Lytro: Novel light field camera for the time being only compatible with Macs

Is the conventional digital camera soon end? A radical new camera concept is introduced these days in digital photography. Interesting facts: First, the so-called light field camera "Lytro" only Mac compatible.

The Lytro light field camera is a digital photography for almost revolutionary device. It is based on a light box that defines how a scene appears. The amount of light that radiates in every direction, taken by tens of thousands from every angle sensors. Conventional cameras can not absorb this light box.

The photographer can then simply press the shutter button, without having to set the scene through the lens focus without autofocus - the rest is done later. Only in the captured image, the photographer decides which part of the image in focus is available. May be from a photo in retrospect different images, depending on what the focus is once placed.

The data from the camera can not simply import into iPhoto, because it is "live" data and not a simple jpg file. To view and edit the photos from the light field camera special software is required.

And it is this software just for the Mac. At least Mac OS X 10.6 or later is required. A Windows app but should be in development, it says in Lytro. Older Mac users should remember times when it was usually the other way around.

The Lytro light field camera can be pre-ordered and will cost only 399 U.S. dollars. In Germany, the company is also working on a Raytrix light field camera.