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Light bows out of the smartphone camera industry

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It’s been an interesting journey for Light, the company that brought us that crazy 16-lens camera five years ago. It garnered a lot of hype when it was first announced, and once word got out that the company had secured $30mil in funding and the Light L16 camera was going to see a big storage increase, a lot of people got excited. It wasn’t until 2017 that they actually started shipping, but the reception was somewhat cold.

In 2018, it seemed Light was teaming up with a company (which turned out to be Nokia) to make smartphones, and in 2019 they announced partnerships with both Xiaomi and Sony. Now, Light has announced they are “no longer operating in the smartphone industry”. Exactly what this means for Light’s future is unclear.

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The Light L16 — brilliant and braindead

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On Oct 8, 2015, a completely unknown company announced a new camera which promised to change how we think about photography.

The L16 combines breakthrough optics design with never-before-seen imaging technology to bring you the camera of the future.

The L16 would use 16 camera modules with varying focal lengths with folded optics instead of 1 single sensor, and use “computational photography” to fuse the individual photos together with depth data, producing results that would be “DSLR quality”.

The marketing promised a unicorn camera that prosumer/enthusiast photographers like me would want to carry around as an every-day tool. In theory, I would be able to leave my traditional cameras behind — today a FujiFilm X-T2, Leica Q and Sony RX100mk5 — and travel with just the Light L16.

2 years and 1 day after I pre-ordered my camera, my Light L16 finally arrived.

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The production model Light L16 product photos are out and pre-orders shipping in July

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The Light L16 is a unique oddity amongst cameras. If you’ve never heard of it before, it uses an array of 16 cameras and lenses to create “DSLR quality in the palm of your hand”. Whether that claim is true or not remains to be seen. But see we will, and quite soon now. First announced in October 2015, Light L16 will enter into its Expanded Beta phase in May, with pre-orders starting to be shipped in July.

Thanks to our friends at Light Rumors, we also get to see the first product images of the final production camera. It’s had a little bit of a redesign from the original shown in 2015, and more closely resembles the prototypes we saw in a video last July.

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Light L16 Camera gets a storage bump and wider focal range as it picks up $30mil in funding

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Since debuting the Light L16 last October, it’s a product that many have been following with interest. Some see it as an interesting concept that’ll probably end up being vaporware, while others can’t wait to get their hands on it and see what it may hold for the future of photography.

The latest round of announcements from Light show that the L16 is well on its way, and will actually feature a couple of improvements over its initial spec sheet, including more storage and a wider focal range.

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Light Is Promising A DSLR Quality Camera In A Smartphone Formfactor by Combinbing 16 Lenses

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Every now and then a new technology comes that threatens to shake the existing paradigm of how photography is done. Mirrorless has done this to a certain extent, removing a significant element form the Camera’s body. But an even bigger step would be the move to computational photography. This is where several small optical and electrical elements use an algorithm to create a photo. Lytro, of course, was a pioneer in that field, but failing to deliver I am sure many are now skeptical about the place such technologies have in the photography market.

Today, Light announced their new camera – L16 – which is claimed to deliver DSLR quality image with a smartphone form factor. The camera boasts 16 lenses of 3 focal lengths which deliver an astounding 52 megapixel image. Depth of field (or bokeh) will be set in post production.

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