[citation][nom]Razor512[/nom]Seems like a good idea but we will need to know the resolution and the depth range. For example the lytro cameras allow refocusing, but the effect only works properly at macro ranges and the lens still has to focus if you use a lytro in real life you will see that the lens has a focusing element and it does move. this is why if you take a macro show and try to focus on a building in the background, it will not be in complete focus compared to if you just focused on the building. There is a limit to how much it can refocus.The problem with smartphones is the focusing system does not provide enough latitude in the focusing element which means that the post process focus will be much more limited than even with the lytro cameras.Other than that, I feel that this will eventually become the next big evolution in camera technology.Imagine being able to have a quality DSLR or cinematic camera with a F1.4 lensand then have the ability to have the shallow depth of field from F1.4 and also have the ability to expand that depth of field in post.Or being able to simply have a have a lens designed for a certain focal range, eg 1 foot to 50 feet, then use that for recording and remove the need for a follow focus because the follow focusing can be done in post with perfect tracking to a subject as they move to and from the camera, also allowing all scenes to have the eyes tact sharp (which even experienced focus pulling people have a lot of trouble with (if you look at movies such as the dark knight, even they could not get that perfect for every scene (it is not noticeable unless you go looking for it but post production focusing can get rid of even those lesser known inaccuracies that most people never notice)[/citation]
You sir are a little confused as to how the Lytro works. Or how a light field camera works entirely.
The lytro has NO moving lens parts. The reason being? Its entirely different then any regular camera that we have today. It doesn't focus light, it doesn't need to. It simply filters the light that enters the lens, so that light at radical angles does not interfere with the photo taken. The technology behind the lens is actually fairly simple, everything is in the software. The sensor directly has an image with hundreds of circular, extremely fisheyed versions of the shot taken. As there is a lens array on the sensor. In this way, you are not just capturing one angle of light from every pixel sized object, you are capturing multiple. Which in the software, later on, adjustments can be made, especially to extend the light sensitivity, and color saturation. Thats what a light field camera is really good at, the focusing aspect comes in later, by using all of these images, of different angles of light on the sensor, we can refocus on different parts of the picture.