Lytro Illum Light Field Camera Review–Take 2–Separating Fact from Fiction

Lytro Illum Light Field Digital Camera

No you aren’t experiencing déjà vu, I’ve re-released this article with some new content instead of doing the typical part II. If you are just joining me then there’s no reason to read the previous article as it just points to here now.

Intro

I’ve been very interested in Lytro’s light field cameras since I first read about them a few years back. Once I saw the NFC championship game shot with the Illum I reached out to the company and my B&H rep and got a couple models sent out to me.

In this review I share my findings on both the camera as well as the software required to process its images. I found myself really loving and hating various things about this camera along the way, so if you’ve been interested in this camera I think you’ll find this review very helpful.

Why Take 2?

In my first attempt to review this product I did so blind without any feedback or influence of any third party. I did get some tips from my friend Stephen Eastwood while at WPPI, but my goal was to try to get an unbiased and untainted opinion of this product. The problem with doing this is that this product assumes you’ve invested a lot of time doing your research on light field technology and that you’ve watched these excellent videos on their web site:

Sadly, that’s a geek way to release a product because in the 25 years I’ve been delivering technology products to customers I’ve learned that when you assume you make an ass of u and me. As a result, I messed up and failed to review and use this product to its maximum intent – as a device that generates 3D images. 

Make no mistake, this camera is NOT a DSLR or mirrorless replacement. As a 2D camera it is not as good as a typical modern day cell phone, but when used properly it can deliver a video or interactive image (via the Lytro viewer) that creates a cool 3D image. This is why Lytro emphasizes the term “living pictures” in their advertising because it’s more than just a static 2D image. With this in mind, read on and learn..

Understanding how to view images in the Lytro viewer

A video is worth a thousand words to explain how to make the most out of viewing a living image from a Lytro Illum camera:

When click on the image and you spin your mouse around in circles you are playing with the perspective shift which gives the illusion of a 3D image without the need of 3D glasses. You can however export real 3D images and video for later viewing on your 3D playback device, but I like this quick and dirty way of doing it. Here’s one you can play around with:

or CLICK HERE to visit a gallery which contains much better content than what I made. You can also see the users stream of images that have been recently flagged as cool by the Lytro team. These are just ordinary users content that has been marked as public and flagged for your enjoyment.

The photos of successes and failures can be found here. Anything that doesn’t refocus or have the 3D effect is basically a failure on my part, so live and learn.

One of my Favorite Photographers, Stephen Eastwood also has a gallery here with some images for your enjoyment like this:

Unfortunately the online viewer doesn’t show the EXIF for the images and it only allows minimal captions.

Using the Lytro Illum’s Depth Assist Features

The original Lytro 8GB was pretty bad because you had a tiny screen with no ability to see the depth and refocusable regions when you were out shooting. The Illum is the significantly better because you have the ability to see to control the refocusable regions in the foreground (blue) and background (orange) in real time. Here’s a short video I did that shows it in action:

I asked a support engineer at Lytro for his feedback on the video and he gave me the following notes about the video:

• Correction: at about 2:10, you move the foreground subject to the plane of the background subject and say that if both are in orange the image would be out of focus. This is incorrect. They will be in focus, but will just both be at the same depth level. Now, if you move them both into the gray area, then they will indeed be outside of refocusable range.
• The orange and blue area that I point to on the right side of the LCD in the video is called the Depth Histogram, whereas when I press the Lytro button the blue and orange that show up is called the Depth Overlay.
• Refocusable range - Subjects anywhere within the orange/blue range
• Non-refocusable range - Subjects outside of the orange/blue range (in either of the gray areas)
• The LCD screen articulates [Ron: While true, the reality is that outdoors in bright light the articulation doesn’t help you. I intentionally had reflection in the video just to demonstrate point that it is a highly reflective LCD with no electronic viewfinder]

When everything is all blue or all orange that means that everything is at the same depth level. For the most interesting photos, you want objects in both the orange and blue as I demonstrate in the video.

Unfortunately I wasn’t able to re-shoot the video due to time constraints surrounding the return of this camera.

