Projection Plane Photography Challenged

Digital and film are the same, at least as we know them today, and differ only in one small detail - the image capture device. Both use a lens to project an image on a planar surface and then that image is captured as a charge. In film, the charge is a precursor to a chemical reaction. In digital, the charge is a precursor to generating an electrical signal. Otherwise it's pretty much the same process, and very lens-dependent, which is why lens prices continue to climb.

And while this new technology still uses a lot of the language and technique, including lenses, that look like our familiar projection plane photography, it really has more in common with holography, or optical coherence domain reflectometry, confocal imaging, phased array imaging, synthetic aperture, and lenticular array imaging techniques brought together in a more conventional format so you can take "a picture" that is a file that can be read and reprocessed in many different ways, sometimes simultaneously.

Do not overlook this innovation, which will impact displays as well as capture devices on all of our appliances, and eventually back onto planes, such as paper. It's cool and frightening at the same time, as we enter a period of highly accelerated change, unprecedented in human history.