Light field photography

[the_antithesis]

Last night on the Tonight Show, they had a segment where a guy showed us two tech toys. The highlight was Sony's grab at the waste of time that is the Occulus Rift. I see no future in such things, but idiots are easily impressed by it. The other device was the Lytro Illum light field camera. This was much more interesting.

This is the second such camera from Lytro. Light field photography works by recording the angle at which light enters the aperture via a series of lenses, thousands if what I've read is true. The practical aspect is that after a picture is taken, the image can be refocused or the angle adjusted (slightly), making photography much more flexible.

This could be a revolution in the field of photography. But I can't help but think of it from the other end.

Could they, using a similar set-up make a light field display? This would be an actual 3D display without any of the problems found in traditional stereoscopic 3D that cause discomfort. Couple a light field display with light field photography and then the image would look as natural as real. Items in the foreground would look closer and items in the background would look further away.

I hope the geniuses at Lytro are working on such a display that would make their cameras even more impressive since you could simply look at the three dimensional image instead of looking at a flat image and needing to refocus on the various layers to get the full effect.

Link with more on the Illum and an interactive picture that shows how the images can be adjusted.