Here’s the living picture created during the video above:

For reference, this is what the refocusable regions looked like in Lytro Desktop:

Lytro Illum Depth Map with Refocus Region
Blue objects are close and orange objects are far

and here’s what the actual depth map looked like for this photo:

Lytro Illum Depth Map
Dark objects are close and light objects are far

When you have this camera in your hands and discover there’s no aperture and there’s no traditional concept of focusing then it can be rather stressful. However, if you take the time to read the manual and watch the videos, you’ll understand that you just have to learn how to think a little differently. Instead of paying attention to a single focus point you end up paying attention to the Depth Histogram as previously discussed and shown here:

Depth Histogram and Depth Overlay

Hopefully this gives you a better idea of how to use this camera because there’s a common misconception that you can “just focus after the fact”. In fact, as you see in the video there’s work that must be done in-camera to give you the opportunity to do that in post processing, so in many ways this camera is much more challenging than a traditional camera where focus only needs to be set on one dimension. As a result, this isn’t a point and shoot camera for amateurs, but rather a bleeding edge technical device for patient photographers who are willing to invest additional time at capture time to meet all of the requirements to make an interesting living picture.

Not Recommended for 2D Images

This is NOT a landscape camera or a DSLR replacement! Here’s some great examples which for reference sake illustrate the out of camera 2D quality of the images (click for full-size) as well as show the range of zoom on the built-in 30 – 250mm fixed f/2 aperture (non interchangeable) lens:

Zoomed Out  to 30mm - Exported In-Camera JPEG - No Edits

As you can see from these two images they go both wide and far, so the zoom range is very handy. Sadly the image quality as a simple 2D camera is unimpressive as the images feel soft and the color is only mediocre (before RAW processing).

Zoomed In to 250mm - Exported In-Camera JPEG - No Edits

While more post-processing in Lytro Desktop is possible, it feels like it was taken with a cheap lens and old camera (or a mediocre cell phone). By comparison, an iPhone 6+ native image is 3264 x 2448 pixels at roughly 1.75MB.

To get a proper file out of these these big 50MB Lytro RAW light field images it is best to export as TIFF. This gives you a roughly 15MB image in the ProPhoto RGB color space, yet really isn’t going to be print worthy.

It should be noted that you can get 100MB XRaw images that contain calibration data, but that generally is only needed when you know you’ll be giving a photo to someone else who doesn’t have your camera calibration data. You’ll have this when you setup your system so you DO NOT need this huge file format as it contains the EXACT same light field data as the smaller RAW files.

Benefits of a Light Field Camera

Lytro.com list the following benefits of a light field camera:

Unlike a conventional digital camera, the LYTRO ILLUM captures the light field, which includes the direction of light.

Capturing this fundamentally new data gives consumers unprecedented capabilities, including the ability to focus, change the perspective, change the aperture, and view in 3D - all after a picture is taken.

This was the concept that captured my imagination from day 1 as I had seen this technology demonstrated by researches at other companies, but never did I imagine it would be an affordable and shippable product so quickly.

From the first moment I got this camera, I was eager to do a flower shot where I could have fun with various focal points and apertures after capture time. I finally got my chance in Palm Desert, California earlier this week. Here’s an unedited shot straight out of the camera:

The nice rubber grip and view through the LCD immediately inspire confidence in its quality, but I’ve been very disappointed when I’ve viewed the images on my NEC PA322UHD 4k display. I quickly discovered that it’s best to view the images on a WUXGA or 1080p resolution display like a PA242W as the images look a lot better when smaller.

Living with the Lytro Illum

For the purpose of this discussion, here’s a quick overview of the rear LCD of this camera:

Touchscreen layout in Capture Mode

Here’s what each section is called:

1. Image View Area
2. Depth Assist Bar
3. Menu Bar
4. Information Bar

It should also be noted that there’s a kind of undiscoverable feature called Spot Depth Feedback that allows you to check the distance from the camera to the object at the center of the live view. I forgot to cover this in my video, but if you are considering or own the Illum you might find this article handy.

Say good bye to Aperture Priority

When you think about the fact this is capturing a light field, it makes sense, but there is no concept of setting aperture on this camera. It’s got a fixed f/2 lens and all images are shot at f/2. While this might make you panic at first, the reality is that because this is a light field camera aperture can be set from f/1 – f/16 after the fact.

With this reality, it means you are primarily concerned with your ISO and shutter speed because the focus point “in theory” can be set later. As a result this camera has a Program Mode, ISO priority mode, Shutter priority mode and Manual mode where you have manual control over ISO & Shutter Speed (which is very similar to a DSLR Shutter priority when Auto ISO is off). These are set via the Menu Bar (#3 in the graphic above).

