Ordered a Lytro "Shoot Now Focus Later" Camera

Congratulations!

Congratulations!

Congratulations on your purchase of this miracle Lytro. The technique looks very promising and I expect some very spectacular developments in this area. The camera itself looks great, very 'Apple'-like and it really seems to be a gadget that will find its way to the greater public.

I was also pre-registered for purchase but living in Europe I was not allowed to order one - which doesn't bother me too much, because I wasn't going to do that anyway, having the following considerations:

1. The output is not jpg or raw, but an interactive proprietary Lytro format, which can't be printed but only viewed on screen.
2. The software only runs on a Mac and I have Windows.
3. Nowhere in the published docs are any detailed specifications about the shutter speed range, sensor dimension, sensitivity range, pixel equivalent count for their megarays (although in the comments they seem to have clarified that the resolution goal is 1080p), min or max field angle of the 8x optical zoom or the battery capacity.
4. The price increase of $100 for the added 8 GB I find rather steep.
5. I'm not sure, but I believe to have understood that the photos must be stored at Lytro, not on your own hardware.

Basically, I prefer to wait a little to see the future developments. Still, it would be interesting to hear from your experiences once the camera has been delivered!

Best,

Johan
 
jbr said:
Congratulations on your purchase of this miracle Lytro. The technique looks very promising and I expect some very spectacular developments in this area. The camera itself looks great, very 'Apple'-like and it really seems to be a gadget that will find its way to the greater public.

I was also pre-registered for purchase but living in Europe I was not allowed to order one - which doesn't bother me too much, because I wasn't going to do that anyway, having the following considerations:

1. The output is not jpg or raw, but an interactive proprietary Lytro format, which can't be printed but only viewed on screen.
2. The software only runs on a Mac and I have Windows.
3. Nowhere in the published docs are any detailed specifications about the shutter speed range, sensor dimension, sensitivity range, pixel equivalent count for their megarays (although in the comments they seem to have clarified that the resolution goal is 1080p), min or max field angle of the 8x optical zoom or the battery capacity.
4. The price increase of $100 for the added 8 GB I find rather steep.
5. I'm not sure, but I believe to have understood that the photos must be stored at Lytro, not on your own hardware.

Basically, I prefer to wait a little to see the future developments. Still, it would be interesting to hear from your experiences once the camera has been delivered!

Best,

Johan
Click to expand...



Shoot now, focus later- and can only be run on a MAC. By summer 2012, every hipster you see will be carrying one 🙄
 
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Low light capabilities

Low light capabilities

I wonder how it handles low light situations.
I would like one but I would like to see how it handles indoor lighting.
 
I'd be surprised if this camera has much appeal to serious, or even half serious, photographers, at this point in the technology's development. It's a first cut.

Debuting in the consumer market makes sense. I can see specific uses of the technology in several other areas.

But, if this can be adapted to cell phones, then these folks may really be in for a ride.
 
Is Lytro just a gimmick?

Is Lytro just a gimmick?

lytro could be just a cutesy toy, or it may well be a major brake through.
I am not concerned about it's ability because it comes with a 30 day return warranty.
They do say strangely, that I can not buy it for resale.
I suppose they can control it's owner because some of it's processing is on their cloud.
That does not concern me either because this is the way of all future software.
The bottom line is I am agreeing to becoming a beta Lytro user, sounds like fun.
The best part for me is I’m very interested in it's 3D capability.

 
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I have heard of this technology forthcoming, but did not really understand how it would work, or type of device. this is very interesting for the photo gear world, we'll see if CanNikon will adopt it as well. I mean, if you are not an experienced photographer, its pretty easy to get good images with auto-focus these days. I'm not sure how this will affect a cost/benefit ratio for CanNikon to sell thousands of these.

