Comments

Serena wrote on 6/23/2011, 9:30 PM
I read this as an invitation to invest in development of the technology, not the announcement of an available camera. The demo clip indicates that the intended users are people who can't decide what they're shooting. Nevertheless it is clever stuff (when you read the CEO's PhD thesis).
Will be good for interactive video, and I can see benefits for "correcting" those annoying shallow DoF two shots where I want to see the reaction of the fuzzy person. But the latter is a matter of technique (focus or shot held too long) and otherwise I'm still of a view that focus ought to be set by the operator.
JJKizak wrote on 6/24/2011, 1:56 PM
Basically I would have to see this to believe it. Sharpening something that isn't sharp is like falling up instead of falling down. I can't understand how you can sharpen something that is not there, no basis for the final shape.
JJK
Zulqar-Cheema wrote on 6/24/2011, 2:53 PM
more here with some pictures to play with and some videos

http://www.physorg.com/news/2011-06-no-focus-potentially-3d-camera.html
TheHappyFriar wrote on 6/24/2011, 3:25 PM
This looks like the same camera in this thread: here.

I'm not looking at this as a good thing. For video, it's just another thing to "fix in post!". While it's neat & I'd love to play with it, I'd hate to manually focus every single shot I shoot, AFTER I've shot it. I've already got to cut, lay out, do some FX, cropping, panning, motions, etc. Add another chore to the list. :)
Laurence wrote on 6/24/2011, 4:27 PM
On the other hand, there are probably algorithms that will work for autofocusing in post when this technology finally is practical. imagine, pointing on a touchscreen to the person you want in focus and having motion tracking follow them around... cool!

For now though, I am more interested in footage that was shot correctly and doesn't leave extra work for the editor.
Serena wrote on 6/24/2011, 8:20 PM
>>>I can't understand how you can sharpen something that is not there<<<<

The idea is to record the angles, colour and intensity of small light ray "packages" emanating from objects in the field of view. The "thought model" is based on simple ray tracing through an optical system, where those rays that converge on a point (on the sensor) produce an image in focus. Rays that don't converge on a point result in fuzziness. However if you knew the angles of all the rays hitting the sensor, you could calculate where each bundle would come to a focus. In this invention the sensor doesn't record the image, it records data about the image. The image is constructed by software.
GenJerDan wrote on 6/26/2011, 10:34 AM
I look at as if it were 2D hologram.

Or a recording of multiple layers, then you decide later which layer should be the one in focus.

Both wrong, but the effect is...kinda sorta...the same. Yes?
Serena wrote on 6/26/2011, 6:52 PM
It isn't a hologram (different tech) and it is really about being able to identify light rays defining a particular object, so not right to think in terms of layers. But that is all theory and has not been demonstrated in a single practical camera, but has been demonstrated in a laboratory set up.
SuperG wrote on 6/26/2011, 7:04 PM
They say the issue is 'resolution'. Basically, you have to have multiple microsensors to catch all the angles.
marcel-vossen wrote on 6/27/2011, 12:09 AM
Sounds really cool to have that kind of flexibility afterwards, but since I am already using more than 100 Gigabytes of diskspace for the footage of one weddingday in HD , I can only assume that one would need a multitude of that for storing the information that would enable you to change the focus afterwards....so it might be better to improve ones focussing skills on the job, that will save a lot of trouble, time and diskspace for sure! ;)

And apart from that, the more gadgets they come up with, the less creativity and skills are left for us videographers to make a decent video.
Whats next? I guess in a few years they'll come up with a robotcamera that you just drop off at a wedding that will make all the shots for you and afterwards you pick it up and choose on your computer what scenes and focuspoints you wanna have in your film? :))