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Original poster
Apr 12, 2001
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The Lytro Light Field Camera, which was released in late 2011, is designed to capture refocusable images, allowing the perspective of the picture to be changed at will. Today Lytro announced that it has turned on a hidden Wi-Fi feature in the camera to go alongside the release of a new Lytro app.

lytrocamera.jpg
Pssst. We're letting you in on a little secret. That Lytro camera you own has a little wireless chip inside. And, as of today, we are turning it on for the first time to give you a great new capability - wireless uploading and sharing!

Introducing the Lytro Mobile app. If you own an iPhone, iPad or iPod touch device, you can now experience and share light field pictures on the go. The app communicates with your Lytro camera, whose wireless capabilities can be activated with a free software update, and lets you preview and upload pictures to Lytro.com using either a cellular or Wi-Fi network.
With the Lytro app, Lytro users can wirelessly upload images taken with the camera to share, while non-Lytro users can explore the device's Perspective Shift functionality. Pictures from the app can be shared to Lytro.com, Facebook, or Twitter, and living pictures can be saved to the camera roll as animated GIFs.

Lytro owners can activate the new Wi-Fi functionality through a firmware update.

Lytro is an iPhone-only app that can be downloaded from the App Store for free. [Direct Link]

Article Link: Lytro Camera Gets Wi-Fi Capabilities, New Lytro Mobile App
 

filmantopia

macrumors 6502a
Feb 5, 2010
857
2,435
Clever technology, but this camera a such an epic flop.

Pretty sure the reception has been on par with their expectations. It's not like they are clueless that it can be a lengthy and iterative process to introduce the world to a new technology. I think they'll be just fine.

I wonder if a cellphone-maker like Apple will buy them out eventually.
 

darkslide29

macrumors 68000
Oct 5, 2011
1,860
886
San Francisco, California
Cool update. But at $399, I just can't do it.
I'm not saying it's not worth $400, I have no idea.. It's just way more than I'd be willing to invest in a very niche, cool but almost gimmicky, product.

$200, and who knows, I might pull the trigger.

I must sound cheap, since a decent point and shoot camera can easily cost more than $200...
 

Imhotep397

macrumors 6502
Jul 22, 2002
350
37
They need to improve low light exposure and have options to capture larger resolution images...it's kind of frustrating that this hasn't happened yet.
 

fertilized-egg

macrumors 68020
Dec 18, 2009
2,109
57
It's a neat technology but the reality of physics is just stacked against Lytro being a successful major commercial product. It needs a larger and more powerful sensor to be useful since the depth of field with that small sensor is just too deep and that limits its usefulness.

I wish it had a resolution comparable to other point and shoots, then I'd definitely consider it.

Getting all the extra information takes too much processing power and a severe reduction in resolution. It'll probably be a while before there's enough pixel density along with cheap enough processing power to make a high resolution Lytro viable.
 

57004

Cancelled
Aug 18, 2005
1,022
341
Wow kudos to them. That is some upgrade to an existing product.

That's like Apple coming around and saying "Oh hey, that iPhone we sold you 2 years ago, it now has built in FM Radio!". In fact Apple could actually do this, because some iPhones have had a bluetooth chip that can do exactly that.

Apple just haven't bothered doing it. Lytro have, and I respect that. I'd almost buy one :) But it's not a product that interests me.
 

Liquorpuki

macrumors 68020
Jun 18, 2009
2,286
8
City of Angels
They need to improve low light exposure and have options to capture larger resolution images...it's kind of frustrating that this hasn't happened yet.

They shouldn't have used such a tiny sensor in the first place and since they did, they should've focused on upping the sensor size instead of adding connectivity.

Pelican is gonna end up pushing Lytro out of the market. 8 MP image, can also do video, and already partnered with Nokia to put it on smartphones. Instead of standalone kaleidoscope looking devices
 

BoxBrownie

macrumors newbie
Jun 19, 2013
23
0
Way to expensive considering I have an iPhone which takes really nice pictures already. If it was 50 bucks, definitely.
 

Sol

macrumors 68000
Jan 14, 2003
1,564
6
Australia
Wow, talk about bad timing to announce a great feature. Am I the only one a bit creeped out about a manufacturer announcing that their product has wireless capability that was kept a secret until now? Given the NSA scandal and the US government's unwarranted surveillance of everyone on the internet, it seems deceitful to sell a networkable device without making it clear to the buyer. Cool feature but it should not have been kept a secret.
 
M

Mr.damien

Guest
They need to improve low light exposure and have options to capture larger resolution images...it's kind of frustrating that this hasn't happened yet.

Because this would require possibly a new hardware.

----------

Wow, talk about bad timing to announce a great feature. Am I the only one a bit creeped out about a manufacturer announcing that their product has wireless capability that was kept a secret until now? Given the NSA scandal and the US government's unwarranted surveillance of everyone on the internet, it seems deceitful to sell a networkable device without making it clear to the buyer. Cool feature but it should not have been kept a secret.

I think the contrary. It's actually clever to have wait about it until the app was ready. Otherwise people would have complained they can't use it.

Now they are happy because they have a new feature they didn't expect for free.

BTW, why they don't charge their customer again like Apple did with the SOX excuse ...
 

fertilized-egg

macrumors 68020
Dec 18, 2009
2,109
57
I think the contrary. It's actually clever to have wait about it until the app was ready. Otherwise people would have complained they can't use it.

Now they are happy because they have a new feature they didn't expect for free.

I agree. It's a nice gesture and as a smaller company they probably didn't have resources required to implement all the features in time. It takes time to program and test the feature.

BTW, why they don't charge their customer again like Apple did with the SOX excuse ...

Lytro isn't a public company unlike Apple so I don't think the accounting rule applies here.
 

halfapie

macrumors member
Oct 19, 2005
91
43
I love the idea of this camera and wifi is nice... but the resulting image is too low-resolution to use for anything besides tech-demo.

I have been waiting for them to double the resolution, at which point I'd buy one. who cares about bells and whistles when the image is too small?
 

Kissaragi

macrumors 68020
Nov 16, 2006
2,340
370
Could they make a pro camera using this tech? It would be hugely expensive of course, but if it could take near DSLR quality photos with the refocusing wizardry then Id have thought some photographers would be interested?

Maybe a partnership with a high end company like red?
 
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danahn17

macrumors 6502
Dec 3, 2009
384
0
I love the idea of this camera and wifi is nice... but the resulting image is too low-resolution to use for anything besides tech-demo.

I have been waiting for them to double the resolution, at which point I'd buy one. who cares about bells and whistles when the image is too small?

Agreed. I've seen some sample images and the technology isn't quite up there, especially for the price they are charging. Maybe in a generation or two it will improve enough... but for now, I think it's better to have the first adopters be guinea pigs :p
 

Liquorpuki

macrumors 68020
Jun 18, 2009
2,286
8
City of Angels
I love the idea of this camera and wifi is nice... but the resulting image is too low-resolution to use for anything besides tech-demo.

I have been waiting for them to double the resolution, at which point I'd buy one. who cares about bells and whistles when the image is too small?

If you want a see lightfield photography packaged in a way that's more consumer friendly, look up what Pelican Imaging has been doing

- 4x4 camera array, which gives you the same lightfield capabilities as Lytro
- 8MP image + video capture
- 3D image / video capture
- Can fit into a smartphone and they've already partnered with Nokia

And if you have a 3D Printer you'd be able to do this

I like Lytro and I was thinking about buying one of those cameras when they first came out, but 2 years later and they're still trying to let Lightfield sell itself instead of helping the consumer find ways to use it. They're pulling a Xerox
 
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