>> I'll get excited when they release a holographic camera. (Which, I
>> would like to point out, is *totally* plausible.)
>
> yes, holography is exactly what I thought of (the "light from all
> directions" concept).
>
> Of course, holography and this focal-changing one demands a proper
> viewer too, possibly even more expensive, limited and cumbersome than
> the simple 2-frames stereographic ones they're trying and failing so
> hard to sell today.

I was surprised to discover that making a hologram is actually way, way 
easier than you might imagine.

You can make a hologram using ordinary photographic paper. To make a 
hologram rather than a normal photograph, you just need to do two 
special things:

1. Illuminate the subject with laser light.

2. Let the light reflected by the subject fall directly on the 
photographic paper. (I.e., do *not* use lenses to focus it into an image.)

When you develop the paper, if it has sufficiently fine grain to it, you 
will get a hologram. Ta-da!

So, to make a holographic camera, "all" you need to do is make a light 
sensor with very, very high spatial resolution. And similarly, a 
holographic display "just" needs to have very high spatial resolution. 
You don't need glasses or anything, it works like a normal hologram would.

(And yes, you can use a computer to render the hologram. It will take a 
stupidly long time though, I should imagine...)

I actually find myself wondering whether a LightScribe(tm) system would 
have sufficient resolution to print a hologram. It's plausible...

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