Camera maker Lytro is now taking pre-orders for its much-hyped light-field cameras that promise to let you snap a picture and refocus it later on your computer or the camera's touchscreen. Unlike traditional cameras, Lytro devices are able to capture 11 million light rays (11 megarays) and record aspects of light such as color, intensity and direction, some of which traditional cameras miss. The ability to capture all that information, along with help from Lytro's image processing software, is what allows you to refocus the image, change the image's perspective and even view the photo as a 3D image on your 3D HDTV. Read more
You need to offload your photos to a computer--which is Mac-only at launch--and process your photos with the included software. Want to share your living photos on Facebook or anywhere else? You need to upload them to Lytro's Web site first and then do your sharing from there. Read more
The very first light fields were captured at Stanford University over 15 years ago. The most advanced light field research required a roomful of cameras tethered to a supercomputer. Today, Lytro completes the job of taking light fields out of the research lab and making them available for everyone, in the form of the world's first Lytro Light Field Camera. Read more