In good light, like I had in California, you’ll need to be at the minimum ISO 80 and I often found myself at the maximum 1/4000 sec shutter speed. Coming from Seattle, I don’t find myself using shutter speeds that fast, but I quickly discovered that in bright sun there is value in having a camera that can do 1/8000 sec (like my Canon’s). With a lens that will only do f/2 at capture time, some shots just get blown out due to the constant f/2 lens aperture. Other shots, like the one below are uninteresting because you can pretty much only set them to f/16 in post processing as there’s little variation possible in such bright light:

My net takeaway is that it would have been better for this camera to just have one mode that allowed you to set the ISO to a fixed value or Auto and an option to do the same for the shutter speed. Instead you have to fumble between modes if you care, but often times this is a camera where P doesn’t mean a sarcastic “pro mode” – it is actually a valid mode quite often. It’s also in bad need of a much faster maximum shutter speed – like 1/8000! However, Lytro has tried to address this by including a 4 stop ND filter in the box, but it comes in an unlabeled black box that feels empty and is under another bigger box so I didn’t find it until my friend Stephen Eastwood told me about it.

Body design 1.0 is painfully obvious

Lytro Illum Side view with LCD extended

It is very obvious that the designers were given the max budget to make a piece of hardware that looked cool, but sadly that means no budget must have been left for usability testing. The net result leads to some frustration at first and later in the field. Some of my big complaints while using this camera were:

1. LCD difficult to see in bright light – Since there is no EVF you’ll need a Hoodman Loupe if you plan to use this camera outdoors as the screen is difficult to see in bright light. As a result you find yourself thinking you’ve got the shot when doing a playback but you get it on your computer and realize it’s a total focus fail.
   
2. No LCD screen zoom – With a rear touchscreen that gives you a Live View experience, you’d think you’d be able to pinch to zoom the capture and playback images. Sadly this isn’t the case – for either! In fact, there’s not even a button or knob that I could find that allowed me to zoom in to see if I got the shot. As a result, there were lots of frustrating surprises when I got back to Seattle from California.
   
3. Bad Hood Design – With a cheap plastic pin that is sure to break off eventually and a hole that is easy to miss, I found myself cursing the hood on every shooting. While it is possible to get it to lock, it’s easy to miss the hole and end up with images later where the hood has rotated. I eventually got the hang of it, but was a very cheapo feeling design.
   
4. LCD Menu scrolling isn’t obvious – Until you figure out how the scrolling of the menu works, it feels like you’ve lost half your buttons and you don’t know why. The lack of a visual indicator made it very frustrating and difficult to understand at first. I eventually “got it” but never liked it.
   
5. Information bar randomly disappears – Sometimes for reasons I haven’t yet discovered, the information bar at the bottom would just randomly disappear. I eventually discovered I could swipe it back up to make it reappear, but I definitely felt like I was using the Windows 8 Metro Design Language. Whether your love or curse that UI design, you’ll find the same love/hate with the Lytro touch screen UI design.

I wasn’t a big fan of the hard to open side door and bottom battery loading design, but they worked and I got used to them. Overall I liked the camera body as it was kind a fun and different, but its design does feel a lot like the Windows Phone of cameras.

Click here to see a complete layout of the camera and all of its buttons.

Lytro Desktop Software

I had a lot of challenges with the Lytro Desktop Software, but after a significant amount of time with the excellent support staff I got things sorted. The biggest issue was a bad video driver that wasn’t getting updated when I ran the update software (my issue) and problems related to having my Lytro library on a network drive (ONLY use local hard drives).

It was clear that Lytro primarily focuses on the Mac version, so Windows users beware. However, I didn’t hit any major problems that were unique to the Windows version, so don’t sweat it if you don’t have a Mac.

My biggest lesson learned is that when you are importing images you shouldn’t watch the computer. The download experience – even with 16GB 95/mbps SD cards took an unusually long time to download and process (about 30 seconds per photo) on a i7 system with 16GB RAM and SSD hard drives. As a result, I learned to click Import before going to bed or when I’d be away from the computer for a while as it’s VERY bad if you lose your connection during the download process. Sadly I forgot to turn off Windows Update, so I got burned by that and ended up with a lot of stuff I needed to delete from my library.

Performance and quirky bugs aside, the reality that you can’t do all the things you are used to doing in Photoshop with your images makes it tough to get high quality results. You basically have the abilities of a RAW editor like Adobe Camera Raw but without the cool features Lightroom offers for masking (adjustment brush, spot/heal, etc…). Keep this in mind as it means you have to get things right in camera.

You don’t have to own the camera to see how this software works, so click here to get the software for FREE and click here to get some sample images to play with.

To make the most of your test drive of the software, please be sure to READ THIS.

