Plenoptic Lens and the future of digital photography

I just stumbled across this article with video that demonstrates the ability to refocus your photos after the fact. I can only imagine what the prefinished photo size could be.

tbreak.com - Penoptic Lens

https://photography-on-the.net/forum/showthre​ad.php?t=935670

Posted before but not too many replies, seems like a pretty cool technology, crazy what they come up with

That is pretty exciting.....

I was also pretty interested in this technology, and I found a company that makes these Plenoptic cameras. Its called Raytrix, and you can buy one of their cameras, or send your own in. I don't know if this technology is feasible yet, i'm guessing 5-7 years down the road.

What are the 4 dimensions the article describes?

So how big would a 70-200mm f2.8L with 15 different light paths, be? How many sensors would I need?

This doesn't seem terribly practical to me. I think it'd be easier to just program a camera/lens to take multiple exposures at different focal points, on a tripod.

lonelyjew wrote in post #11119559
This doesn't seem terribly practical to me. I think it'd be easier to just program a camera/lens to take multiple exposures at different focal points, on a tripod.

It is impractical, but with our current system it's impossible to take multiple exposures at different focal points at the same instant, which is important for shooting anything that moves.

Just think how many times you've missed a great shot because the subject moved outside your depth of field while tracking it. If this lens setup ever reaches meaningful resolutions, you would be able to focus your image in post.

Imagine being able to shoot landscapes and macros at f/8, instead of having to stop down any further for increased depth of field... in medium format! No more diffraction worries there!

Or, with 100MP sensors and diffraction limits of f/4 or so, shooting landscapes and macros at f/4 for maximum resolution, without losing DOF.

This technology has great potential!

In addition, with plenoptic cameras, you can have true tilt-shift methods in postproduction, and decrease DOF; and through zbuffer calculations, it may also be possible to have more sophisticated selective colouring and probably some other things.

I'd say that the absolute mastery of DOF control given by plenoptic lenses will mean that this technology should eventually supplant, say, medium format cameras and tilt-shift lenses.

Am I right in assuming that the focus changes are possible because the originals have vitually unlimited DoF and the areas not wanted sharp are simply blurred by the software? I cannot imagine any other way of doing it.

Lowner wrote in post #11289654
Am I right in assuming that the focus changes are possible because the originals have vitually unlimited DoF and the areas not wanted sharp are simply blurred by the software? I cannot imagine any other way of doing it.

Not quite.

Basically, you take many different images, focused at different distances. In post-production, you can then choose which distances you want in focus, or which region in 3D space (the artificial 'tilt-shift' capability). The OOF areas are real - that is, they are in the RAW file, not just blurred by software; the software merely allows you to choose what the focal plane is and what shape it takes. Via this method, you can even have two focal planes if you want, or get it to follow an uneven surface.

It's a similar concept to volumetric reconstructions in a CT scan, for example.

Who wants to bet people will still complain their copy front/rear focuses?

It is crazy to see where the DSLR has come in the last few years. I wonder what we will be using in twenty years? Tech like this is just the antithesis of where we are going.

Quaz8r wrote in post #11303685
It is crazy to see where the DSLR has come in the last few years. I wonder what we will be using in twenty years? Tech like this is just the antithesis of where we are going.

What's even more crazy is that the pictures aren't any more pleasing to look at than they were 20 years ago. The basics of what makes a good photo has been there for a long time.


Eventually there will be no point in taking photos as Google will already have taken every picture possible with it's army of robotic flying camera drones.