Got Lytro? Anyone? The world’s first pro-level light field camera

New horizons for serious and creative photographers.
Wondering if every brand is to follow this;

> > > LINK < < <

LINK to Clips of effect

Interesting concept to say the least.

OK, it's an advancement on the old model, but (IMO) it is a long, long way from moving from a gimmick for gadget freaks and being a "pro" camera. They are still avoiding mentioning all the downsides, such as the fixed (cannot be stopped down) f/2 aperture and the low resolution. They talk about a 40 megaray sensor, to brush around the fact of only being the equivalent of around 4mp of detail.

Like the old one, it will produce fun images for people to fiddle around with when viewed digitally. It isn't even close to replacing DSLRs for serious photography, or even compact cameras.

I would rather have a 23mp DSLR and focus correctly, and set the DOF, when I take the shot, than have a 4mp camera that lets me set them later. I think most pros would be the same.

People have been touting gimmicky cameras for decades, saying they will be the standard of the future and replace SLRs. They have all disappeared. I don't see the Lytro as the shape of things to come, in terms of pro gear.

I won't be remotely surprised if the general concept of how they function becomes a commonplace sensor technology sometime in the not extreme, but still not exceptionally near, future. I am however very happy with how our current sensors function, and won't be holding my breath for a Lytro style sensor.

Luckless wrote in post #17046706
I won't be remotely surprised if the general concept of how they function becomes a commonplace sensor technology sometime in the not extreme, but still not exceptionally near, future. I am however very happy with how our current sensors function, and won't be holding my breath for a Lytro style sensor.

Oh, I can see it becoming popular amongst point and shoot enthusiasts who share their work online. But the technical difficulties mean that it will be almost impossible to come up with a practical version to replace DSLRs.

On a sunny day, using sunny 16 and the illums f/2 lens and lowest available ISO of 80, you should need around 1/5000th second shutter speed for correct exposure. The illum only goes to 1/4000th, so you will be exposing to the right, on a sunny day, whether you want to or not. What do you do if you want to use a slower shutter speed though? For action photography, you often want to use slow speeds to show speed or blur props on aircraft. OK, you can use a ND filter but to get down to 1/80th to freeze helicopter blades will need a 6 stop ND and that will make it damn hard to see what you are doing.

In addition, the way the sensor works makes it necessary to be low resolution, just 4mp with the illum, and rules out high ISO (Lytro haven't published the ISO range in the specs, but when pushed they said it is 80-3200). Now, those numbers are a long way behind current DSLRs. I am sure they will improve over time, but so will conventional sensors. Lightfield sensors will always lag significantly behind.

In addition, the focus isn't infinitely adjustable later, it relies on a number of possible images and selects the one nearest, I believe, so you do actually still need to focus on your subject (the camera has region AF). Although you can pick anywhere to focus later, it isn't always perfectly sharp, and can be quite soft on occasions from what I have seen.

If you want a deeper DOF than f/2 will provide (assuming we are still interested in making prints and not just viewing on facebook) then that involves a form of focus stacking operation in software, where it takes all the available versions, selects the sharpest parts of each and combines them to give you the DOF you want. I have seen very few examples of deep DOF images from a lytro and they were never quite convincing as each sharp plane of focus has a little shallower DOF between it and the next one. So several sharp planes with slight softness between them, rather than one sharp plane gradually getting softer fore and aft.

Because most of the issues are inherent in the concept, I can't see it becoming the replacement system for cameras bought by those who want to shoot still images as serious photography. No aperture control, so tricky shutter speed control if you want slow speeds, no high ISO and having to create your DOF for every image in software, rather than simply setting the right aperture when you shoot will be very time consuming.

I can see that it will appeal to many people, particularly those who only ever put there work online or view on computers or tablets, but I think Lytro are kidding themselves when they call the Illum a "pro-level" camera. I do see it possibly becoming common in mobile phones however and I believe Apple are working on it.

I just bought the version 1. I figure for $100, I can get a jump start on what will replace the DSLR in the next decade....well according to lytro's CEO. http://lightfield-forum.com …slr-eventually/#more-8649

http://www.ebay.com …&var=&hash=item​43cc9b3024

snake0ape wrote in post #17067833
I just bought the version 1. I figure for $100, I can get a jump start on what will replace the DSLR in the next decade....well according to lytro's CEO. http://lightfield-forum.com …slr-eventually/#more-8649

http://www.ebay.com …&var=&hash=item​43cc9b3024

Please share your first hand feel and experience with it in due time. Love to hear some unbiased info.