The Light L16 is a camera that takes some explanation.

From a distance, it looks like a black slate with a glossy front—the first question you may ask is, where's the lens? Take a closer look and you'll see that there are plenty of lenses on the face—16 of them, to be precise. Different lenses fire at different times to vary field of view, and in some cases resolution—but at its best the camera captures 52-megapixel images (with Raw capture available), and 4K (but only from a single lens).

The L16 is currently in the prototype phase, so some things may change before its Spring 2016 launch date. I sat down with Dr. Rajiv Laroia, co-founder and CTO of Light, to discuss the product and the the technology that makes it possible. Unfortunately we didn't have a working unit on hand—I saw a physical mockup and an early prototype camera that needs to spend some time at a troubleshooting bench to get shooting again. Spring runs through June, technically, so Light has about 8 months to get everything in order for an on-time L16 launch.

The L16 uses lenses and sensors designed with technology developed for the smartphone industry. Molded plastic lenses allow for optics to be inexpensive, but still sharp enough to pair with 13-megapixel 1/3.2-inch CMOS image sensors—the same type you'll find in a phone or tablet. Of the 16 lenses, 5 cover a 35mm (full-frame equivalent) field of view, another 5 are 70mm, and the final 6 are 150mm.

The lens and sensor modules are placed nearly flat into a slim camera body, with mirrors used to direct light into them. They're scattered about the body in a way that allows the camera to take advantage of parallax to capture a scene from slightly different perspectives, which also allows for variable control over depth of field—even after an image is captured when using the software that the company will supply with the camera. There are also plans to extend this capability to Photoshop using a plug-in—Raw images are saved in Adobe's DNG format.

To capture an image at the 35mm field of view, the L16 utilizes ten lenses and sensors. Each of the 35mm lenses fires, capturing the geometry of the scene. The actual image is made using the 70mm lenses. Picture the frame being broken into quadrants, with one lens covering each quarter, and the fifth capturing data from dead center, partially overlapping each quadrant. Photos are stitched together (seamlessly, thanks to the wide-angle shots capturing the geometry), resulting in a 52-megapixel image.

Shooting at 70mm works in a similar fashion, only with the 70mm lenses creating the wide field of view and the 150mm used to stitch together the image. In-between focal lengths are also available—but at a reduced resolution. Shooting at 50mm gives you a 40-megapixel image, but Laroia states that, due to the way that light is concentrated at this focal length, noise is reduced.

There are some other tricks that the multiple lens system allows. If you're shooting a scene with mixed lighting levels, different lenses can capture images with different exposure values—that allows for HDR photos to be captured in a single instant. Laroia is also working to incorporate lenses without color filter arrays into the design. Not every sensor needs to capture images in color to create a color image thanks to the multi-lens design. And eliminating the CFA improves sharpness and increases light-gathering capability by a factor of three.

Light states that its surveys of consumers who have purchased in SLRs show that many—as much as half—have stopped using them on a regular basis. They plan on eventually targeting these consumers with a product like the L16—something that promises to deliver superior image quality, the versatility of various focal lengths, and a compact design.

Laroia sees the potential for many uses of this tech in the future. A tablet with a field of view matching 600mm, for instance, and he expects technology partner Foxconn to incorporate the tech into smartphones. But as for now, the Light L16 isn't a product aimed at the mass market. At $1,699, it's decidedly niche, aimed at photo enthusiasts and early tech adopters. If you want to save some money, and are willing to take a gamble on the tech, you can pre-order through November 6th for $1,299, with a $199 deposit due at the time of order.

We'll hold off on deciding whether the Light L16 fulfills its promise and potential until we get to test one in the real world and in our lab. It's one of the more intriguing designs I've seen come to market, and early sample images look pretty good on a computer screen. But we won't know for sure until the models are rolling off the production line.