Though Nokia garners a lot of headlines for the camera hardware present in its smartphones, the company also devotes a lot of time and energy to improving its camera software. Late in October, during the launch of the 6-inch Lumia 1520, Nokia showed off Refocus, an application that allows users to play around with the point of focus in a photograph after the image has been captured. Previously only available on the Lumia 1520, Nokia today announced that Refocus is now available for all Lumia PureView phones.
Using the app is as simple as focusing on the object that’s closest to you and tapping your screen once that object is in focus. Your phone will take a series of 5-megapixel photos (between two and eight), merging them to create a single image with many different points of focus. Capturing one of these photos takes a few seconds (and yes, you have to try and keep your shaky hands in check) but the end result is similar to what you get with Lytro’s light field camera. Except you don’t have to drop $400 on new hardware to get it. Pretty neat stuff.
Refocus is available for the Lumia 920, 925, 928, and 1020 and if you don’t have a Nokia device, you can play with one of their own Refocus’ed images in a web browser.
[source]Nokia[/source][via]Nokia Conversations[/via]
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