My Test Shots

When viewing these photos it is best to go full screen, click your mouse around the image to play with refocusing. To see the 3D effect you need to HOLD YOUR MOUSE BUTTON DOWN and then DRAG IN CIRCLES as shown in the video earlier. You can also do the same thing if you go visit the galleries here and here directly. Images in the later gallery that don’t have a 3D effect are my failure as a light field camera operator, so if you don’t see a clear foreground and background object then don’t bother clicking it as it is mostly a static photo.

NOTE: The advanced viewer works better but the resolution of the standard viewer is better.

NOTE: These will crash your iOS devices so view them on a computer, or get the mobile apps here.

Flowers in the field shots are a great way to get started learning how to use this camera

In my attempt to show the bokeh of this camera, I stumbled upon a solid 3D effect. Perhaps this is why Lytro support encouraged me to take my first photos on the carpet of a nearby subject.

The frustrating design of the hood becomes obvious in this shot where a 3D wiggle result in seeing more hood. There’s no fixing this outside of cropping.

Because it is hard to see the screen in the bright outdoors and because you can't zoom, sometimes you think you are fine and end up with a shot that is blurry because critical parts are outside the refocusable range. In traditional photography this is like getting bitten by a minimum focus distance issue when manually focusing.

Ugly photo, but a good example of having depth that creates a living photo.

I thought I had a great shot in camera, but depth map errors (which can be fixed in complex post-processing) are one of the big reasons why I say this is a camera for advanced photographers. The net result is floating flowers!

Having all the light field data in orange is bad, but the more important part is that you have data in the refocusable range. The fact that I have that makes this photo work as a living image

This is a tough camera with kids because you already have a lot to do to get the shot, paying attention to the depth histogram data just makes it even harder

I was lucky enough to find an unexpected hot air balloon, but it was both ugly and hard to find a foreground subject so I would have been better off shooting my photos of it with a different camera. Sadly this was the only camera I had!

Conclusion

The bottom line is that this is a bleeding edge product for advanced photographers who are also geeks. The camera and software both lack the fit and finish you are accustomed to with traditional cameras that have had years to mature. It is a fun product that offers an exciting challenge that some might adds to the creative process, but simple point and shoot or spray and pray photographers will be extremely frustrated by the complexity of this product.

To be clear, you WILL NOT be successful with this product if you don’t take the time to watch these videos. If you haven’t been successful with a light field camera before, it won’t happen without education so be sure to check these out.

At the end of the day I think this is a fun camera to play with, but I have no need for doing 3D / Living Photo work so it isn’t for me. I consider this to be a good choice for a hobbyist with discretionary income, but be sure to bring your regular camera out with you when you shoot as this is NOT a replacement for your normal 2D work. In fact, I wish I would have taken redundant pictures of everything I took with this camera in California as the exported photos from the Illum were unacceptable. Those photo opportunities are now lost so I learned a hard lesson about this product.

If you’ve tried the original Lytro 8GB and were disappointed, don’t let that experience taint you. This camera is NOTHING like that abomination. This is a proper camera that captures light fields and I think it is going to be awesome one day, but for now it is a product for early adopters and people with the extra cash to spare to enjoy being on the bleeding edge.

Where to order

Click here to learn more or order it on the B&H web site.

Rent from LensRentals.com 

Click here to rent one from LensRentals.com and use my blog discount to save on this or other rentals.

Guest Opinion from Stephen Eastwood

Stephen Eastwood

Many of you may know Stephen from his work as a Canon Explorer of Light, but he’s always been a state of the art photographer so he’s been using the Lytro Illum for a while. I asked him if he wouldn’t mind including some of his own thoughts about the Illum so you could get another opinion:

I got one with no instructions, and no idea what to do with it, not that I am one to read instructions anyway, but here I had one.

The first day out I played with buttons and dials, and learned to use the Lytro button, but could not for the life of me figure out how to focus the image. I had just tapped on the screen and luckily it responded. Who knew it was touch activated?!!

Since then Lytro has added the more logical features such as allowing the focus ring to also rack focus in playback, which is much appreciated to anyone with fingers too big to touch tiny areas on screen. They have also updated many features making this camera a wonderful tool. With that said, even with all the little improvements, it still has a learning curve.

I still think this is a camera that you can learn from in an hour depending on your previous level of tech knowledge, but what takes some time is learning to think and compose differently. I have been shooting stills for over 15 years professionally, and shooting video off and on for about 10 years. It’s not like either, and yet has aspects of both which need to be considered.

