Lytro Illum Photo Camera Review

Lytro Illum Photo Camera Review

Have you heard about the new Lytro Illum camera?

You probably know it best for its ability to re-focus an image after the shot has been taken.

Do you know why Lyto call the images ‘Living Pictures’?
Basically, the Illum is designed to capture information about the angle from which light has arrived, allowing it to calculate images with different perspective and focus.

This gives most users peace of mind knowing that they can be confident with the shots they take. What about its features? What are the benefits?

Lytro Illum design, MegRay resolution and more

When compared to its predecessor, you will notice that this new model has a much larger sensor. It is now a 1″ type rather than a 1/3″ type that is usually found in smartphones.
Why refer to smartphones? Well, the image retouch or refocus software used is also used is a lot of SmartPhones like LGs G Pro 2 and Samsung’s Galaxy S5. Don’t forget that Nokia have a Refocus app.

So what about the F2 lens? What about the range?

Despite the huge increase in sensor size, the Illum still offers a constant F2 lens, now with a ore practical 30-250mm equivalent range. The Illum also has 40 megarays of annular resolution, providing output of about 5 megapixels of spatial (or two-dimensional) resolution.

It is good to see that Program, ISO priority, shutter priority, and full manual shooting modes are supported.

Good news for you Android lovers; the interface has been redesigned in order to run on Android. This will now include new shooting tools such asa new depth overlay to help photographers visualise the three dimensionality of a scene while they frame the shot.

Touchscreen

The Lytro Illum has a 4-inch articulating touchscreen LCD with 800×480 pixel resolution, and a handful of physical controls.

These new changes obviously mean that the camera is larger and more expensive.

Key features

Lytro Illum have brought the power of 3d computer graphics to photography; enabling new avenues for visual storytelling. The Customised sensor and Lyto-designed lens deliver previously impossible optical performance. There is an in-built powerful software piece that enables a revolutionary interactive experience for users.

Technical Spec

Now we have reviewed what you can expect from the camera, here is the bit that the Photography Geeks love to talk about – the technical side:

• It has a custom designed 40 megaray light field sensor
• 8x optical zoom lens (30mm-250mm equivalent)
• Constant f/2.0 aperture across the entire zoom range
• 1/4000 of a second high-speed shutter
• Extreme close-focus macro capability
• Combination of tactile-controls and smartphone-class, articulating touchscreen
• Dimensions: 86mm x 145mm x 166mm; 940 grams
• Hot shoe supports all leading flashes

Software Platform

• Integrated workflow with leading photo software from Adobe and Apple
• Interactive depth feedback display
• Virtual camera controls in post-processing, including aperture focus and perspective adjustments and physically
• Accurate tilt control
• Instantly displays 3D photos on 3D-capable devices
• Integrated sharing to leading social networks including Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest and Google+
• Library of drag-and-drop cinematic animations, including pan, zoom, focus, perspective shift
• Work flow is compatible with existing photo-editing suites like Adobe’s Photoshop and Lightroom software and then of course Apple’s Aperture software

So what do you think? Have we given you enough to think about there? What are your thoughts on this new camera?

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