its way into the video space. It seems like it could be rather revolutionary there as well, allowing amateurs (or professionals) to shoot a scene once and then adjust the focus in post-production (if, for instance, one decides one wants to place the emphasis on a different character without having to completely reshoot the scene with a different lens, aperture, depth of field, etc.). It also seem like one would then be able to do zooms in and out as a software effect rather than having to actually change internal lens position of the camera, etc. IF tht makes sense. It just seems like it would give a greater level of freedom to filmmakers, freeing them to a degree from having to consider issues of depth of field, focus, etc. and allowing them to concentrate on the scene, generally and deal with focus and depth of field in post-production.

Generally, this amazes me, and I hope this comes to market sooner rather than later and works as advertised, is widely adopted and fairly / inexpensively licensed to foster innovation and competition in the marketplace. Honestly, I’d love to see Canon license the technology and see how far they could push it…

Just wow. :)

It appears to me that far from being a product that should be limited to the high-end, high-tech, professional photographer market, Lytros will, to a great extent, make some of the skills necessary to take high-quality photographs, obsolete! Why take the time to develop expertise on equipment that is obsolete in order to take great photos when with Lytro cameras it can be done very simply?

I am curious about the file size of Lytros images? I expect them to be significantly larger than “standard” jpg images, but would like to know how much larger we can expect them to be?

I would also be interested in knowing, generally, how much of the Lytros technology is hardware-based, and how much is software-dependent? Will the technology lend itself to licensing for say the mobile phone market?

Incredible! I can’t wait to get my hands on a Lytro camera!

Couple obvious questions… After we adjust the focus, can it be saved to the last adjusted focus? Meaning, before I make a slide show or publish on my album or even to print a hard copy of the picture – I would prefer to adjust the picture focus and save my settings.

Do we need a special software for the daily use?

What would be the file format?
Thanks – Jai

So many applications I’m getting a headache. I’ll be a beta tester in a heartbeat. Is the selectable depth of field the entire recorded image area? Is there a limit to the depth of field? Number of pixels? What lenses and what shutter speeds are/can be used. Does the science permit the focus area to be adjustable? Have you tried two cameras linked for 3D? I’m thinking that your work is on the order of that done by Land in the late 1940′s. Congrats. Enter me as one of the first to be on your blog list.

We have a group of investors looking for investing in new Technology. How can we invest in your company?
Thanks,
Babu

Wow- this is great- what about low-light shooting- how does it do?
I fully expect some smartphone company to be purchasing Lytro up soon (wink wink Mr. Jobs!!!!!)

Very interesting! But what about dynamic range, pixel size/quality, sharpnes and other hige end stuff that is inportent to quality. Is it like: When you capture more information the camera will then just store the information as a negative instead of a “DIAS” and developing has to be done in post processing?
Will this be like a compact camera or mirror reflex camera?

Brilliant REN! This changes everything again.. a paradigm shift!

This affirms the belief that it may be difficult but not impossible! I love the description visual conversations!

Looking forward to this!

Congratulations! Great work. I did not have time yet to read your thesis. Radio Astronomers do some what similar thing. They use several telescopes located at different places and record signals (voltages) from some region of the sky. Later they process this data to get images centered at different points of that region. They record both amp and phase of the signal. This allows them to add signals in phase to produce an image that is centered at a given point. It is not yet clear to me how it is done in your camera. That is why I am keen to read your thesis. Wish you all the best in your venture.

Awesome work to get this far – congratulations. And I join the ranks of stunned camera lovers who wish you the best in bringing the dream to the market. This is huge.

I hope you don’t limit this to the consumer market. The application would be a tremendous boon to the commercial motion picture market. You should partner with a hardware company like Arriflex and a software company like Autodesk/Discreet logic to bring this technology to the commercial motion picture field. Such collaboration will produce engineering and artistic uses that I’ll bet even you haven’t imagined.

ytf

Dear Ren,

Congratulation on the breakthrough! Hats off to you and your team on developing a life-changing technology for the betterment of the world.