First you need to compose and plan for depth in an image. It sounds simple, but I’ve spent 15 years limiting my depth of field in shots through the use of aperture, focal length and composition. Now I need to show depth to get the most from this new technology. I need to think differently and plan for layers to that depth, but I also need to think in terms of a storyline. I want to use the camera to tell a story, using the animate feature I can make a short animation, moving and revealing, rack focusing ones attention here or there, and let a scene unfold as if I were directing a short scene. That all needs to be planned for while you are in the composition mode of shooting, you want to know what your animation is going to say and shoot a shot that allows just that.

So what have I learned? Well certain aspects of the final product work best when you take advantage of what it can do, the perspective shift that gives you the 3D image and sense of motion is best scene and experienced when you have a near object and a far object. The closer the near object is the more effective this is. This means that shooting a landscape with nothing in the foreground won’t be nearly as impressive as shooting that same shot with something up close and with something that you can rack focus from and get a feeling or sense of looking around to see what is behind it. That is the exact effect that makes the 3D images pop off a screen and creates an immersive visual. Also, I learned that having several layers of depth, several points of interest at varying distances gives the viewer more of a story, more of a reveal. If you are allowing people to be interactive rather than just watch a pre-established animation it will be much more interesting.

I do have a tip that I think everyone should know before they begin to shoot with the Illum. The logic of how cameras and optics usually work dictates that if you have something in the foreground and something way in the background in the refocusable area of the Lytro image, so everything in between should be as well. Well that's not the case, and it’s clearly visible on camera that there is a small spot in the center of the depth histogram that is neither blue (near refocusable objects) nor in the reds (far refocusable objects) - it is a gray bar dead center of that range. It’s an area that is not fully refocusable, and you need to be aware of this and not put a direct point of focus or object of interest in that area. Fortunately the Lytro button will show a great representational histogram of this and you can simply adjust to limit what is in that “dead zone” and move it fore or aft. Armed with this info and an imagination you should be on your way to creating living pictures!

So what’s so good about living pictures? Why do you want them?

I'll be the first to tell you this is not a replacement for your current camera system – it’s an additional tool that allows you to create unique products in a way never before possible. It can differentiate you and what you offer from the competition and help you to stand out to clients and add some new service and product they were not aware was an option.

This is not a high MP camera that produces the now typical 20+ mp file for print, rather I see it as a capable camera that offers a new product. In this day of digital most of what I shoot never gets printed, I do commercial shoots where 120 shots are taken, 2 are ever printed in ads - the rest are strictly digital content for the web. With the Illum, I shoot something for the web or digital billboards that stands out from a still.

I can now shoot an image that has perspective, has movement, holds interest of the viewer as things refocus, or as you take a quasi-look-a-round it makes a unique product that is perfect for getting viewers to linger on a webpage longer, stare at a digital billboard for a few seconds rather than just glance and pass by. It creates a unique product that allows you to create something that catches the attention of viewers, and it does so with the ease of a still camera yet produces as effect that can appear to have been taken with video and a slider move.

I warn you, this is not a simple point and shoot process. It is one that takes vision, and one that produces much more than a P&S experience when done right. However, I feel it is worth the reward.

As for the company that makes it, Lytro may be one of the most responsive to changes and improvements I have ever known. I say that coming from years of experience with cameras that could be improved in this or that area easily, but rather than offer a firmware update, it becomes a feature of the next model to entice you to upgrade. Lytro seems to listen and is working to improve the camera user experience by adding updates and features as they become possible. Their attitude is something so uncommon it seems to go against the very nature of corporate policy. It not only applies to the camera, but the software too. They are adding new features and capabilities often, so when you have an issue the tech support team actually takes the time to help you figure it out and get the most from your images.

I encourage you to try one out! If you learn to think a little differently, the results you see when viewing your images through 3D glasses will get your creative energy going. By your second shoot you will already be thinking of what you could have done to maximize the potential of this piece of gear. You will quickly start creating situations and settings to fully take advantage of the whole process for some amazing living images!

- Stephen Eastwood

Thanks Stephen!

Other articles you may enjoy

If you enjoyed this article, you may also enjoy these:

• Canon 7D Mark II
• Fujifilm X-T1 (includes 18-55mm & 23mm lens reviews)
• Nikon D750 - Yeah, you want this one!
• Nikon D810 (includes SIGMA 50mm Art & Otus 55mm)
• Sony a6000 (includes 16-70mm lens)
• Sony a7R
• Canon 100-400m f/4.5-5.6L IS II USM (NEW)
• Canon 200-400mm f/4L IS with 1.4X Extender
• SIGMA 35mm Art Series
• SIGMA 50mm f/1.4 Art Series (includes comparisons)
• Zeiss Otus 55m f/1.4
• Zeiss Otus 85mm f/1.4

Disclosure

If you make a purchase using links found in this article, I may make a commission. It doesn’t cost you a penny more, but it does help to support future articles like this.

