New camera allows user to snap first and focus later

Capturing the perfect picture has moved a step closer with technology that allows a photographer to focus after taking a picture.

The Lytro, a US-designed focus-less digital camera, allows photographers to snap the scene then choose what to focus on via their computer.

Using “light-field technology” the camera gathers information from every angle in its field of vision with the user later able to choose or alter the focal point.

“Shoot first, focus later. That’s right, after. You can’t miss,” the company says on its website.

Light-field technology originally involved using numerous cameras to capture light from every direction through each point in space, which a conventional camera cannot capture.

The technology was developed by Ren Ng while he was earning his PhD at Stanford University.

Ng has since adapted the technology for a single, pocket-sized point-and-shoot camera and he believes he will also be able to develop the technology to work in video cameras.

For tech-savvy entrepreneurs or anyone with a passion for good photography are there other ways in which you could improve digital media?