I am sure your next plan is to commercialize Lytro Cam and I am wondering if you are interested in partnering with us in your expansion plan to Asia/China. We are a multinational technology company with 25 continuing years of profitable (and net cash) operations including a century old technology company and a global presence in over 50 countries. Our established networks and people in Asia can surely help expedite your plan. I am confident there are many areas which we could contribute towards your success! If you would like to discuss further, please feel free to contact me via marcuslamis@gmail.com

Rgds,
Marcus

Am thrilled with your new light/photo technology and can’t wait to own a Lytro camera to play with.
A bit of wistfulness to share: The classic line that comes to mind is ‘if only i had had the $$ and inclination to invest in Microsoft in 1979′ … and it’s sounding like if ever there was a current, upcoming ‘microsoft’, Lytro is certainly it!
I wish for many of us in this not-optimum economy at present that you might consider some kind of additional buy-in option for the many people who do not have much cash-flow at moment, who would be thrilled to put a few $$ into Lytro and share that adventure with you.
Kind of like so many web-based organizations who have added donation buttons, and who [some, at least] get substantial support in this way. The annieappleseedproject.org is a beautiful example, providing an encyclopedic scope of information concerning evidence-based complimentary / alternative medicine research, re: breast cancer. Or some co-ops: Everyone pays in a certain modest amount or maybe with a number of options from less to more, and each reaps benefits through a yearly dividend system, based on how well the co-op did that year.
Or maybe you or cohorts might come up with an even better way for those with less $ to invest to somehow contribute and benefit – something that could also set a precedent within the context of economic health.
I had to try! 

Best regards, and to your great success and genius!
Rachael

This may have already been said, but when will this camera be available? And what price range?

Awesome concept. We’d love to retail these cameras for you in the UK on our site. Who would I be able to have that conversation with?

This is such a cool idea! I think the potential applications for a device like this are limitless. I was curious as to how one might go about editing this new type of ‘photograph’; I figure that the typical route of editing photos, like in Photoshop, would be rendered obsolete by this new idea.

This is absolutely amazing… I am hoping that you will have an IPO or possible accept financial assistance from some eager investors!

Good luck!

There seem to be two general market potentials from which Lytro might benefit: (1) Photographer/Audience Controlled Photo sharers, and, (2) In-Print/On Wall/Framed Photographers.

The first (Photographer/Audience Controlled) — a “sharer” market seems in keeping with the modern technology world movement toward collaborative creativity in everything from friendship relationships, to business management, national/world government, and (hopefully) life on earth. In this way, Lytro wants to offer collaborative artitistic creativity.

The second market — where the artist output and the audience input is on the wall or in a book — has been around a long time. Here the audience has no physical control over the physical stimulus that is the photo/art. Nevertheless, a passive artistic stimulus can have a variety of active impacts on the emotional responses of the viewers. In effect, the viewer participates not technically, but emotionally/spiritually. If Lytro wants to serve the scope of this market then the product has to perform effectively as a passive stimulus. For example, it should be presentable as a piece of framable, printable wall art. High resolution is important as well as broad control over depth of field.

A utilization model that brings these two markets together is as follows: When given a files comtaining a photo that the user/viewer can manipulate, is there a way that the user can “freeze” his or her manipulation and offer it to a broad audience which includes viewers that do not have the motivation or the tools to re-manipulate. What they want is to simply “react.”

There’s a lot more that can be said about the creative process that Lytro is bringing to modern photo technology. I’d love to hear other thoughts on this matter as I think it says a lot about how and where our world population is going.

What kind of price range are you looking at? Do you have projected release date?

This is surprisingly interesting revolution or digiworld cameras, is there any target day/month for the first release of this digicam?

Thanks
Allen RS.

Love, love, love this… but, for the average working girl like myself, how much is this going to set me back?

