The Lytro light field camera is an incredible feat of engineering. If you’ve never heard of this elongated boxy camera before, then know that it doesn’t just look different to every other camera out there, it functions very differently too.
The premise of the camera lies in its ability to capture the light field, that is besides the color and intensity it also captures the vector direction of all light rays hitting its sensor; traditional cameras only capture the color and intensity of light but not the direction. The huge advantage is that you don’t need to worry about focusing when taking an image, focusing happens later on the camera or on your computer.
You can quickly and easily focus on different subjects by simply clicking on a point in the image captured by Lytro. That’s amazing, because so far we were able to adjust every other aspect of a photograph (e.g. exposure, white balance etc.) after it was taken but you were stuck with the manner it was focused.
In the process of finally being generally available, the Lytro passed by the FCC and has been disassembled and itself photographed (oh the irony) for your viewing pleasure. First off, it’s amazing to see just how many parts make up the Lytro.
In the photos, you can see the 11-megaray sensor, 1.5-inch LCD display, a Zoran image processor, Marvell Avastar W8787 Wi-Fi and Bluetooth SoC (though the company has stated that the Lytro won’t have Wi-Fi support on launch) and 2,100mAh battery. It is actually mind blowing how the Lytro team managed to work all this into the odd square cross-section, it would undoubtedly have been an arduous task designing the different square PCBs.
The Lytro is said to launch in early 2012; in the meantime you might want to check out more images and its manual to wet your appetite at the FCC link below.
Gallery: Lytro light field camera internals
