(February 9, 2012) -- Lytro, a company founded due to the inconvenient frustration of unfocused photos, aims to revolutionize the camera industry with their new Lytro camera.

The Lytro plenoptic camera uses light-field technology to eliminate the necessity to focus a photo. Pictures taken with the camera allow the user to manipulate the area of focus at will. If, for example, you initially capture a photo that is focused in the background, a click or touch on the area you desire would adjust the focus to the foreground.

Founder Ren Ng nicknamed the results of the camera “living pictures” due to its interactivity. The company has also mentioned in a separate press release that its technology would easily be ported to professional DSLRs. Lytro also plans to port its technology into more consumer friendly point-and-shoot cameras.

Although Lytro is the first company to bring light-field cameras to consumers, the concept of wanting to snap a picture without worrying about it being unfocused is nothing new.

As sophomore Hunter Sandmeyer reviewed his completed alphabet project for Photography 1-2, he was “devastated” to learn that several of his photos were out of focus. “I didn’t know where I took some of them, so I spent my entire enrichment composing and re-taking the pictures,” he said.

While the technology behind the Lytro camera has been in development for years, it essentially works as such: Upon taking the photograph, the Lytro camera utilizes its matrix of individual tiny lenses to capture the data of reflecting light in the scene its facing. The image data is then saved to the camera and compiled into a single photo.

One does not have to look far to see the potential usefulness of Lytro’s technology. Using the light-field to capture images will quickly become the standard for camera manufacturers, transitioning the industry into one with a few less flaws. Lytro will simply be the first to make the technology consumer friendly with their camera, set to release later this month for $399.