Am I going to have to sit on the sidelines while only those with bank rolls of cash get to take really cool pictures? I’m by no means even close to being a photographer, but I do have a beautiful little 2 yr. old that I love to take pictures of. Maybe with this camera I could actually see her in them? :D

I am absolutely enthralled with this new way of taking pictures/video. I feel like I’m observing a whole new way of life in the photography world…I’m actually in awe….and cannot WAIT until the cameras are affordable for the general public. I, too, as I’m sure MOST of your responders have said, would be honored and thrilled to use your product for any type of testing that you may be planning. I can see a huge market for kids and sports….wow….simply amazing….now THIS is looking outside the box! I will be following your “baby” from now on as it evolves! This invention should gain your team high ranking scientific awards! Congrats to your team – you are all amazing….

Unbelievable tool working on perception!

When we transitioned to digital cameras from traditional film cameras, we were only changing the media with which we captured the image, an image that was a representation of what we saw.

You have taking this to a completely new level and are capturing not the representation of what we saw, but actually what we saw.

Awesome. im a dad with 3 very active kids, carrying a Nikon 3Ds is the way i can preserve my memories of them! i hear your frustration and thank god someone as brainy as you has come up with one. I live in HK and im sure we will be the first one to buy it! Awesome cant wait!

Amazing! What effect on motion photography? Will it show multi channel lines of movement in a 3D like plane?

Can anyone guess how my images will look with this technology or what will be the effect on this type of image: http://enzoberetta.com or http://enzoberetta.com/wordpress/

Very interesting technology with huge potential.
If you need partner concerning distribution and sales in Russia contact me! Good luck!

Congratulations for bringing this wonderful technology to this people. Looking forward to it.

This is amazing technology-please find a way to put this into a video camera!

OK, I’m seriously impressed. Make it with in-body IS and I promise to get one early as long as the pixel count is not too low and the digital noise level is not too high.

This is a game changer – just love technology!

As technologist and as well as a photographer, Nikon d700) this concept just blows me away. I just attended a seminar which was talking about the new F3 Sony camera proudly touting the short depth of field and film look which is now available on a high quality camcorder. This is leaps ahead!
Good luck! Pay attention to the professional camera DSLR market and make sure you have color, dynamic range and true sharpness, as well as lens considered. Also we’ll need large picture sizes.
Pick me out as a beta, I’d love to work with ya!
Bravo!

I like it much, where I can buy this kind of camera? what is its power consumption when we used it?

Thanks for Ren;

Excellent invention.

Check out Raytrix… it’s backed by Adobe.. yikes.

Ren… congrats on a great idea put into life…
You know what you need to tackle next… more dynamic range but mostly higher ISO with no more noise… You game?

WOW!! I photograph jewelery that my shop manufactures, just cant wait to use your camera! congradulations!

Very interesting, eager to see the real product.

This is the most interesting product I seen in a long time
not only will this have a great effect on image capture
but it should revolutionize photo journalism and photo-retouching
as we know it.
I’m sure Adobe & Apple are watching this product very closely
I can’t wait to get my hands on it. I’m truly amazed

Ren & team,

Congratulations on your new invention! We are excited to learn about the promising technology of Lytro, and are interested to discuss about partnership for the Asia Pacific market.

Please contact us.

Thanks & regards,
Ho

I’m amazed at what you have done and can’t wait for this to be produced

Congratulations Ren & the entire Lytro team!
You have toppled all of the preconceived notions of Depth of Field as we have known them for the past century or so, and have revolutionized photography. This will allow every unique snowflake (to borrow one of your descriptions for all of us photo enthusiasts) to take dramatically better photographs.
All the best wishes for you,
–Chris

I’m so in. This will revolutionize photography. If you need a guy to sell this thing, let me know. Unbelievable. I’m still rolling up my chin off the floor.

The field camera is amazing. I have a question about the field camera. If we set the distance between camera and object to D,
how far the depth of the camera field (D) can reach? Can camera distinguish the object at D=100 km, 400 km or higher?

