Digital Photography, specifically DSLR (Digital Single Lens
Reflex) photography, is really just a digital version of cameras that we have
used for more than a century. The
physics really have not changed. Today’s
camera focuses on a single point – eyes, mouth, hair, etc. The camera then uses that focal point to calculate
what amount of light/exposure is needed for the shot. In todays “point and shoot” cameras the
process of focusing, calculating exposure, then releasing the shutter – takes just
a second or so. But it is that process
that leads to SHUTTER LAG – and in those few precious moments, the perfect shot
may be missed, or out of focus.
FOCUS?! That’s soooo last century.
Soon there will be a tectonic shift in how photographs are
taken. LIGHT FIELD PHOTOGRAPHY captures light traveling in ALL directions
around the subject. This is really the FIRST substantial change in the physics
of how we take photographs in the past 150 years. Gone is the need to focus.
Shutter lag—no mas. Light field cameras take,
in a single shot, all possible focal lengths. Later once the file is downloaded
to a computer, you can point and click throughout the image and dynamically change
the focus. Image quality is not measured in MEGAPIXELS but in Megarays. A Megaray (1 million lightrays) is a
measurement of how many light rays are captured in a photo. This is a fundamental
shift in photography. One will, however, still need a good eye for composition.
The company behind this new tech is LYTRO, and this year
they will be selling (shipping in 2012) the first consumer light field camera.
The first cameras to ship will take 11 Megaray photos. If your interest is piqued, there is a fullgallery of photos on their website – images that you can play with and change
the focal point. Currently the camera is large-ish. But in the next decade I am
sure you will have a lightfield camera in your phone…or whatever we have in our
pockets in 2022.
I for one – am ready to pre-order. I really dig the boxy electric
blue model.
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