Startup company K-Lens has developed a lens, based on a research project from the Max Planck Institute for Informatics and Saarland University, that allows photographers to benefit from the advantages of 3D technology using their existing equipment.

The technology offers complete control over focus and blur, fully automatic segmentation, depth-based segmentation, perspective change, 3D images, and complete access to the depth planes of the recorded image.

"The innovation of our lens is that it's compatible with today's technical standards and can, therefore, be used with any camera," said Matthias Schmitz, founder and CEO of K-Lens.

New effects such as focus and blur within the same image plane can also be realized with the K-Lens. The startup company will also supply the software for achieving these postprocessing effects.

The lens is expected to have a size similar to standard hand-held zoom lenses. Its core component, the Image Multiplier, is a system of mirrors that produces different perspectives of the same scene, much like a kaleidoscope, which are then simultaneously projected onto the camera sensor. Software developed by K-Lens then generates the light-field image.