This is so amazing !!! I never thought this was possible. This is entirely a new kind of technology which is going to change the whole concept of digital photography. Thanks for bringing the awesome concept to life. Wish you and your team a grand success !!!!

Great work! An exciting new technology.
I will be glad to test out your product on nature and landscape shots that i’m in!

Congratulations

The dissertation link works fine. Anyone speculating about how this works should read his dissertation first, and then you will be better prepared to ask an informed question that advances the discussion here.

My question is, what is the practical aperture limit for a general design? I ask because, like other respondents, I’m interested in stereo 3D synthesis, and the aperture would determine the effective maximum interocular separation of the synthesized stereo camera positions. I’m guessing that the practical limit would be set by the weight of the primary lens. A related question: for your debut design what is the effective close focus minimum for macro photographs? You touch on these topics on page 44.

I’m also wondering if one could compute something analogous to interferometry for detecting z depth shifts in image sequences.

So many possibilities! That’s what makes certain innovations, like this one, the beginning of a new era.

SMcQ

This is truly ground-breaking. BRILLIANT. A giant leap in the field of photography. I can’t wait to get my hands on this cool camera. One question though: What about the software to process and share these photos?

I want one!

Very exciting! I cannot wait to see a camera up close. Is Lytro going to be the brand of the camera, or just the technology inside a camera built by a 3rd party?
If you need someone to take some sample pictures feel free to mail me a camera. I live in Minneapolis which is a beautiful city!

As a photographer, this is absolutely thrilling . I cannot wait to see these out on the market somewhere; and I wish I had the money to spare to pre-order. I was fascinated by the depth of field capabilities in some of the test photos. I’d love to try this camera out!

I’m probably only repeating something already mentioned but if you could design an app – those of us with mobile phones would at last be able to take usable rather than throw away pictures. Congratulations!

The idea behind the light field camera is just stunning. If this will turn out to just being another nice toy – or a revolution to photography – we hopefully will find out soon.

Awesome, I would ove to get one of these to test it out in real life!

Why stop at Stills?

Video would be another incredible use for this technology. Making focus pulling a thing of the past. Choose the focus and do rack focus in the editing suite. Incredible!

Congratulations and hope to see these awesome cameras in stores real soon!

Awesome totally new/different approach to simply take a photo
Best luck to you guys/girls.
I hope that one day (soon!) you will manage to revolutionize the whole industry

The concept is novel to capture EVERYTHING and then do post production to it. Who is the target for the average consumer who doesn’t want to spend time reprocessing these photos or the professional who already has all the post production software in Adobe or lightroom to already do much of that work (and will also do all the bracketing).

Also, ysorry to say but those photos on your picture gallery aren’t very good. They’re awfully grainy, and you are using it to showcase your camera? You should review those photos it looks like a bad camera phone took it. How is anyone going to take the camera seriously with those photos. Camera Tech is cool but if the photo suck, the camera still sucks.

The idea of this camera as well of course the technology blows me away. I have a multitude of questions. One of which is: Can you create an image where all the objects are in focus?

Looks really interesting, i am very keen on seeing this camera and how it will work for me in my shooting.

This is amazing! Let me know if you need any help with some iOS implementations :)

sneakyness@sneakyness.com

I love innovative thinkers, people who are always doing their work “out of the box”. Seems as if this is the case with Lytro. Keep up the great work!! Photography is definitely the most popular “hobby” in the entire world and I’m sure you will be making a very positive impact. As far as I’m concerned, the more people there are interested in photography, the better world we will have. The reason… photography helps people “tune in” to what is inside of them. Helps them “feel” when they are doing photography. A world where people are tuning more into how they “feel” will definitely help create a better world. Your technology will also help people photography more “intuitively” which is the best way for anyone to be photographing. Speed forth, Lytro

Simply amazing. I doubt I’ll be able to afford your first, second, or even third generation cameras, but I am really excited to believe that it will be affordable for everyone someday, perhaps even within this decade!

