Cameras and photo-taking technologies have improved greatly over the last several years, but no one has yet to address the camera’s one consistent imperfection: shutter lag. Too many fleeting moments and perfect shots are missed due to finicky auto-focusing or time-consuming manual focusing.

Silicon Valley start-up Lytro is tackling the focus problem with a new innovative camera due out later this year. The camera quickly takes an out-of-focus picture, but thanks to the advanced mechanisms within the camera itself, users can adjust, sharpen, and focus any part of the photo while viewing it on a computer screen. By eliminating shutter lag, this camera ensures you never miss a perfect shot.

Developed by Ren Ng, Lytro’s founder and chief executive, the Lytro camera achieves its own version of “20/20 hindsight” by capturing more light from many more angles than what’s possible with a conventional camera. The camera’s ability to collect and combine raw light data, accomplished with a sensor called a “microlens array,” is the very heart of Lytro’s invention.

Lytro has already raised $50 million in VC funding from a number of premier investors, including major investor Andreesen Horowitz.

“We see technology companies all the time, but it’s rare that someone comes along with something that is this much of a breakthrough,” said Ben Horowitz, co-founder of Andreessen Horowitz. “It’s superexciting.”

Read more from The New York Times ^[1].