A light field camera effectively takes alot of photos of the same scene all at once using different aperture settings. The result is a single photo which contains many versions of the same scene shot at different aperture settings.
Using software and brainiac mathematical algorhythms which converts the information gathered into a single shot with corresponding depth map and blur maps, the photographer can effectively shoot a scene with aperture settings from the minimum aperture (eg; f/2.8) up to the maximum (eg; f/22) all captured in the same shot and then in post editing can select which point in the image they wish to be in focus and at what aperture they wish the depth of field and corresponding blur to represent. So you could have maximum depth of field as if the scene was shot at f/22 or you can select a subject and apply the blur and minimal depth of field as if shot at f/2.8 all after having taken the shot.
Nifty.
The folks at Adobe have been investigating this technology and have created a prototype 100 megapixel camera and lightfield lens which combined with software allows you to do the above. The downside of this technology is that because so many versions of the same image are captured on the same frame in order to gather the required information, the final image from the 100 megapixel camera becomes a mere 5 megapixels!
Andy
Posts
For me, I would say another downside to this is becoming lazy and having everything come easy to you, plus loss of style. By this I mean, your camera will do it all for you rather than you changing the aperture yourself and taking different shots. If you can pick and choose while viewing on your computer, you wont have a developed style in camera.
ReplyDeletehmm what will they think of next...
I can see this being very useful in the moving picture world (except for the 2500 Meg per second capture). Where you have a scene that may only occur once, ie. big explosion or continuous car/foot chase on steady cam, this would provide great latitude. Also good for generating imagery like split depth of field as seen in Lie to Me TV series.
ReplyDeleteIt does seem to fill a gap in some sectors although a general photographer would gradually lose their technical skills and quality and time may be compromised as a result. Who knows it may be something to work on
ReplyDeleteKylieB