I pray you’ll surprise me and make it affordable out of the gate! But I doubt you could produce them fast enough. They would sell faster than iPhones and IPads combined. Plus anything approaching a low price would devastate that rest of the camera industry!

Cannot wait to get one of these in my hands. From your gallery, it doesn’t look like it’s been tested for low light, and as a concert photographer I cannot wait to see it’s low light capabilities. If it works well in low light conditions, it will be the must-have camera for all concert photographers from here on.

Also, I’m just throwing this out there, if you need a concert photographer to test it out, I’d be more than happy to do that for you.

Could it be that the pictures are always taken with a small diafragma making sure that everything is sharp and that the unsharpness is generated and added afterwards based on the available depth information? In that case it would be nice if you would allow the user to select the type of bokeh as well :)

I didn’t understand the technology. sorry.

But this is reminding me vaguely of the TV hard drives that claim to “record live TV”. Of course they are really recording it once you press pause, but becuase they are being marketed that way, some people believe you can actually freeze time!

With this; isn’t it just that the camera takes several pics at once, focusing on different area each time?

It’s still impressive no matter how it is done, but if it is several photos in one, that should be declared.

thanks

This camera is capable of producing images with infinite depth of field, because all it takes is post-processing with software such as Helicon Focus.

I wonder why Lytro isn’t emphasizing this.

It is so nice to finally see a camera do what a camera should.
It would be incredible to get my hands on one of these, to test one out.

I walked away from the photography business, simply because of the frustrations and limitations today’s current cameras have, but this may just be what brings me back to it.

Ren,

Congratulations to you and your partners. Have you considered that application that your technology could have for robotics? I feel that the technology could have a huge impact by giving autonomous devices the ability to sense and map 3-dimensionally both objects and terrain with only one camera.

I also think the technology could be used to augment traditional 3-D displays by allowing them to automatically altering the point of focus based on where the end-user’s eyes are focused, thus mimicking how we see things in the real world.

Best of luck!
Daniel Stiles
Phoenix, AZ

I cant wait to try this out – cant wait to get into the technical details.

Ren,

Congratulations! How exciting and intriguing. I’m very much looking forward to what your light field camera can do for photography. What incredible potential!

Ren… This is incredible.. A great leap forward… I am more interested in macro photography and definitely see how this technology would help.. Cant wait to get my hands around.. I would love to play a part in testing the product. Let me know if I (am) get lucky…

Hello Ren and All!

I am more than interested!! I have a plan of a picture book….in Inner Mongolia (China) besides my other hobby-work (!!???) of Founder and Curator/Secretary of the Assn. for Italian Museum of Computer and Informatics Science….

I am not hiding… we could need that camera quite soon quite fast…since we are also coordinating a Project linked to the other State Science Museums in the Country (Italy!)

I/We would like to know more also from the technological point of view…whenever you think this will be possible….we are in the process of moving to a new Address…and we hope to hear from you guys soon! I think I can organize a Lecture of you and Yours Staff …quite soon!

I do not know the price Range but I hope (make it: pray on my knees …!!) ..the Museum institution(s) can qualify for early delivery…….(beta testing included, and a possible “price break” ;-D)

As said by many others… a Faq will be also quite appreciated!!

Fabio C. Borborini
Secretary/Curator Mainframes Dept.
Mu.P.In.

imlac.pds1@gmail.com

I know a relatively easy way to accomplish the same result. It’s not a surprise that the focus is on a compact consumer camera :-)

Please tell me how I can be a beta tester or participate in a focus group.

this could be the next big thing! … very innovative… can’t wait for the camera…. congratz!

I am fascinated by this technology. I take pictures of insects as a hobby, where the depth-of-field is generally measured in millimeters and the subjects move. This could at one stroke eliminate most of the difficulties in getting pictures of small, living creatures. I hope that the camera will be compatible with magnification, so that objects in the 1-5 millimeter range can be photographed with good resolution.

