I was recently pointed to a Popular Science web site on a prototype camera developed by Adobe called the Light-Field Camera. This camera provide 19 Depth of Field Options for each photo taken. With Adobe software you can instantly view one image with different depths of field or combinations of.
Don’t get me wrong I really like new technologies, but the use of Depth of Field (DoF) is on average one of the most challenging components of photography to master. A technology like this won’t make better photographs for the majority of photographers because with out the basic understanding of DoF the image creation process is crippled. Whether you know it or not all fine art photos have a select focus point and a thoughtful selection of depth of field. Complete depth of field or variable depth of field is really only of use for select niches such as microscopy or medical imaging. Granted I think this technology would make many macro photographers happy, but I can only imagine what the lens would look like and how easily it would frighten off a subject if an insect.
Technology wise this is a very neat development and I’ll keep my eye open for it, but I’m pretty certain the application of its use is far from what the average photographer will need or support.