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Archive 2014 · Lytro Illum - everyone here should see this.

  
 
martinezphoto
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p.1 #1 · p.1 #1 · Lytro Illum - everyone here should see this.


http://www.theverge.com/2014/4/22/5625264/lytro-changed-photography-meet-the-new-illum-camera


"Light-field photography has been discussed since the 1990s, beginning largely with three Stanford professors, Marc Levoy, Mark Horowitz, and Pat Hanrahan. (The term "light field" was first coined in 1936, and Gabriel Lippmann created something like a light-field camera in 1908, though he didn’t have a name for it.) Instead of measuring color and intensity of light as it hits a sensor in a camera, light-field cameras pass that light through a series of lenses (hundreds of thousands in Lytro’s case), which allows the camera to record the direction each ray of light is moving. Understanding light’s direction makes it possible to measure how far away the source of that light is. So where a traditional camera captures a 2D version of a scene, a light-field shot knows where everything in that scene actually is. A processor turns that data into a 3D model like any you’d see in a video game or special effect, and Lytro displays it as a photograph. It’s a little bit like the small bots in Prometheus, spatially mapping an entire room in order to display it back later. Or think of it as a rudimentary holodeck, projecting a simulated scene that changes as you move through and interact with it.

Lytro didn’t invent the science, just found a way to turn the required technology — which was once made up of 100 DSLRs in a rack at Stanford — into a product you can hold in your hands.

As I sit on a couch in the middle of Lytro’s office, alternately taking photos and seeing them displayed in 3D on a large TV, it becomes clear. This is the future. Not the Illum, necessarily, though it’s one of the more exciting cameras I’ve seen in a while. Maybe not even Lytro, though it’s built a huge lead in its nascent industry. But light-field photography — the notion that the future is about turning the complex physical parts of a camera into software and algorithms, that capturing beautiful photos is little more than a data-crunching problem — seems almost obvious. Why capture one photo, from one angle, with one perspective, when we could capture everything? When I can explore a photo, zooming and panning and focusing and shifting, why would I ever want to just look at it?"



This could be a revolutionary step in photography.



Apr 22, 2014 at 09:22 AM
r2studios
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p.1 #2 · p.1 #2 · Lytro Illum - everyone here should see this.


Hey Mark, thanks for sharing.

It's already revolutionary! It's future success will depend on how much market traction they get and how simple the camera will be to use.

It will be interesting to see what direction the market shifts to. There's a lot of competition for the same dollar at multiple segments of the camera/photography market.



Apr 22, 2014 at 10:07 AM
phillip ino
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p.1 #3 · p.1 #3 · Lytro Illum - everyone here should see this.


In my opinion, it's hard to market something to the masses when you take, what I consider to be, the fun out of making pictures. It dampens our vision and the drive to achieve that vision through the science and art of photography.


Apr 22, 2014 at 10:20 AM
Scott Mosher
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p.1 #4 · p.1 #4 · Lytro Illum - everyone here should see this.


Interesting. I'd love to get my hands on it and play with it.


Apr 22, 2014 at 10:36 AM
curious80
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p.1 #5 · p.1 #5 · Lytro Illum - everyone here should see this.


Well light-field aside, the fact that it has a constant f2 30-250mm lens with a 1-inch sensor makes it the most versatile "point and shoot" in the market!


Apr 22, 2014 at 10:46 AM
r2studios
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p.1 #6 · p.1 #6 · Lytro Illum - everyone here should see this.


Whether we like it or not, this is just the evolution of the point and shoot and further dumbing down of photography.

With that said, I, like Scott, wouldn't mind getting my hands on it just to see what it's all about!

phillip ino wrote:
In my opinion, it's hard to market something to the masses when you take, what I consider to be, the fun out of making pictures. It dampens our vision and the drive to achieve that vision through the science and art of photography.




Apr 22, 2014 at 10:53 AM
hardlyboring
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p.1 #7 · p.1 #7 · Lytro Illum - everyone here should see this.


Call me old fashion but this thing is so far from any camera I would ever want to use its a joke.
When I go out to shoot I want an easy straightforward device that does not hinder my experience with my subject. I love my new Sony camera with all the adapters and tilt screen and all the fancy gadgets but it is my LEAST favorite camera to shoot with. I only have one because my wedding work dictates it. 99% of the time my M6 and 35 is hung around my neck. I can shoot and walk away from the shot not worrying about anything.
The new technology is cool but quite frankly it is ruining the experience of actually taking a photo. We no longer have to think about much of anything. We can take 80000 frames for free and sort it all out later. Kind of sad IMO.
Also cameras without viewfinders are ridiculous. Cool on a tech level but for actually making photos I would say it would def. hinder my creative process.



Apr 22, 2014 at 10:59 AM
curious80
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p.1 #8 · p.1 #8 · Lytro Illum - everyone here should see this.


hardlyboring wrote:
Call me old fashion but this thing is so far from any camera I would ever want to use its a joke.
When I go out to shoot I want an easy straightforward device that does not hinder my experience with my subject. I love my new Sony camera with all the adapters and tilt screen and all the fancy gadgets but it is my LEAST favorite camera to shoot with. I only have one because my wedding work dictates it. 99% of the time my M6 and 35 is hung around my neck. I can shoot and walk away
...Show more

Creating art requires the artistic vision no matter what the technology. For a long while photography was not considered art by most because photographers just used "technology" to capture a scene unlike an artist meticulously visualizing and creating his masterpiece one brush stroke at a time. Today many brilliant artists use all types of digital technologies and don't let these superficial concerns worry them. In the same way many new artists will find creative uses of technologies like lytro delivering unique pieces of art even while other might wonder about how "pure" it is.


[
Also cameras without viewfinders are ridiculous. Cool on a tech level but for actually making photos I would say it would def. hinder my creative process.


I find that composing with the LCD provides more creative potential compared to composing with the OVF because it does not require you to hide behind the camera. You could interact with a subject in front of you and/or look at the entire scene. In my opinion the idea that the OVF is somehow superior to LCD from a creative point of view is just borne out of years of conditioning where LCDs were associated with point and shoots and OVF with DSLRs. Large format cameras didn't have any TTL OVFs for example.



Apr 22, 2014 at 11:19 AM
hardlyboring
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p.1 #9 · p.1 #9 · Lytro Illum - everyone here should see this.


To each his own I guess.. I find using the LCD as ridiculous as taking photos with an iPad.
The tilt screen on my Sony is cool no doubt but its just another cheapo piece of plastic to bust off accidentally.



Apr 22, 2014 at 11:59 AM
Bartlett Pair
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p.1 #10 · p.1 #10 · Lytro Illum - everyone here should see this.


curious80 wrote:
Well light-field aside, the fact that it has a constant f2 30-250mm lens with a 1-inch sensor makes it the most versatile "point and shoot" in the market!


There's got to be some catch with that lens. How can you have f2 and also such a large zoom range? Canon/Nikon haven't even gotten close to that, especially at that size/price range; so I'm suspicious.



Apr 22, 2014 at 12:06 PM
SloPhoto
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p.1 #11 · p.1 #11 · Lytro Illum - everyone here should see this.


Bartlett Pair wrote:
There's got to be some catch with that lens. How can you have f2 and also such a large zoom range? Canon/Nikon haven't even gotten close to that, especially at that size/price range; so I'm suspicious.



The Sony RX10 is not far off. Remove autofocus / moving elements / allow huge size, it should not be too hard.



Ohh and YAY, 5mp on a 1inch sensor.... why do we care again? It is still just a neat technology. (and I have been following him since his stanford days)



Apr 22, 2014 at 02:32 PM





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