Lytro Review

We recently got our hands on the new Lytro camera and have been passing it around the PWD offices, some eager to try out this new technology and others skeptical of a camera that further removes skill from the equation. The camera has been run through its paces in Atlanta, brought up to North Georgia, down to the British Virgin Islands, and even on a European tour. Here’s what we think of this strange, new device.

Introducing the Lytro

But first, in case you’ve been living under a photography rock, let’s catch you up to speed. The Lytro is a whole new concept in taking pictures.  Instead of capturing a 2-D plane of light, the Lytro captures “the light field” (I think combining a light field, a black hole, and a popsicle stick is how you make a Star Wars lightsaber, so this is pretty advanced stuff!).

This allows the camera to capture 3D images, the end result of which is that you can choose your focus point after snapping the picture rather than before.

But it’s easier to just show you.  Click on the Monte Carlo Casino behind Gumby and Pokey below to play with the focus. (If you don’t see the image below, you may want to try using another browser or upgrading your Flash version. Sharing Lytro images is not as simple as posting a JPG.)

There, you see what I mean?  Isn’t that cool?

Design and Interface

The stylings of the Lytro, its interface, and even the box it’s packed in are very reminiscent of Apple (steal from the best!). The unique shape of the camera is key to making people view it as something truly new and different. If it looked like any other point-and-shoot, I don’t think it would get nearly as much attention.

While the design makes the Lytro stand out, it also makes it a bit awkward to hold. Shooting just feels weird, and the Lytro does not fit easily into any normal pocket. The awkwardness will likely just take some time to get used to (Remember when shooting pictures with a camera phone was awkward? Me neither.), and I suppose the the lack of portability is nothing new to anyone who currently carries around a DSLR.

But a DSLR this is not. The Lytro’s interface is quite simple, offering just three physical controls and a touch screen.  Sadly, the screen itself is much too small – one square inch – to really see the captured images. This means you have to download the images to your computer before you can enjoy them and play around with focus.

Zoom is controlled by rubbing your finger along a ridge on top of the device.  It’s nice from an aesthetics standpoint, but zooming is very slow and the ridge is located right where I naturally place my fingers, so it resulted in a lot of accidental zooms. The only other physical buttons are the power button and the shutter button.

Use and Image Quality

So, what do you do with the Lytro?  I see three options:

1. Take normal pictures, knowing that you needn’t worry about focus while shooting.  The workflow would be to shoot, download to your computer, choose a focus using the special Lytro software, then save to JPG and do whatever you normally do with JPGs.
2. Take creative depth-of-field pictures and share them like we’ve done throughout this article. Some creativity is needed to create images with something of interest in both the foreground and background (Otherwise, why let people change the focus if there’s nothing of interest to focus on?). Some of our test shots achieved this better than others.
3. Convert the images to full 3-D.  Yes, this is possible, though we don’t have the glasses or 3-D display to confirm this for ourselves.

The biggest limiting factor right now is the image quality.  Like early digital cameras, the resolution and clarity just aren’t there yet.  A full-res JPG export is only 1080×1080 (the equivalent of less than a 4”x4” print), so you won’t be shooting or printing professional images from this camera.

The images are also not terribly sharp, even when in focus, and they tend to be very noisy in low-light situations. I repeat: this is not at all suitable for professional photography.

The Verdict

Don’t expect to be packing a Lytro alongside your 5D anytime soon. At most, this could be used professionally as a gimmick – something to wow clients, – but you won’t be selling prints or anything else generated by the Lytro.

This might come as a relief to some professional photographers. Even within PWD there was some concern that the Lytro would dumb-down photography and take one more creative aspect out of the hands of the photographer. You can feel safe for now that Uncle Ted won’t be shooting over your shoulder with his Lytro and creating stunning, perfectly focused images.

That being said, the Lytro is a fun toy and another creative tool for photographers to play with. The technology, though lacking at the moment, has a lot of potential, and I’m sure we’ll see it advance quickly.

More Lytro

• The PWD Lytro photo gallery
• The official Lytro photo gallery
• Learn more about the Lytro

Win a Lytro
We’re done testing our Lytro, so we thought we’d give it away. Find out how you can win the Lytro and more in PWD’s August Contest Month.