While tech giant Intel's Dell Venue 8 7000 launched Tuesday has impressive features (it's the world's slimmest tablet at 6 mm), the company's RealSense 3D tech could provide a glimpse into the future of camera technologies.

The quality of high-end light-field photography is offered by the 3D technology. This could open up new possibilities for photography on mobile devices since the next generation of apps could use 3D video cams, real-time environment mapping and augmented reality programs.

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Plenoptic cameras, also called light-field cameras, brings digital photography to its limits. It even allows photographers to change the process in which captured light affects the picture.

Cameras such as the Lytro Illum are capable of taking 3D pictures that can be refocused after being captured. This it accomplishes with a specialized array of lenses.

Unlike Instagram's tilt shift effect that just blurs out parts of the picture, the new technology lets a device take a picture in multiple layers, allowing the user to modify light's effect on the different parts of the photo while preserving the quality of the image.

The RealSense 3D snapshot, which is a version of the technology and is exclusive to front facing cameras, is an array of cameras in the Venue 8 7000. It allows the tablet to create high-quality depth-of-field modifications.

The camera also lets the user accurately measure distances, both within and on the surface of the pictures, if the subject being photographed is within a range of a few yards from the lens.

"I like to think of it as an infinite number of layers you can separate out. you can do measurements, filtering, and a variety of other things," said Brian Krzanich, Intel's chief executive officer at the company's developer conference in San Francisco. 

TagsDell, Intel, Tablet, Venue 8, Photography, Light, 3D, 3d photos, 3D Videos