While they haven’t always knocked it out of the park, Apple is often given the benefit of the doubt when it comes to smartphone photography. Using hardware that on paper seems no different than what the competition uses, the iPhone continually delivers above average results. Recently, Apple has taken to adding new modes like slo-mo video. Could the ability to refocus an image after it has been captured be next?
Apple has been granted a patent for a light-field camera that could eventually make its way into the iPhone. For the unfamiliar, light-field photography utilizes an array of many microlenses to capture information-dense images. As demonstrated with the Lytro camera, these images can then be refocused after the fact, presenting photographers with the ability to simply worry about capturing the shot and worry about some of the finer details later.
Steve Jobs himself was a noted fan of the Lytro concept, so it isn’t surprising that Apple want to bring it to their handheld devices. Is it technically feasible at this time? The major drawback is the size of the equipment. A light-field array wouldn’t exactly be easy to squeeze into today’s iPhone. The other caveat is that, for now, light-field photography typically produces lower resolution results than a standard smartphone camera.
For this reason, Apple is investigating ways to allow a device to switch between the two modes of photography on the fly, but that could create even more technical hurdles. Light-field imaging is an endlessly cool concept, but it might be a while before we get our first taste of refocus-able images on our iPhones.
[via TechCrunch]
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