lytro camera: focus anything on your photo

For those that no mater what, cannot focus any photo they take, good news, your problem have now a solution, it is called the Lytro.

The Lytro takes pictures in a way that no other camera ever has. The innovation behind this gadget is light field photography, which the company, also named Lytro, calls “the first major change in photography since photography was invented.”

What is light field photography? When normal cameras take a photo, they measure the color and light coming through the lens to produce an image. The Lytro camera not only sees color and light but can understand which direction the light moves while snapping a photo. Instead of simply grabbing one point of the light in a scene, Lytro analyzes all the points of light and then converts them to data. Once the image is stored using the technology, it can be processed and reprocessed after the photo is taken.

What does this mean, exactly? Basically, it means that you can take a photo and then refocus the subject in it after the fact. It means that if you take a picture of a friend in the foreground and there’s something exciting happening down the street, you can use Lytro’s custom software to refocus on the background, or almost anything else in the scene that you captured.

The company says it’s also working on updates that will allow you to slightly readjust the angle of the picture after you’ve taken it, or look at the scene in true 3D.

The lytro will be available for purchase in April or May, according to the company, it will come in three colors (red, gray and blue) and two storage capacities, 8GB and 16GB. The 8GB models cost $399; the 16GB, $499.

The camera’s body has an odd shape, and most functions are accessed through its display. There’s a small touchscreen on the back that responds well to input, though it’s so tiny that it can be challenging to get around in sometimes. Although the software is rather intuitive, the 128-by-128 pixel screen can be a pain. It does offer some nice features, such as the ability to focus images by tapping on a subject on-screen (but you snap pictures with a small, indented button on the top of the Lytro).

When you’re finished taking photos, you can upload them to a personalized page on Lytro’s Web site, as well as store them in a custom application the company provides with the device (Mac only right now, but Windows is coming). From there, you can make static prints of shots, focus on points you like or share malleable, embedded versions of your photo online or directly to Facebook.

the down side of the lytro is that exported shots are about 1 megapixel, but it takes pictures unlike any other camera you’ve used. And those pictures can be incredibly good.