Hi, I’ve been photographing from the time before autofocus. Previously, view cameras were the only way to get similar results. And even then, the photos were static, and you were stuck with what you got.This is a wonderful development. If this is flash based, how will you port this technology to the 7 million iPad’s in existence? Are there plans to make these photos Photoshop compliant? Great job! Would love to test the camera out!
Marc

love the innovation, but…seems like all your gallery pics have only two aspects i.e. you can only focus on either foreground or background, not on any intermediate dimension.

It’s awesome! Good luck with your venture! Hope the camera can be available soon!

non comment, just can’t wait.

So many questions! Please publish a FAQ.

I am an embedded/real-time software engineer with experience in industrial still image and video processing, and I am also an avid amateur sports photographer (mainly triathlon). I did read the thesis when it won ACM’s prize, and at the time I hoped it would appear in the market one day. I’m glad to see that day will soon arrive! I just re-read the thesis, skipping the detailed math to glean the general concepts involved.

I have several questions I was unable to answer by reviewing the thesis:

1. How compressible is the captured (raw) image from a panoptic camera? I suspect conventional neighborhood-based techniques such as JPEG would fail badly. And the lack of compressibility would place a strain on the image storage sub-system, both for bandwidth (time between exposures) and media capacity. Is the panoptic camera limited to raw capture only? Will the camera require a Class 10 SDHC card to get acceptable still image rates? (I often take bursts for sports photography, which already push camera bandwidth and storage space.)

2. Are exotic zoom lenses needed? While the panoptic camera can correct aberration, can it do so throughout a useful zoom range? Many relatively inexpensive cameras now provide 30x zoom ranges (especially useful for close-in dynamic sports photography). Are there any inherent zoom limitations for a panoptic camera?

3. Many cameras can rapidly take multiple images at bracketed exposures for HDR (high dynamic range) imaging, and do the processing in-camera (saving only one image). Can a panoptic camera perform HDR imaging in a similar manner?

4. Some cameras with very fast focus capability (linear motors) can rapidly take multiple images at bracketed focus settings. Would such an approach, combined with suitable post-processing, prove to be “good enough” to match most of the benefits of the panoptic camera with less overall cost and greater overall resolution?

5. Would conventional anti-blur/anti-shake technology be applicable to (or compatible with) a panoptic camera? Moving either the sensor or lens (relative to the microlens array) to eliminate shake could complicate refocus processing. The lack of such capability could limit market acceptance, especially if the camera were used with a long lens or a 30x zoom.

6. How stable is the microlens array under variations in temperature? For plastic microlens arrays, I suspect the trade-off between thickness/stability and imaging quality could be fairly drastic.

If any of the above were to prove to be limitations of the panoptic camera, the entire concept could easily be DOA in the highly competitive consumer and pro-sumer markets, leaving only the relatively low-volume semi-pro and professional niche markets for the technology.

If the panoptic camera does get forced into a niche due to price/performance considerations, perhaps the technology may provide maximum value when combined with another niche technology such as Carver Mead’s “stacked” (non-mosaic) Sigma/Foveon sensor, to get either more ‘true’ pixels under each microlens, or more microlenses over the sensor.

I look forward to seeing the specifications and initial reviews for your first production camera.

Regards,

-BobC

This is very cool technology. The applications will be limitless.
As a real estate agent, I am imagining the ways in which I can utilize this new way to photograph properties.
I’ve already placed my name on your camera reservation list.
Best of luck with your new venture!

I am very excited for this produc but can it be adjusted so the whole image is sharp not just a shallow depth of field

Wonderful and Congratulations! Cant wait to use one of them.

genius..just genius..and of course that is just the beginning , after i can imagine the applications for iphones, videos, digital frames, even photoshop will change to adapt to light situations..amazing man..congrat

this looks simply amazing.

when will the camera be released and how much?

