Nokia releases Refocus app for PureView-enabled Lumia phones

Nokia has finally made the Refocus application available for existing Lumia models with the PureView technology. The Lytro-style variable depth of field application will let users capture images first, going on to focus and refocus images later.

The feature was first announced at the Abu Dhabi event in October and has finally been made available for Lumia users. With Refocus, users will be able to interactively change the focus of already shot images of scenes with contrast in depth of field, like macro shots. The process of capturing an image on Refocus is slightly different. You need to focus on an object closest to you. It will look blurry but when you take your phone closer, the object becomes clearer. This will let you know it is how close you can get before taking a shot. Tap the screen to start the capturing process that will take a couple of seconds.

Focus, refocus after you’ve clicked pictures

Refocus, after all this is done, will perform a “focus sweep” and create a depth map at that time. “This new way of taking photos is a great example of computational photography. We’ve now got the ability to change a photo once it’s taken and have a photo that simply couldn’t have been taken by a traditional camera,” writes Adam Fraser on Nokia’s blog. The result will be a series of two to eight images that – depending on what’s in view – are five megapixels each at different focus. When aligned these make one image. Then you can tap on any part of the image to have it in focus with everything else in the background.

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There’s also another feature called Colour pop that was earlier a part of previous Nokia apps such as Nokia Creative Studio. Colour pop is now a part of Nokia Refocus too. You can select the dropper icon on the right of the viewfinder to initialise the feature. Tap on the screen where you want to focus and you’ll see that the colour in that particular section remains the same while everything else is black and white with a slight adjust in the contrast.

Sharing is also another key point Nokia Refocus has tried to address. The image is initially uploaded to SkyDrive and a unique page is created on the Refocus website. You can share the image using email, SMS and Facebook. Your friends will not just be able to see the photo you’ve taken but also interact with and refocus the picture from your Facebook News Feed.

The Nokia Refocus app is available for the Pure-View enabled Nokia Lumia 920, Lumia 925, Lumia 928 and Lumia 1020, with Amber installed, on the Windows Phone store. It will also be available for the new Lumia 1520.