REVIEW: Lytro 8GB Light Field Digital Camera

Lytro 8GB Light Field Digital Camera (Electric Blue)

Ever since I first heard of Lytro, I’ve been wanting to get my hands on this camera. I couldn’t imagine how something so cool could be packed into such a tiny package at such an affordable price. However, 5 minutes with this camera quickly reminded me of a saying my parents always told me – “if it seems too good to be true, it probably is”.

Fortunately I’ve had a chance to review the Lytro Illum, which is a proper camera. However, this thing is the most disappointing product I’ve had in my hands since the Bower SFD926C Digital Flash!

Hands On Experience

Lytro 8GB Light Field Digital Camera (Graphite)

At first things seemed very promising as the shape is really cool and the rear touch screen seemed pretty neat. My wife loved the form factor and the promise of after the fact focusing made her very interested in testing it out. However, after seeing the images on the computer she quickly quipped that her iPhone takes better photos than that – I agree!

The screen is so tiny and low resolution that it is darn near useless outdoors, and even indoors you need to have perfect vision to see the low res rear screen. Once you do, you are treated to a very tricky user interface, but you eventually get used to it because there’s almost no features that you can control. Simply put, this is a point and shoot that offers very little manual control. If it took great photos that could be refocused after the fact, that’d be great, but a majority of the photos I tested after the fact couldn’t be refocused. In fact, of all the photos I took, only the few ugly ones below were refocusable.

The one positive thing I can say is that it was so easy to use that my 5 year old and 13 year old could easily point and shoot with it – sadly they failed to get more than one photo that was refocusable.

Sample Images

The quality of all the images I took with this camera sucked – big time – but these sucked the least:

Yes, I agree they suck too, but you should have seen the ones I didn't show you - ugh! Now before you blame the photographer, check out my Lytro Illum review. This camera was so bad that I just wasn’t inspired to do much else with it.

Conclusion

While the form factor is very cool, in the history of every product I’ve ever reviewed on this blog, this has to be in the top 2 or 3 of the worst products ever tested. There is no mention of it on the Lytro website anymore, so I suspect they agree that it isn’t worth mentioning either.

There is one good thing to come out of reviewing this product - I can now judge the trustworthiness of other websites and sources by their opinion of this camera. In my opinion, anyone that says it was good is a person I won’t be trusting for an honest opinion in the future. Don’t believe me, try it for yourself but be sure to keep the box in good shape so you can return it.

Where to order

Don’t! I can’t in good faith even put a link for you to order as I would not recommend this product to anyone. Instead, if you are interested in this technology check out the real light field camera – the Lytro Illum.

Other articles you may enjoy

If you enjoyed this article, you may also enjoy these:

• Lytro Illum Review

Disclosure

If you make a purchase using links found in this article, I may make a commission. It doesn’t cost you a penny more, but it does help to support future articles like this.

Learn where my Lytro Illum Review has moved -

 

THIS ARTICLE HAS BEEN RE-WRITTEN AND NOW LIVES AT http://www.ronmartblog.com/2015/03/lytro-illum-light-field-camera.html

 

Lytro Illum Light Field Digital Camera

 

March 26, 2015 Update: I made a mistake

Prior to reviewing the Lytro I had incorrect assumptions about its purpose and what it could do due to a lot of bad information I had previously read or heard. My assumption was that it was primarily a camera where you could shoot first and set the focus and aperture later. Videos like this one by Lytro helped to reaffirm that after the fact refocusing was the primary purpose. While that is certainly a feature, the primary purpose is for generating 3D images that Lytro likes to call “Living Pictures”.

When I review a product I first begin by trying to experience a product the way a typical user would do – with all the preconceptions that go along with it. This meant that I began by opening the box, reading the manual (which didn’t say much) and exploring the camera by checking out all of its features.

I’ve been developing software for over twenty years and much of the work I’ve done has been user interface related. This work has taught me that despite our best efforts, people don’t read our documentation unless we did something wrong. As a result, I’ve always challenged myself and my team to design products which are as foolproof as possible.

The reality is that for every choice you make you’ll find it is completely intuitive and awesome for 50% of the people you test it with, and the other 50% will not find it intuitive at all. As a result, the challenge becomes building something that offers options that as many people as possible will understand while not being too dumbed down for the advanced user and not being too intimidating to the beginner. It is these compromises which make or break a product, and for hardware products it is even harder as the cost of goods and packaging make even more compromises necessary to deliver a good value.

