The Lytro Camera has not been quite the success it thought it would be. After all, being able to have a picture that is always in focus, no matter where you want that focus to be on the picture — after that picture has been taken — is revolutionary. However, image size, quality, camera price and limited features all conspired to limit the attractiveness of the Lytro camera to a large audience.
As is so often the case, the technology in the Lytro camera is ahead of its time. There will come a time when this feature will be widely available in all cameras, but the technology has to get out of the way first. Consumers should be able to use it intuitively. Image quality needs to be very good.
Being first to market is not always an advantage. It is now giant electronics firm Toshiba that has set its sight on building a refocusing smartphone camera — a product more likely to appeal to consumers than a separate camera.
It has developed a tiny module that includes an image sensor (5 mm x 7 mm) and a dense array of 500,000 lenses, each 0.03 millimeter in diameter, that sits in front of the sensor. Each lens captures a slightly different image from one another with separate focus points. The camera can also be used to take videos.
Toshiba is pushing hard for smartphone and tablet manufacturers to adopt its technology in 2013.
Read the article at: asahi.
via extremetech