Art and Photography

Interesting new Lytro light field camera...

  • Last Updated:
  • Apr 24th, 2014 2:48 pm
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Feb 28, 2008
498 posts
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I thought the original was an interesting development in technology but a pointless device for consumers. This new one improves things to where I think it's interesting to use but only the first maybe second time around. I think they are completely going the wrong way with this technology.

I see it has having very useful and relevant applications in medical, product and architecture photography. But as a device sold marketed to general consumers...not the right direction IMO.
Deal Guru
Dec 31, 2005
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I can see the use of the camera. I have missed many a shot by being a bit out of focus (for whatever reason).
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Nov 28, 2013
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It's a fascinating concept... I'd like to see some actual images generated from the camera though. If it could generate high quality images at high resolution, it would definitely be an interesting contender, especially considering the 30-250mm f/2 lens. But the original Lytro's image quality was about on par with a camera phone.
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May 6, 2007
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Ottawa, On
Here's something I don't get, why does this camera have an AF (Auto Focus?) button on the back? Don't you just take the shot and everything else is handled in post?

On a side note, the new android camera app can do this too. It uses a second picture and some fancy software stuff to do it rather than hardware like the lytro. I've hear people say they get bad results, but my test shots seem ok. http://gigaom.com/2014/04/16/googles-do ... lens-blur/

Here's my test shot:
Image
Android lens blur demo
by da_guy2, on Flickr
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Jun 17, 2012
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This is a noob question.
What is the difference between this camera and a DSLR?
What advantages does a Lytro camera have that would justify its price?
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May 6, 2007
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gontori wrote: This is a noob question.
What is the difference between this camera and a DSLR?
What advantages does a Lytro camera have that would justify its price?
I'm not 100% sure of all the tech behind it but more or less it captures the light in a totally different way than any other camera. More or less not only does it capture which pixels are receiving light, but it can also figure out what angle the light is coming in at. This allows you to reconstruct the depth information of the picture and allows you to refocus the image in post processing.
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Jun 17, 2012
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da_guy2 wrote: I'm not 100% sure of all the tech behind it but more or less it captures the light in a totally different way than any other camera. More or less not only does it capture which pixels are receiving light, but it can also figure out what angle the light is coming in at. This allows you to reconstruct the depth information of the picture and allows you to refocus the image in post processing.
Are there any real applications for this? Like looking at the picture taken by a Lytro and say it's better for X or Y situations than a picture taken with a regular camera?
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gontori wrote: Are there any real applications for this? Like looking at the picture taken by a Lytro and say it's better for X or Y situations than a picture taken with a regular camera?
It basically lets you just shoot so that EVERYTHING is in focus, and then you can selectively pick what's in focus later. There's nothing particularly *better* about this, really, and due to the nature of the sensor it's still not great in terms of image quality (the sensor is pretty small). It's a gimmick, at best, at the moment.
projectmoonlightcafe wrote: Shoot at f/8 and use Alienskin Bokeh?
Sure, except at f/8 you're going to need some pretty long exposure times in low light.
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Oct 5, 2004
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Can't see it being used by many. What they show in the video is some weird people taking pictures of dolls and stuff...
It's a nice gimmicky camera to play around though. The price is too high for many amateur photographers to even consider it.

The technology behind it is very smart though and I can actually see bigger camera manufacturers integrating it into the future DSLR cameras.
.
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Oct 23, 2006
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^agreed. Once one of the big brand manufacturers buy them out, then let's talk.
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