Camera can snap now, focus later

20 October 2011 Last updated at 11:29 GMT Users can choose what they want to focus on after the image is taken A digital camera that allows photographers to focus their pictures after taking them has gone on sale.

Rather than recording a single version of an image, the Lytro captures data about the intensity and direction of all the light entering its lenses.

That information can be reorganised later with the option to change which parts are blurred and which are sharp.

The "light field" technology was developed by company founder Ren Ng while he was at Stanford University.

The Lytro looks nothing like a conventional camera

It is, in some ways, analogous to the practice of shooting RAW images with a current generation digital camera.

In that example, the device records all of the light falling on its sensor without running it through processes such as colour balancing or sharpening. These can be applied later on a computer.

Similarly, by recording the light field passing through many tiny micro-lenses in the Lytro, the action of merging these to create a single flat image can be applied as a post-production effect.

The phrase light field was coined by Russian scientist Alexander Gershun in 1936. Work on developing capture mechanisms began to gain momentum during the 1980s and 1990s.

On its website, Lytro has published Mr Ng's 2006 university PhD thesis outlining his approach, which ultimately led to the commercial product.

In a press statement, Mr Ng said: "Light field photography was once only possible with 100 cameras tethered to a supercomputer in a lab.

BBC Click looks at Lytro ahead of its launch

The Lytro's image sensor is capable of capturing, according to the company, 11 megarays of data.

However, it is understood that megarays do not translate to megapixels, and final image quality may be considerably less than that of conventional digital cameras.

The camera is also capable of producing 3D images, a feature which will be added at a later date.

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Canadian film-maker's camera eye

20 September 2011 Last updated at 00:52 GMT By Neil Bowdler Health reporter, BBC News Rob Spence shows how his camera eye works

Canadian documentary maker Rob Spence has always loved science fiction.

So much so that when he lost his eye six years ago, he took inspiration from some of his heroes.

"There are so many characters in pop culture and science fiction that have a camera eye that pretty much anyone who loses an eye at least makes a joke about getting a camera eye.

"In my case, I just actually did it."

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The motivation to put a camera in my eye came partly from being an immature adult who wants to be like the Bionic Man”

End Quote Rob Spence Documentary maker With the help of a former satellite company employee, he developed a camera which fits into his eye socket, and "eyeborg", as he calls himself, was born.

Shooting accident

The original damage to his right eye came from an accident when he was just nine years old.

"I was visiting my grandfather in Northern Ireland and I decided it would be a good idea to take his 12-gauge shotgun and go and shoot some cowpats.

"I wasn't holding the gun properly and it caused a lot of trauma to my eye."

The deterioration was gradual, with years passing before all vision was lost in the eye. When it was lost, surgeons recommended its removal to prevent any deterioration in the other eye.

Spence has felt no great loss of ability, perhaps because the deterioration was so gradual. Nor was his quest for a camera eye motivated by any hope of improving his sight, he says.

Spence says he can achieve more natural results with his eye camera than with conventional cameras

"The motivation to put a camera in there was a combination of being an immature adult who wants to be like Star Trek or the Bionic Man, and an opportunity to make more interesting documentary films that a have a more literal point of view."

The camera was built by friend and engineer Kosta Grammatis, who used to work for satellite and rocket company SpaceX. They got on so well that he moved in with Spence, and the first prototype eye was built on a coffee table.

The eye is currently in its third incarnation, and transmits live video pictures to a wireless monitor.

It attaches to a coral ball and coupling device which was fitted into the socket after his natural eye was removed (for the purpose of an aesthetic eye). This means it moves in tandem with his remaining eye and that Spence can direct the camera to its target.

It has become a fundamental part of his documentary making.

"When I'm filming someone, they're looking right in my eye and they're talking to me, not me through a camera, and there's blinking and glancing. It's much more similar to the way we see the world."

Bionic journey

His latest film is a 12-minute documentary pegged to the launch of a video game which features a bionic human with their own camera eye.

For Spence, it was a chance to explore some of the innovations in bionics that are happening around the world, and to meet some of the people testing them.

This included interviewing Miikka Terho, a Finnish man with an inherited form of blindness who has been testing an eye implant which has enabled him to pick out large shapes and lights.

Spence thinks the future of bionic vision will be played out in high definition.

"I liken bionic eye technology - that is the sight-restoration kind, not my kind - to very early television. Just as television progressed from blurry terrible images to something that approximates to human vision, I see that happening as well with sight-restoration technology."

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Rare nerd troika caught on camera!

 Nathan Fillion

Total protonic reversal! Wait ... no ... it's OK. Apparently Felicia Day, Wil Wheaton and Nathan Fillion can appear in the same location on the space-time continuum without making the universe go boom.

If you had asked me before this weekend what would happen if video game and all around beloved nerd icons Nathan Fillion, Felicia Day and Wil Wheaton were to appear in the same spot on the space-time continuum, I would have said that the very fabric of the universe itself would have been torn asunder.

As every good sci-fi/fantasy geek knows, there are a few prime directives that must not be broken: 1) You and your future self can not be in the same location at once. 2) Do not cross the streams. 3) One location can only withstand so much nerd power.

And yet ... it has happened. At this past weekend's comic book extravaganza known as Comic-Con, three nerd super powers appeared in one location. And the universe – or at least the Internet-verse – survived to tell the tale.

The long-arm of Fillion caught the photographic evidence which Wheaton posted to his Google+ stream (see above.)

People, what we have right there is Star Trek, Firefly, The Guild, Halo, DC Universe Online and Fallout: New Vegas all represented. As one commenter put it: "That level of geekdom is akin to dividing by zero."

Oh, and the photobomber in the background is Wheaton's son. (Yes, Wesley Crusher is old enough to have a son.)

Wheaton explained how this violation of the laws of geek physics came to be:

After a couple years of trying to get me and Nathan Fillion in the same place at the same time, +Felicia Day made it happen last night at the Nerd HQ. After dancing like idiots (the only way I know how) for a little bit, Nathan hugged me and said, "When I was a teenager, you were living my dream." I told him, "When I was in my twenties, you were living mine."

What nerd super-trio would you like to catch on camera?

Joss Whedon + Stan Lee + Jonathan CoultonNeil Gaiman + Seth Green + Neil Patrick HarrisLet's hear it for the ladies: Carrie Fisher + Kari Byron + Tricia HelferI'm going old-school, baby: Patrick Stewart + George Takei + Tom Baker From the great beyond: Gary Gygax + Douglas Adams + the robotic head of Philip K. DickVoteTotal Votes: 190

You can find out more about Wheaton's Comic-Con adventures on his blog here.

All of this has made me (and the nerds I work with) wonder: What other powerful nerd threesomes should be caught on camera?

What do you think? Ahem ... keep it clean folks. Keep it clean.

For more video game news, check out:

Winda Benedetti is the nerd who writes about games for msnbc.com. You can follow her tweets about games and other things right here on Twitter or join her in the stream right here on Google+.  You can check out the In-Game Facebook page right here.

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