Sometime ago, when I heard about Ren Ng, while he was a researcher at Stanford, he was photographing a friend’s daughter and noticed “it was incredibly difficult to focus the image properly and capture her fleeting smile in just the right way.” After completing his Ph.D, Ng decided to use his experience in light field research to “start a company that would produce light field cameras that everyone could enjoy.”

In 2011, Lytro demonstrated a camera that allows users to change the focus of a picture after the picture is taken. Lytro is developing “a new type of camera that dramatically changes photography for the first time since the 1800s,” according to TechCrunch.

The company’s first camera was launched on October 19th, 2011 in 8GB ($399) and 16GB ($499) versions, shipping in early 2012. It’s a global revolution but we only ship to the US for now. You need a Mac to import and edit your pictures.

The technology is being used in this camera is – Light field photography (also known as plenoptic photography) captures all the available light in a scene going in every direction. It works by breaking up the main image with a microlens over an image sensor. Prior to development of the Lytro camera, light field images had to be taken with hundreds of different cameras tethered to a computer to compose the image.

Features of plenoptic cameras include:

Refocusing: Users are able to refocus images after they are taken.
Speed: Because there is no need to focus the lens before taking a picture, a plenoptic camera can capture images more quickly than conventional point-and-shoot digital cameras.
Low-light sensitivity: the ability to adjust focus in post-processing allows the use of larger apertures than are feasible on conventional cameras, thus enabling photography in low-light environments without a flash.

Make it magic.

Lytro lets you take pictures like never before. Unlike a conventional camera that captures a single plane of light, the Lytro camera captures the entire light field, which is all the light traveling in every direction in every point in space.

Capture everything – instantly.

Capture living pictures with the press of a single button. By instantly capturing complete light field data, the Lytro gives you capabilities you’ve never had in a regular camera.

Focus after the fact.

Since you’ll capture the color, intensity, and direction of all the light, you can experience the first major light field capability – focusing after the fact. Focus and re-focus, anywhere in the picture. You can refocus your pictures at anytime, after the fact.

And focusing after the fact, means no auto-focus motor. No auto-focus motor means no shutter delay. So, capture the moment you meant to capture not the one a shutter-delayed camera captured for you.

Share the love.

Don’t keep the fun to yourself. Easily share from the desktop or from Lytro.com to friends and family on Facebook, Twitter, email or your blog.