Its not often I start out a blog by paraphrasing Victor Hugo…
But it's not often I write a blog about a pretty awesome and fantastic piece of new kit, partly because photographic items that can be fairly described as "Great" or "New" are few and far between.
As I'm sure some of you know I have a passion for photography generally, and a BIG passion for vintage cameras. I use digital, and certainly would not want to do without it, but it doesn't really stir me, that is until now…
That is because I have recently taken delivery of a new "digital" camera made by a great company called Lytro.
Now…
Not only is this camera amazing to look at, with a great compact form, and a surprisingly solid, well built feel in the hand. It also has well thought out features, a nice high speed lens, a good zoom range, a compact easy to carry and hold form, and simple touch screen operation with nicely laid out intuitive menus.
It also has a party piece…
It works totally differently to any other digital camera you've probably ever used. There is a huge amount of scientific type knowledge behind it, and the only way I could do it justice would be to say once you've read this, please check out the Lytro website to get the full low down.
In a nutshell the key is in the name, it is a "light field camera" this simply means it doesn't record a 2 dimensional image of the light as it hits a sensor or film, rather it uses a micro lens array to record light travelling from various angles and builds up a mass of data about this light, its colour, intensity, direction, angle etc etc are all recorded into the camera.
This data can then be interpreted into an image, and this is where it starts to get really cool…
That image can then be refocused, so the picture I have taken isn't limited to that one point I captured, I can refocus on objects in the foreground or background as I fancy, I can change my perspective on how I see the shoot, almost as though I moved slightly to the left or right or looked up or down when I took the picture… essentially my one image capture can make many many unique pictures all from that one set of data.
But thats not all, once this data has made the image, I can then recreate it into an anaglyph or side by side 3 dimensional image…
Yes, your not imagining things, a 3D image made from one single shot with a single lens camera!
Im only really touching on what this beautiful piece of technology is capable of, and can not really begin to do it justice in words… What I have found is it is making me see pictures in a different way, take pictures in a different way….
Above everything else, it is challenging my opinions on how I work, and this is only ever a good thing…
Learning new skills and seeking out new viewpoints is an amazing experience and it encourages you to look at other things differently.
Even when I'm not using my Lytro, I have already begun to look at scenes differently before I photograph them…
Pausing and thinking…
What if..?
This little gem of a camera is in my opinion a sign of what is to come in the future of cameras, I have never waded into the film vs digital debates as I see merits to both (and I still do) but I can also see a time when the features on the Lytro are considered everyday, the ability to take pictures that everyone can view in their own way, creating their own image from your original will become commonplace…
This IS the future of photography and it can be in your hands now…
I usually find my blogs come together as I write them, but I know whatever I put here, I will be left feeling I have sold the Lytro short…
As I have always believed, a picture truly does paint a thousand words, so look at the Lytro images in this blog, find more in our galleries…
Above all else, visit the Lytro site, read about the camera, view the online galleries and look into what an amazing, intelligent and beautiful creation this is…
Hopefully you will find it as magical as I do…
Matt