If you're a keen photographer, you may well have some beautiful cameras that shoot onto film rather than record ... In order to get a digital camera into such as small space, some compromises ...

Imagine a film cartridge with attached sensor, the idea went, which you could just drop into your trusty SLR and continue shooting digital ... at the focal plane in a camera designed for film.

The promised technology enables any standard 2D camera – such as those on smartphones, laptops or cars – to morph into 3D cameras that seamlessly merge the physical and digital world.