LightField Camera Evolution: Adobe’s Prototypes

Adobe is probably best known for it’s image editing application Photoshop. Over the last few years, the leader in image manipulation has given us a few glimpses into their research with LightField technology.

The first LightField camera prototype that was ever shown by Adobe, was called “Magic Lens”. It had been developed between 2004 and 2006, and consisted of just 19 lenses. Subsequent models slowly evolved to an increasing number of sub-lenses and sub-images – 7,000 microlenses in the 2010 prototype. In comparison, Lytro’s LightField camera uses about 100,000 microlenses.

Apart from the actual hardware lens systems, Adobe has also demoed prototype Photoshop features such as a “Focus Brush” or selective editing of fore- or background.

If we’ve sparked your interest in Adobe’s LightField work, we’ve compiled more information, photos and videos on a dedicated page in the Prototypes section: Adobe LightField Camera Protypes.