if the cost is right i would order one today

good luck

Ren,
I would like to congratulate you on your out-of-the-box approach (and success) in camera focusing technology. I would have concerns though about what class of camera this feature would be incorporated. I don’t believe mass marketing this feature in a “consumer” camera would be successful. The vast majority of consumer picture takers have a difficult enough time getting their photos into their computers or online, let alone printing them. The typical picture taker does not want to post-process photos, they are either perfect out of the camera or they are discarded. I tell you this because it is the real world. I would suggest you employ this technology in an enthusiast level camera, where other camera features and capabilities are up to the standards and expectations of an enthusiast photographer. If you can succeed in this, then semi-pro and professional photographers will begin to embrace the technology and you could then consider more advanced camera designs. While you seem to certainly have some highly competent technical people at your disposal, I hope you find some photo enthusiasts (not photo journalists) to offer critical input to your work and designs. Photo enthusiasts outnumber photo journalists by a great number, and are always open to new technologies that add to the picture taking experience. I believe that only in this way will you enjoy the greatest success your accomplishments have to offer.
All the best to you, and may your hard work bring you all the success you deserve.

How can one invest in your company?

Hai
Its really nice to see.How its work..?Can you give a brief idea..?

Sounds incredible. I really look forward to trying out the camera which looks as though it will change the face of photography forever. The “picture gallery” link in item 4 in the FAQ requires sign-in credentials – how do I register? I would love to try changing focus in saple pictures.

This could revolutionize photography, congratulations on your breakthrough. When can I get one?!?

Are you publicly traded yet?

Hi,
This sounds very interesting! Is this a sort of new step like RAW was to JPEG pictures? Taking snapshoots using JPEG format lead to throwing away lots of information allready when the picture was taken, where as RAW saves the whole RGB data on each “pixel”.

The way I understand your concept you will add extra information to each “pixel”/point when the picture is taken is that correct? This would make it possibel to do corrections and selections at a later state using complex matematic…?

Looking forward to it! :-)

/Sten

Just read the article in the NYTimes. Amazing! And congratulations! My question is: do you have a way to control the depth of field in addition to the focus point? Can I adjust that, or is it the same for each picture?

Hi Ren,

This technology seems amazing. I am constantly frustrated by my point and shoot camera focusing on the wrong subject. It usually makes many shots to get that right image, and even then, I leave unsatisfied. I have some questions. Does this work for video? My video camera has autofocus, but at times doesn;t know what to focus on. At times, it’ll focus on light sources in the background. This is really frustrating, especially during night videoing. It would be amazing if it did record video. Also, do you plan to release a number of models? Also, what technologies/terminologies will be irrelevant with the Lytro?Obviously auto focus will be, and I would assume Shutter speed will be as well. What else? Will it still measure photo quality in megapixels? How many models are you planning at launch? I’m sure many of these preliminary questions won’t be able to be answered, and that’s OK! But, none-the-less, I’m really excited and would love to be the first one’s to own one of these!

Good luck with the launch. :)

This definitely marks the beginning of a new era. All the best!

Hi Ren

It looks like you have created an exciting step forwards with regards to photography and the way it shows us our world! I wish you all the success you need to build your company and market this wonderful idea of yours.

Marcel Groen

is it possible to set the depth of field as well as set plane of focus? or is that fixed?

also, i’m assuming that you can extract z-depth maps as well as 3d info (ala kinect but better)?

I think you are going to have a lot of people banging on your door to invest

the photo demo works with IE but not with firefox
doesn’t appear to work with latest firefox 3.6 and latest flash flayer

Congrats on bringing a powerful idea from concept to usable product. I wish you and your team the best with this launch and the next one. And the one after that.

Is it not possible to compute these pictures to have full depth of field so that the foreground and background are both in focus. I understand that these pictures are meant to be used in an interactive way by the viewer but when you want to print one of these pictures out you would prefer a greater depth of field then I am seeing in your gallery. What will you will be able to achieve in terms of shots with a great depth of field ? Can you surpass the depth of field normally associated with a fast lens ?
This seems a rather obvious question that you might want to address in your FAQ.
Very exciting work and seemingly a remarkable concept coming to life. Congratulations.

Bruce Katz
Entrepreneur