The Original Lytro was an example of a product that made too many compromises to keep the cost low and dumb down the product in order to introduce the world to light field camera technology.  It was an example of too many tradeoffs that resulted in a product that I really think is a big reason why there are misconceptions about what this camera is designed do.

Fast forward to now with the introduction of the Illum, and you have a product that should probably have been the first Lytro light field camera because it offers the tools needed to build a proper 3D image – which is really what this product is about. Sadly the ability to refocus and choose the aperture after the fact caused misinformation about its purpose and I fell victim to that hype.

I’ve re-written this article to help spread that word about what this product is and isn’t, so I encourage you to CLICK HERE to read what I should have written the first time.

To be clear, this is an action I am taking on my own with no pressure or request from anyone. I pride myself on writing reviews that are honest and trustworthy, but I made a mistake I think others are likely to make based on the current misinformation about this product.

The new article can be found at http://www.ronmartblog.com/2015/03/lytro-illum-light-field-camera.html.

Where to order

Click here to learn more or order it on the B&H web site.

Other articles you may enjoy

If you enjoyed this article, you may also enjoy these:

• Canon 7D Mark II
• Fujifilm X-T1 (includes 18-55mm & 23mm lens reviews)
• Nikon D750 - Yeah, you want this one!
• Nikon D810 (includes SIGMA 50mm Art & Otus 55mm)
• Sony a6000 (includes 16-70mm lens)
• Sony a7R
• Canon 100-400m f/4.5-5.6L IS II USM (NEW)
• Canon 200-400mm f/4L IS with 1.4X Extender
• SIGMA 35mm Art Series
• SIGMA 50mm f/1.4 Art Series (includes comparisons)
• Zeiss Otus 55m f/1.4
• Zeiss Otus 85mm f/1.4

Disclosure

If you make a purchase using links found in this article, I may make a commission. It doesn’t cost you a penny more, but it does help to support future articles like this.

WPPI 2015 Trip Report–Part II of II

Click here for Part I

WPPI Pool Party 2015 at MGM Las Vegas

Normally you can count on Las Vegas to be warm, so a pool party would be a big hit. This year the weather failed to cooperate so we ended up with a cold night, but that didn’t deter a packed house at the party. With lots of  tasty food and great company, there was still plenty of fun to be had.

WPPI guests pack the pool area for food and conversation

Nikon D7200 Hands On

Nikon D7200 with 18-140mm lens

Big news was the D7200 which is basically the much loved D7100 with an EXPEED 4 processor, WiFi & NFC included as well as much improved buffer. How much improved? My testing on a pre-release unit without an SD card – resulted in 40 photos (Lossless Compressed RAW + JPEG Fine) being stored in the buffer before it filled.

Nikon D7200 Rear View

40 images!!!! Imagine if it had a card to write to and it didn’t have to keep all that in memory!!!!

Nikon D7200 Top View

I loved the D7100 as a sports camera when I tested it, so this is a nice upgrade. The EXPEED 4 seems to be incredible from what I saw in my D4s, D750, and D810 reviews, so this is going to be a lot of bang for the buck for the sports and wildlife photographers. It could be my new favorite camera for parents too!

Nikon D7200 Front View

There’s actually several other benefits of the new D7200 like 2 stops of improved ISO, more time lapse intervals and more. Click here to see a complete list of features of the D7200 compared against the D7100.

Click here to pre-order today!

SIGMA

New SIGMA 150-600mm Contemporary & Sport Models

The new SIGMA 150-600 models were on hand with the Sigma 150-600mm f/5-6.3 DG OS HSM Sports Lens (above left) and Sigma 150-600mm f/5-6.3 DG OS HSM Contemporary Lens (above right). According to SIGMA, the optical stabilization (OS) and autofocus performance of both lenses are identical. What you really get with the Sport model is the all-important weather sealing and more weight! If you don’t need this weather sealing, then you can easily save nearly $1000 and get a pretty affordable sharp super zoom lens with the contemporary model. The question is will the autofocus be up to the task or will it fall short like the 120-300mm I tested? 

The Canon 200-400mm and all new 100-400mm  II blew me away, but they were both pretty expensive so I have no doubt these lenses will be hot sellers.

Sigma 24mm f/1.4 DG HSM Art Lens

The 35mm and 50mm Art Series lenses I reviewed were game changers on how I viewed SIGMA lenses. I loved them and have complete faith in SIGMA’s ability to deliver near Zeiss Otus performance in the Art series, so I have no doubt the new 24mm will be amazing. My hands on testing of a pre-release lens on a Canon 6D (which shares Canon’s best sensor with the 1D X ), left me impressed because the images were sharp with boatloads of detail. I can’t wait to see the final product myself!

