Light-Field Microscopy with a Consumer Light-Field Camera

We explore the use of inexpensive consumer light-field camera technology for the purpose of light-field microscopy. Our experiments are based on the Lytro (first generation) camera. Unfortunately, the optical systems of the Lytro and those of microscopes are not compatible, leading to a loss of light-field information due to angular and spatial vignetting when directly recording microscopic pictures. We therefore consider an adaptation of the Lytro optical system. We demonstrate that using the Lytro directly as an ocular replacement, leads to unacceptable spatial vignetting. However, we also found a setting that allows the use of the Lytro camera in a virtual imaging mode which prevents the information loss to a large extent. We analyze the new virtual imaging mode and use it in two different setups for implementing light-field microscopy using a Lytro camera. As a practical result, we show that the camera can be used for low magnification work, as e.g. Common in quality control, surface characterization, etc. We achieve a maximum spatial resolution of about 6.25μm, albeit at a limited SNR for the side views.