1. A method for producing an extended depth of field image of an object, comprising the steps of: (a) deforming an optical wave front of light from the object to produce modified light, such that a point spread function (PSF) of an imaging system used to collect the modified light is substantially invariant across the extended depth of field; (b) dispersing the modified light, producing dispersed light; (c) focusing the dispersed light to produce at least one dispersed image, the dispersed image being formed by light simultaneously collected from a plurality of different focal planes in the extended depth of field; (d) detecting the dispersed image of the object to generate image data; and (e) processing the image data to reduce artifacts introduced by deforming the optical wave front, to produce the extended depth of field image of the object.