5 things to know about the Lytro Light Field Camera

5 things to know about the Lytro Light Field Camera

The world of digital photography and imaging is about to change in a big way

BY JEFFREY BAUSCH

There’s plenty of online chatter going on right now about camera maker Lytro and their new light field camera. Photo-savvy folks are excited to hear about the camera’s ability to capture images without having to worry about things like focus, lighting, shutter speed, exposure, etc. Others are wondering what exactly a light field is and what’s so special about this quirky-looking new device.

Credit: Lytro

If you’re part of the second group, here are five things you need to know about light field photography, and why the Lytro light field camera will soon have everyone looking at digital photography and imaging in a whole new light.

#1: The ability to capture an entire light field is a pretty big deal

The Lytro camera uses a powerful 8x optical zoom lens, which features a constant f/2 aperture, and a uniquely designed light field sensor to capture all aspects of every light ray in the image field, including its color, intensity, and direction. In fact, and this is according to the manufacturer, the Lytro light field camera can capture a whopping 11 million light rays of data! The camera’s light field engine then processes all of this data for top-notch, HD-quality images.

For comparison’s sake, when standard cameras take a picture, they add up the light rays in a light field and record them as a single plane of light. The Lytro camera is actually providing users with a truer sense of how a scene actually appears.

#2: You – or anyone – can re-focus the picture later on

Don’t you just hate it when you take a picture and everything’s out of focus? You have to round everyone up again to try and re-capture the moment. It can be quite trying.

The Lytro light field camera does away with this issue. Since it records all of the light field’s attributes, you can re-focus the image later on, whether it is on the camera itself, online, or from your PC. And it’s not just you who can do this. All of the data in the image is available for anyone to adjust, so friends and family can interact with these photos on their personal devices, too, whether it’s on a Web browser, mobile phone, or tablet.

#3: A lot of the main components found in a standard camera have been replaced with software

This is what allows for all of these never-before-seen capabilities. The camera’s software uses special algorithms to capture the entire light field which, in turn,allows for all of these exciting new ways to make and view pictures.

The software improves the camera’s performance, too. There are no unnecessary modes or dials, and the camera features just two buttons – power and shutter. And speaking of shutter, there’s no shutter lag with this camera. Since it’s a software-based device, it’s ready to take photos the instant it gets activated.

#4: Amazing low light sensitivity

This camera is so effective at capturing light that it actually records enough data to provide high-quality images in low-light situations. In fact, the makers of this camera so believe this to be the case that they encourage users to not worry about having to use a flash in low light situations.

#5: It can produce 3D images (just not yet)

When you capture an entire light field, the image is fundamentally three dimensional. Special algorithms are being fine-tuned right now and will be made available in 2012, at which point they can be applied to light field pictures for 3D view/display. These algorithms will also give users the ability to shift the perspective of the image as they see fit.

Interested?

The Lytro light field camera is available in two models (8GB or 16GB – that’s 350 or 750 photos) and three colors. It starts at $399. The company began taking pre-orders this week with the expectation that shipments will go out early 2012.■