https://www.lytro.com/science_inside

how it works (pdf)

https://www.lytro.com/renng-thesis.pdf

This is rather old actually and AFAIR was posted in the Lounge several months ago already

On-topic: I'd like to see some actual resolution on that puppy and it'd be safe to say it's a gamechanger in professional photography (as in, it would actually devalue certain types of photography immensely).

Really depends on how accurate it is, the resolution available, the size/power consumption of it, and most importantly the lenses you can use with it. If a traditional DSLR is going to out preform in these areas, then there will be very little reason for decent photographers to switch for most things. Playing with depth of field is something you easily do while composing your photo in the first place.

I dont think the first generation resolution will matter (i've heard its 1024x1024), it is a revolution though. Essentially it captures a holographic projection of the scene which will allow people in the future to recreate it. It also does what Kinetc does as well, captures the scene 3D information, except it doesn't need 2 cameras and an IR projector..

-ddn