Lytro is a new company that is bringing years of academic research to the consumer electronics market. Their big break-through is related to the digital camera and allowing you to define where you want to focus of the image to be after the picture is taken.
Remember when you learned with modern cameras how to do that half-button press thing so the focus will grab what you’re looking at and your image won’t be blurry? Do you also remember the delay this caused and how it made it much more difficult to properly time an action shot? The light field camera that Lytro is introducing promises a “no fuss focus”, instant-on with no shutter lag, the ability to share “living” pictures, and all still in a portable camera.
You can find out more about the technology from the Lytro FAQ page and The Science Inside page.
They say a picture is worth a thousand words. How much is a picture that you can refocus worth? Check out their pictures at the Lytro Picture Gallery by single-clicking where you want to focus and double-clicking to zoom.
You can sign up for notifications and the first chance to buy one at the Lytro website.