The Lytro Camera Revolutionizes Photography Let’s You Shoot Now, Focus Later

The Outcast Agency has just unveiled the latest and greatest in camera technology. It’s called Lytro. Lytro is the only camera in the world that isn’t concerned with focusing on anything. All this camera has to do is take a photo and save it. The rest can be done by you on a Mac – which happens to be the only supported platform at launch. Once imported, the photographer can select a point of focus anywhere on the image. It doesn’t matter where someone chooses to focus because Lytro can do it anywhere. Basically it looks like a rectangular Kaleidoscope with only has 2 buttons: 1 for zooming and one for releasing the shutter – besides the interesting product design (that comes in 3 colors) it’s really the technology that makes this camera amazing – no matter what kind of photo you take, you will always be able to adjust the focus when editing it on your computer later.

The Lytro is the only consumer camera that lets people instantly capture a scene just as they see it by recording a fundamentally richer set of data than ever before. Lytro cameras feature a light field sensor that collects the color, intensity, and the direction of every light ray flowing into the camera, capturing a scene in four dimensions. To process this additional information, Lytro cameras contain a light field engine that allows camera owners to refocus pictures directly on the camera. When the Lytro’s living pictures are shared online, the light field engine travels with each picture so anyone can interact with them on nearly any device, including web browsers, mobile phones, and tablets—without having to download special software.

Here are the most notable features that the Lytro possess: Proprietary light field science: The Lytro is the only camera that captures life in living pictures. Its innovative light field sensor captures 11 million light rays of data (or 11 megarays), including the direction of each ray, something conventional cameras don’t do. The light field engine then processes the data into a picture that is displayed in HD quality. Unparalleled speed: The Lytro’s speed ensures that people never miss a moment. It turns on instantly and has an instant shutter. With no need to auto-focus, the Lytro has no shutter delays. Low-light sensitivity: By using all of the available light in a scene, the Lytro performs well in lowlight environments without the use of a flash. Significant storage: The Lytro is available in both 8GB and 16GB models, storing 350 and 750 pictures respectively. In addition, our first camera owners will enjoy free storage for the light field pictures they’ve uploaded to Lytro.com. Seeing in 3D: Coming soon! Captured as a full light field, all pictures taken with the Lytro are inherently 3D. Special light field algorithms, available in 2012, will be applied to the light field pictures to enable viewing on any 3D display and to enable viewers to shift the perspective of the scene. Even though Lytro isn’t scheduled to launch until early next year, pre-orders have started today. Not needing to worry about focus will cost you $399 for an “electric blue” or “graphite model” with 8 GB of storage – which is enough space for 350 images. If you need more, there’s a “fire red” model with 16 GB of storage – capable of holding 750 images. Now by this point you’re probably wondering how long Lytro’s battery lasts when taking photos with infinite possibilities. To clear this up, The Tech Bulletin has been in contact with Lytro’s press and they say the camera should be able to fill up its storage on one full charge – meaning there’s no need to fret about battery life. While Lytro may not be the answer to a professional photographer’s dreams, it is certainly the start of them. After this technology runs free, the sky’s the limit for major DSLR manufacturers like Canon and Nikon – so this is just the beginning. For now, Lytro will be the world’s finest social camera and it will mark the beginning of a new image capturing generation. If you want to know about the science inside the Lytro click here