Light-field photography captures information about the intensity of light in a scene, and also captures information about the direction that the light rays are traveling in space. Lytro’s light field sensor uses an array of micro-lenses placed in front of a an otherwise conventional image sensor; to sense intensity, colour, and directional information. Software then uses this data to create displayable 2D or 3D images. Lytro trades maximum 2D resolution, at a given distance, for enhanced resolution at other distances. Users are able to focus on any focal distance on a Lytro camera’s image.
Features of a lytro camera include:
Lytro’s “Focus Spread” feature allows the depth of field of a 2 dimensional Lytro image to be manipulated after a picture has been taken.
Because there is less need to focus the lens before taking a picture, a light field camera can capture images more quickly than conventional point-and-shoot digital cameras. This is an advantage in sports photography, for example, where many pictures are lost because the cameras auto-focus system cannot be kept pointed precisely at a fast moving subject.
Low light sensitivity: The ability to adjust focus in post-processing allows the use of larger apertures than are feasible on conventional cameras, thus enabling photography in low-light environments.
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