What is a light field camera?

Just four months after announcing its intention to transform photography, camera startup Lytro has announced its first product. The company's 'light field camera' may not look or work like anything currently on the market but, with an asking price starting at $399, it's clear that the company can conform to conventional expectations. Having given us an interview about the technology earlier this year, Founder and CEO Ren Ng was kind enough to show us the camera and give us an idea of what to expect.

Ng has developed the company from the research he conducted at Stanford University. He's understandably upbeat about the launch of his first product and - unusually for a researcher-turned-entrepreneur - has a polished, soundbite-friendly way of explaining it.

What does Camera 3.0 look like?

'We worked really hard to create an iconic design that really conveys the idea that this is "camera 3.0",' he says: 'We really wanted, in the industrial design, for form to follow function.' And, while we've not used it enough to say how functional its form is, the result is a device that, unlike many cameras, doesn't have any film-era roots to its design.

The camera itself is a square prism in shape, around 11cm (4.4") long and around 4cm (1.6") square. Around two thirds of its length is bare anodized aluminum, which houses a 35-280mm equivalent, constant F2 lens. The rest of its length is coated in a soft, light gray rubber, in which you'll find the camera's three physical controls - the power switch, a shutter button and a slider that you stroke to zoom the lens in and out. All other interaction with the camera is conducted via the small, 128x128 pixel square touch screen that covers the rear face of the device.

Two versions will be available - an 8Gb model that comes in gray ('Graphite') or blue ('Electric Blue') or a more expensive 'Red-Hot' 16Gb version ($499). The smaller versions will be able to record around 350 images, with the larger version finding space for nearer 750. The colorful aluminum and choice of capacities is immediately redolent of Apple products, and it's an association that presents itself at several points during our meeting.

What is a light field camera?

Just to recap, the Light Field Camera captures light rather differently than a conventional camera. It features an array of microlenses set a short distance in front of the sensor. Instead of focusing light down into a single pixel as they would in a conventional camera, these are designed to split the information across multiple pixels, depending on the angle from which they've arrived.

Ng takes up the point: 'The microlenses separate the rays of light just before it hits the sensor. It records that information so that it retains all the directional information. We can then imagine if the sensor was nearer or further back from the subject, which is effectively what focusing is, then re-calculate where those rays would have been projected to.'

This technique not only allows images to be recalculated with different focus points, it also means the lens of the camera doesn't need to be focused on a single point. And this has a great advantage for a point-and-shoot camera, Ng explains: 'We don't have to focus when you take the shot. There's no moving motors, which allows an instant shutter.'source