Adaptive DOF for plenoptic cameras

Plenoptic cameras promise to provide arbitrary re-focusing through a scene after the capture. In practice, however, the refocusing range is limited by the depth of field (DOF) of the plenoptic camera. For the focused plenoptic camera, this range is given by the range of object distances for which the microimages are in focus. We propose a technique of recording light fields with an adaptive depth of focus. Between multiple exposures { or multiple recordings of the light field { the distance between the microlens array (MLA) and the image sensor is adjusted. The depth and quality of focus is chosen by changing the number of exposures and the spacing of the MLA movements. In contrast to traditional cameras, extending the DOF does not necessarily lead to an all-in-focus image. Instead, the refocus range is extended. There is full creative control about the focus depth; images with shallow or selective focus can be generated.