Quote - Depth does not transcend refraction - the depth registered would always be of the lens itself, rather than what you're seeing through the lens.

Ah, good point.  Thanks for the reply.

Maybe another way would be a camera with a lens capturing a greyscale image, combined with a large panel light that had a falloff, which based on the brightness of what it hit, could simulate the depth of the object in the image...?  Perhaps then varying the falloff and intensity you could modify/exaggerate the depth.  Of course it would have to be like a clay-like render, to ignore the maps.