I present to you today a somewhat special camera, it is a plenoptic camera. Plenoptic cameras are not widely known to the general public and therefore not very widespread. It was until then mainly because of the price of these. However this Lytro (even if it remains a little expensive) has a general public objective.
What is a plenoptic optic?
This name scares you, I feel it, but when you understand what this kind of optics can do, this fear will quickly turn into wonder. Let’s see what Wikipedia tells us :
A plenoptic camera , is a digital camera which uses a matrix of micro-objectives which make it possible to record the 4D information of a luminous flux.
This optic is in fact capable of capturing the entire light field of an image. In other words, the photographer can change the focus after taking his photo. And this is powerful!
Let’s talk about this Lytro Field
On the Lytro it is the Perspective Shift option which allows you to interactively change the angle of view of your photos , even after taking them. A talking example below (click to focus):
To process the photos taken by this lens, you must go through dedicated software (the output files are of the .lfp: Light Field Picture type) called Lytro. This software will allow you to rework, sort and share them. It is also possible to connect the Lytro via wifi to your smartphone using the Lytro Mobile application like the Sony QX10 for example. Unfortunately (and this is a big black spot) this application is only available on iOS. The Lytro is also on sale directly on the Apple Store. This Apple exclusivity for the application is a temporary constraint that we hope! The Lytro also has a small touch screen on the back to view the socket and access the options.
Technical characteristics
- Shutter speed up to 1/250.
- Sensitivity : from 800 to 3200 ISO.
- Constant aperture fixed at f / 2.0.
- 8x optical zoom.
- Photo in 1080 * 1080.
- 16 GB of storage space.
- Wifi to connect it to a smartphone through the Lytro Mobile application.
This type of camera opens up really interesting new perspectives and we can’t wait to test it all. Imagine that we can miniaturize the optics and integrate it into our smartphones, it would be incredible! What do you think ?
Price : $ 499 (€ 362) for the 16GB version and $ 399 (€ 290) for the 8GB.