Panasonic

Panasonic GH4 gets a Hollywood Worthy Video Kit

Panasonic has been touting the GH4 as a serious 4k camera, so it came dressed to impress at the show. While this roughly $40k setup is overkill for most, what Panasonic wants videographers to see is that this is no toy – it’s built for cinema quality results.

Is the beauty of the inexpensive GH4 4k video lost with this $40k setup?

The word RED camera kept coming up in conversations so it is clear that they have set expectations high on what this low cost 4k camera can deliver. I’ve had field reports that confirm that straight out of the box with no fancy accessories it delivers in a big way, so Canon videographers dreaming of doing 4k might want to give this one a closer look.

My friends at Flixel were at the Panasonic booth showing off the amazing results you can get with a GH4 and their awesome Cinemagraph Pro product. While I hate doing video, my review of this awesome product had me warming up to using that video feature a little more often on my camera.

Scott Kelby shares some good news

Scott Kelby, Ron Martinsen & Yechiel Orgel

While I can’t get into all the specifics at this time, Scott Kelby and I had a good conversation about his upcoming book and tour. What I can share is that he was excited about doing another VIP meet and greet like we did for the Seattle Shoot Like A Pro show.

My loyal readers who will be in Seattle when the show comes should definitely look forward to my official announcement. At that time I’ll give details on how to reserve your space at this private session with Scott Kelby. We also managed to get priority seating last time, so this should be a fun event for those who join in.

Scott is also working on a sequel one of my favorite books coming that I’ve been waiting years to see hit the shelves. The first version literally helped launch my career, so I can’t wait to see what is in store for this all-new 2015 version.

Lytro

Lytro Illum Light Field Digital Camera

I’m currently in the process of reviewing two Lytro cameras, but it is definitely not as easy as expected due to a new way of thinking with this camera. The good news is that my friend and former Canon Explorer of Light Stephen Eastwood was on around to give me a great hands on demo on how he uses the Ilum (shown above). It should definitely be an interesting review so I’m looking forward to finishing it up.

Mylio – Hot DAM

Mylio impressed me so I'm starting to review this ASAP

By DAM I mean Digital Asset Management, or software to manage your photos. Mylio’s slogan is “All of Your Photos. All of Your Devices. Always Protected.” From what I saw it looks like the might live up to that promise so I’m working on both a review and special offer for my readers.

Now I was skeptical when I first started to get the demo because I thought – I’ve got Lightroom, so this is a waste of my time! As we dug deeper into the review, I discovered it was so much more than what Lightroom offers – yet it doesn’t have to be a Lightroom replacement.

In short, you could think of it as a much sexier equivalent to Photo Mechanic designed for normal people, but even that doesn’t really do it justice. It’s basically an app that will help you locate all of your photos and keep them synchronized on all the devices you choose as well as manage your backups, find duplicates, and so much more.

Of course when I heard that I thought – I’ve got 12 TB of digital data – that’s impossible and undesirable! However, I quickly learned that’s the beauty of this product – it creates mini images for your devices so the demo I watched had no issues with over 285,000 photos on an iPhone! Once you have your devices in sync you can non-destructive edit, triage, categorize, etc… on one and instantly see the changes on the others. Skeptical? I’m there with you, but I saw it with my own eyes and soon will be trying it with my own images.

If it sucks, you know I’ll tell you the truth so I’m excited to separate the fact from the fiction on this one. I’m still working on the details, but yes I am trying to get my awesome readers a special deal so check back for my review!

Conclusion

My first time at WPPI was a good one and certainly worth the trip. If you’ve wondered if it is worth your time then I’d say absolutely – if your goal is to make connections and learn lots of cool new stuff.

Other articles you may enjoy

If you enjoyed this article, you may also enjoy these:

• WPPI 2015 Trip Report - Part I of II
• KelbyOne Discount & Free Trial
• Nikon D4s
• Nikon D610
• Nikon D750 - Yeah, you want this one!
• Nikon D810 (includes SIGMA 50mm Art & Otus 55mm)
• Nikon D7100 - A Mini D800?
• Printing Series
• NEC PA322UHD 4k for Pro Photo & Video Editing
• Ron’s Recommendations 

Disclosure

If you make a purchase using links found in this article, I may make a commission. It doesn’t cost you a penny more, but it does help to support future articles like this.