Will the Apple iPhone 5 revolutionise photography with Lytro, as Steve Jobs wished?

The late Apple co-founder wanted to reinvent photography and a glimpse into what he planned comes courtesy of revelations of his secret meetings with Lytro, a new camera technology that offers instant capture with no need to focus on a subject

January 24, 2012 Mihir Patkar

Legendary Apple co-founder Steve Jobs spent his life reinventing or revolutionising products and industries, from the personal computer and mobile phones to the worlds of cartoons and music. In an interview with the New York Times, his biographer Walter Isaacson revealed what was next in Jobs’s agenda: photography.

The latest iPhone 4S does come with a much improved camera, but that wasn’t what Jobs was targeting, as revealed in the upcoming book Inside Apple by Adam Lashinsky. The 9to5mac blog reveals that Jobs was interested in a new camera technology called Lytro, and met with the company’s CEO who demonstrated the product, discussed cameras and product design and agreed to send an email outlining three things he’d like Lytro to do with Apple.

It may not be easy to fit something like Lytro into a device as tiny as a mobile phone and perhaps that’s the reason it wasn’t included in the iPhone 4S. But perhaps it can be achieved in the iPhone 5, revolutionising photography forever.

So what is Lytro?

How many times have you fiddled around with the focus on your digicam, and in that split second, missed the magical moment?

It’s a high bar to clear when a technology is compared to something as significant as the shift from film to digital. But one look at Lytro’s upcoming camera and you will want to believe they can walk the walk just as well as they talk the talk.

The American firm has developed a ‘light field camera’ that will let you click photos first and focus later. CEO and founder Dr. Ren Ng says: “Lytro is introducing Camera 3.0, a breakthrough that lets you nail your shot every time and never miss a moment.”

Essentially, this new technology features an innovative image sensor that captures the colour, intensity and direction of every light ray in the scene. Powerful algorithms then process the picture into a ‘light field’ image file. Anyone can interact with this image, without needing special software – just click any part of the photo and it will focus on that.

“This breakthrough technology will make conventional digital cameras obsolete. It has to be seen to be believed,” said investor Marc Andreessen.

You can check out the results of Lytro’s technology in their image gallery or the videos below.