I agree, "whatever", will be interesting to see if these images are any more 3D than what we are using already.
 
macs = fail

ergo

anything that runs only on mac = fail

oh and Im not at all interested in outsourcing computer power to process images. I have, at times for extended periods, rented out servers to borrow computer power but I had a contract, owned all of my own data and could, if I really wanted to, port over to my personal computer and just do things more slowly.

this looks like a cool toy and I was excited to try one. guess now I'll put that money towards a rigid cron or something.
 
I'm waiting next model "Shoot now, compose later" that will allow in post choose motif, place, people, objects and add framing and focus. 😀
 
whatever said:

They do say strangely, that I can not buy it for resale.
I suppose they can control it's owner because some of it's processing is on their cloud.
That does not concern me either because this is the way of all future software.
Click to expand...

... if all future software processing is in the "cloud" there will be some huge security / copyright ownership problems having to be solved first.
 
redisburning said:
macs = fail

ergo

anything that runs only on mac = fail

oh and Im not at all interested in outsourcing computer power to process images. I have, at times for extended periods, rented out servers to borrow computer power but I had a contract, owned all of my own data and could, if I really wanted to, port over to my personal computer and just do things more slowly.

this looks like a cool toy and I was excited to try one. guess now I'll put that money towards a rigid cron or something.
Click to expand...


Their website says: "A Windows application is in development."
 
Keith said:
I'm amazed at how little interest this is generating at RFF! 😀
Click to expand...

It's interesting that there's little interest in the technology and a lot of rejection of the implementation of that technology -- the camera -- apparently because it doesn't hold to the traditionalist preferences of many RFF'ers.

That's more than fair. They are a dead cinch not to bring out a rangefinder or a series of M-lenses.

The technology fascinates me for two reasons. First. the shifting focus bit. A photo is data, however captured and processed. We have the computational resources to manipulate digital data in ways impossible with chemical processing.

Second, the use of computing power in the "cloud" to do things that consumer computers cannot, yet, manage. Privacy issues are certainly associated with that. But, the cloud is little more than a new name for a big collection of servers. We've all been leaving data tracks everywhere for years. While companies are trying to get you to buy into their "clouds", remember that they all exist in that big weather system called the internet.
 
maddoc said:
... if all future software processing is in the "cloud" there will be some huge security / copyright ownership problems having to be solved first.
Click to expand...

That's my feeling, and I can't help feeling (at the risk of straying into politics) that this is part of what OWS is about. How much of our lives are we willing to hand over to corporations with proprietary technologies?

Some will, some won't. I suspect (on no very strong evidence) that those who won't will gain the upper hand, and that in any case, technologies like this are another Nimslo.

Cheers,

R.
 
http://lytro.zendesk.com/entries/20558091-how-does-the-lytro-camera-work#overview

Not much detail on how it works.

It would be great technology for a surveillance camera. Go back through time-stamped images, pull out anything suspicious. Get it in focus.

Nimslo was "19th century negatives" and 1950s plastic prisms. This one looks different. It does not use Holographic Liquid Crystal technology. That was 1990's.
 
Roger Hicks said:
That's my feeling, and I can't help feeling (at the risk of straying into politics) that this is part of what OWS is about. How much of our lives are we willing to hand over to corporations with proprietary technologies?

Some will, some won't. I suspect (on no very strong evidence) that those who won't will gain the upper hand, and that in any case, technologies like this are another Nimslo.

Cheers,

R.
Click to expand...


Roger, on one hand, I don't expect this camera to be any more popular with consumers than stereo/3D cameras. I do, though, think high-end models are going to be marketed into the security, intelligence, and other areas. It might also be useful in astronomy, which already deploys a lot of computational power.

On the other. I wouldn't be surprised to see this rolled out in cell phones. Useful or not to the average person, it would help sell phones. So much so, in fact, that the real intended target for this roll out might well be Apple.

For what it's worth, my take on the OWS movement here is that it is less fueled by animosity toward corporate privacy invasions -- it's organized by phone and Facebook -- as it is hostility toward perceived rigging of the game in favor of a tiny elite and the political process they corrupt. (I saw a report this week that real wages in the U.S. have not increased in 50 years.)
 
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