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New iPhone could have Lytro-equipped “whole light field” sensor

By on January 24, 2012 at 5:53pm in Mobile News

According to a new book, Inside Apple, by Fortune Magazine’s Adam Lashinsky, new versions of the iPhone may have camera sensors that capture the entire light field instead of just a fixed amount of detail.

In June 2011, Steve Jobs met with Lytro inventor and CEO Ren Ng, who created the Lytro “whole light field” camera. The simple point-and-shoot box camera contains a f/2 aperture and an 8x optical zoom lens, but its genius is in the way it captures light: when you press the shutter button you record an entire light field instead of fixed focus pixels.

Though the first model captures fairly low-quality 1MP photos (1080×1080 pixels) each one can be manipulated in a variety of ways. You can change the focus, depth of field and lighting after the photo is taken, lessening the need to take that perfect shot the first time. It’s a pretty fundamental change in the way we take photos, and it could come to the iPhone.

Perhaps the size of the sensor is an issue right now, as is the overall quality of the image, but that may soon change. It will also allow manufacturers to include fixed-focus lenses into their devices, thereby shrinking the width of our smartphones. High-quality autofocus lenses are the main reason devices can’t get much thinner than they are. Despite the fact that Sony just introduced a tiny 13MP autofocus sensor, fixed-focus alternatives will always be thinner.

But let’s not jump to conclusions. While the Lytro camera is certainly cool, Apple has always chosen practicality over revolutionary. It chose to delay the launch of a LTE iPhone for at least a year until the technology matured. It’s unlikely the 2012 iPhone will have such technology included, nor the 2013 model. But it’s good to know that, in addition to televisions Steve Jobs also wanted to revolutionize mobile photography. Considering how popular the iPhone 4 and 4S are on Flickr, the prospect isn’t hard to believe.

Source: 9to5Mac
Via: Ars Technica

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Discussion

14 comments for “New iPhone could have Lytro-equipped “whole light field” sensor”

  1. OMG The new iPhone will allow you to make phone calls wow! create a new product! people are sick from the same product!

    Oh wait? why should Apple do that since the iTurds will buy it anyway and sign a 15 years contract on top of their contract Osap will pay for it lol.. they need to go to starbucks and show off..

    Like or Dislike: Thumb up 36 Thumb down 38

    Posted by iTards | January 24, 2012, 6:10 pm
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    • Paraphrasing Smithers when Lisa Simpson complained that the latest Malibu Stacey doll was the same as the others before….”But it’s got a new hat”.

      Like or Dislike: Thumb up 9 Thumb down 5

      Posted by CADDMan | January 24, 2012, 9:53 pm

  2. Patent anyone?

    Like or Dislike: Thumb up 15 Thumb down 5

    Posted by mark | January 24, 2012, 6:15 pm
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  3. just coz jobs met up with people from lytro does not mean it is going to happen. we dont even know if its possible to make a lightfield camera that small

    Like or Dislike: Thumb up 16 Thumb down 3

    Posted by Sanjay | January 24, 2012, 6:23 pm
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  4. If the new iphone comes with a 4″-4.2″ screen I will get one. 3.5″ its just to small and >4.3″ its just too big.

    Like or Dislike: Thumb up 6 Thumb down 9

    Posted by kudostosyrup | January 24, 2012, 6:54 pm
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  5. How does it compare with Sony’s one – http://www.androidcentral.com/sony-unveils-new-cmos-sensors-smartphones

    Like or Dislike: Thumb up 0 Thumb down 0

    Posted by EmperumanV | January 24, 2012, 7:09 pm
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  6. They should couple the Lytro with a good phone instead.

    Like or Dislike: Thumb up 9 Thumb down 6

    Posted by boojay | January 24, 2012, 8:11 pm
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  7. if you are talking best camera phone, you are talking Nokia phone (for quite some time now)

    Like or Dislike: Thumb up 9 Thumb down 4

    Posted by Youngwolf | January 24, 2012, 9:13 pm
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  8. Did they ever been able to fix the battery problems yet? after 6 months into productions, that’s so embarrassing …

    Like or Dislike: Thumb up 1 Thumb down 4

    Posted by idonkey | January 24, 2012, 11:30 pm
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    • That should be the last thing coming from an android fan.

      Android updates are horrible, with some issues not being fixed for more than a year.

      Not to mention how spread out ICS is. ICS was released what 2 months ago? Yes some phones and tablets won’t have it for another couple months.

      Like or Dislike: Thumb up 7 Thumb down 0

      Posted by Rio | January 25, 2012, 2:36 am

  9. Ok, I admit it, I don’t get it. Why should I care? will the pictures be better? or is this to make the phone paper thin?

    Like or Dislike: Thumb up 0 Thumb down 3

    Posted by Domingo | January 25, 2012, 6:40 am
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  10. [...] in case you are wondering what this new tech is all about, the Lytro “whole light field” camera, which contains an f/2 aperture and an 8x optical zoom lens, [...]

    Like or Dislike: Thumb up 0 Thumb down 0

    Posted by How Would You Like An iPhone 5 With A Lytro Sensor? - Mobile Magazine | January 25, 2012, 1:08 pm
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