Google, it seems, is acquiring Lytro. Yes, the company that made that crazy light field camera and then got out of photography to move into VR and cinema is being snapped up. In a deal which TechCrunch report to be worth either $40mil or $25mil, depending on who you ask, Google will pick up the company in an “asset sale”. Presumably, this will include the 59 patents related to light-field and imaging technology which Lytro owns.
Lytro officially kills off their online sharing platform
It’s been a while since Lytro decided to abandon the world of photography and focus on the video solutions. But their latest announcement is another step towards exiting the consumer photography market. As of this month, they are discontinuing their pictures.lytro.com image sharing platform. This means their users won’t be able to share the native refocusable light-field photos online. Also, if your “living” images are embedded somewhere, they won’t be viewable any longer.
Lytro takes us to the moon with first footage from their VR camera
We first mentioned Lytro’s Immerge virtual reality camera last year. Incorporating their light field technology at its core, it has a very unique appearance resembling something more suited to the set of a sci-fi movie. In the original concept video introducing us to Immerge, the demons shown were mockups.
Now, Lytro have released live action VR footage of the system working, and they’re taking us to the moon. One of the technologies that Lytro showed off with its cinema camera was keying out subjects without the need for a green screen. This is also being applied here to separate the foreground from the background.
Adobe to add 5D Mark IV’s dual pixel RAW functionality to Lightroom and Photoshop
The dual pixel sensor of the 5D Mark IV has two main functions. One is to improve the accuracy of the autofocus. The other gives you slight focus adjustment capabilities in post – a bit like Lytro. The latter is called dual pixel raw. At the moment (well, for those who already have a 5D Mark IV), the dual pixel raw feature is only available to users of Canon’s own software; Digital Photo Professional.
However, Cnet are reporting that Adobe have confirmed they’re adding the 5D Mark IV’s dual pixel raw technology into Lightroom. Presumably, this also includes Adobe Camera Raw. Adobe’s spokesman, Roman Skuratovskiy said “We’re working on it”, but did not specify when this update might be available.
Lytro are out to change the future of cinema and they want to get into the hands of all filmmakers
We all saw the big announcement a couple of weeks ago about Lytro’s new Cinema camera, but the folks over at No Film School sat down to have a more in-depth discussion with Lytro’s Head of Light Field Video, John Karafin, and got an exclusive look into some of the features and abilities of the Lytro Cinema camera system.
With a 755MP sensor offering 16 stops of dynamic range and framerates of up to 300fps, one could be forgiven for thinking that these were the most impressive points about this camera, but it barely begins to scratch the surface.
Lytro is making big waves in Hollywood with their groundbreaking new Cinema camera
While Lytro might’ve exited stage left from the world of photography, they’ve set their sights on Hollywood and they’re looking real hard, as is their new camera.
Lytro Cinema is the world’s Light Field solution for film and television. This technological breakthrough capture system allows filmmakers to do things that simply haven’t been possible before, and may completely eliminate the need for techniques like green screen chroma keying, as well as a host of other feats.
How Light Field Photography Works
Lytro might be the company most synonymous with light field photography, but the reality is it’s been around for almost almost 25 years now.
Do you know what it is though? Or how it works? If not, don’t worry, YouTuber Computerphile has you covered.
Panasonic Brings Lytro-Like Post Focus Technology to 3 Lumix Cameras Today
Today is the day. Panasonic has officially released Post Focus via a free firmware update for its Lumix GX7, G8, and FZ300 cameras that will give users the ability to shoot now, focus later.
Lytro announces A first ever Light field virtual reality camera – Immerge
Lytro just announced the first ever Light field virtual reality camera. This is an interesting shift in direction for a company that on one really got what they were doing. While their previous cameras were somewhat gimiky, this new camera may actually have real application in the emerging VR production world.
Immerge, a spherical camera captures light coming from every direction, creating a representation of the world outside the sphere. Unlike other spherical capture devices that we’ve seen, Immerge not only captures an image of its surrounding, but also records the depth information of each object around it.
Panasonic Reportedly Building Focus-After-Capture Feature Into Upcoming Cameras
We’ve seen previous unveilings of post-focusing cameras, such as the Lytro Illum, which allow the user to change the focus of the image after it’s already captured. And, a year ago, Sony even jumped on the bandwagon by acquiring their own patent for similar technology.
Now, according to reports, all Panasonic 4K-compatible cameras released in the next year will have built-in focus adjustment capabilities. Booyah.
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