I know a thing or two about camera design (my current startup manufactures a sort of CCTV camera).
A lens gathers a large field of light and focuses it on a specific plane, which is where the film or image sensor sits.
I think these guys are doing massive depth of field (f/40 or greater), coupled with an advanced imager that can get a good exposure from reduced light. Then they basically de-focus the image after the fact to look like a conventional photo. They may also be using something like the GBO Optics massive depth of field lens technology (http://www.gbosecurity.com/technology.asp) to help with the initial image capture.
None of their sample images really had a truly significant depth of field. It would not be unreasonable to build a camera that could capture those scenes with complete DOF focus.
Here is the paper their tech is based on: http://graphics.stanford.edu/papers/lfcamera/
Basically, the light isn't focused to a single plane, but rather is sent through an array of microlenses which can be sampled in various ways to simulate the focal plane of a traditional camera.
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[ 3.3 ms ] story [ 23.2 ms ] threadI know a thing or two about camera design (my current startup manufactures a sort of CCTV camera).
A lens gathers a large field of light and focuses it on a specific plane, which is where the film or image sensor sits.
I think these guys are doing massive depth of field (f/40 or greater), coupled with an advanced imager that can get a good exposure from reduced light. Then they basically de-focus the image after the fact to look like a conventional photo. They may also be using something like the GBO Optics massive depth of field lens technology (http://www.gbosecurity.com/technology.asp) to help with the initial image capture.
None of their sample images really had a truly significant depth of field. It would not be unreasonable to build a camera that could capture those scenes with complete DOF focus.