Lytro Light Field Camera User Manual
- Lytro Camera Review 2015
- Lytro Light Field Camera User Manual Panasonic Lx 100 Manual
- Lytro Camera Manual
Private | |
Industry | Digital cameras |
---|---|
Founded | 2006 |
Founder | Ren Ng |
Defunct | March 27, 2018 |
Headquarters | Mountain View, CA |
Ren Ng, Executive Chairman; Kurt Akeley, CTO; Jason Rosenthal, CEO | |
Products | Light-field camera |
Website | www.lytro.com |
Lytro, Inc. was an American company founded in 2006 by Ren Ng which developed light-field cameras.[1][2][3][4] Lytro began shipping its first generation pocket-sized camera, capable of refocusing images after being taken, in 8 GB and 16 GB versions on February 29, 2012.[5][6][7][8] In April 2014, the company announced Lytro Illum, its second generation camera for commercial and experimental photographers.[9] The Lytro Illum was released at $1,600.[10] The Illum has a permanently attached 30–250mm (35mm equivalent) f/2.0 lens and an articulated rear screen.[11] In the fall of 2015, Lytro changed direction, announcing Immerge, a very-high-end VR video capture camera with companion custom compute server. Immerge was expected to ship in 2016, and be useful to studios trying to combine CGI-based VR with video VR.[12]
Jun 19, 2013 Lytro has released a firmware update that enables the Wi-Fi chips inside its 8GB and 16GB light field cameras. The San Fransisco-based company has also announced a new iOS companion app called Lytro Mobile, which allows you to browse images from the camera. Jul 15, 2015 The Light Field Engine downloads encompass everything you need to control your light field cameras and process the light field raw data to obtain 2D images and 3D depth maps. The downloads are ordered by the major release version. We strive to allow for parallel installs of different major versions but this is not always possible. LYTRO User Manual Introducing the Lytro Light Field Camera Benefits of the Light Field What’s in the Box? Lytro Camera Features Getting to Know your Lytro Camera Taking “Living Pictures” in Everyday Mode Taking “Living Pictures” in Creative Mode Using Manual Controls. Page 3: Introducing The Lytro Light Field Camera.
Lytro ceased operations in late March 2018. Initially it was reported Lytro was acquired by Google, but later was reported that most of Lytro's former employees transitioned to work at Google.[13][14]
- 2Products
History[edit]
While he was a researcher at Stanford, Ren Ng was photographing a friend's daughter and noticed, 'it was incredibly difficult to focus the image properly and capture her fleeting smile in just the right way'.[15] After completing his Ph.D, Ng decided to use his experience in light field research to 'start a company that would produce light-field cameras that everyone could enjoy.'[15] The company was originally named Refocus Imaging, before launching as Lytro.
Lytro board members include Ben Horowitz, general partner at Andreessen Horowitz; Patrick Chung, partner at NEA; and TiVo cofounder Mike Ramsay,[16] with Charles Chi of Greylock Partners serving as Executive Chairman.[17] Advisors include Intuit cofounder Scott Cook, VMware cofounder Diane Greene, Dolby Labs chairman Peter Gotcher and Sling Media cofounder Blake Krikorian.[16]
Lytro founder Ng was Lytro's first CEO. Lytro's Chief Technology Officer Kurt Akeley was a founding member of Silicon Graphics.[17] In June 2012 Ng announced that he would be changing roles and be Lytro's Executive Chairman focused on innovation. Charles Chi would change from Executive Chairman to interim CEO while Lytro's board begins looking for a new CEO.
In June 2011, Apple Inc CEO Steve Jobs purportedly met with Ng to discuss improvements for the iPhone camera.[18]
Although not a true light field camera, the HTC One (M8) mobile phone released in April 2014 mimics Lytro's depth-sensing functionality through the use of a second camera and stereoscopic post processing.[19]
On March 27, 2018, Lytro announced that it was shutting down operations.[20] In November, 2018, the original Lytro website lytro.com was redirecting to Raytrix, a German manufacturer of scientific light field cameras.
Products[edit]
Original Lytro Light Field Camera[edit]
The original camera is a square tube less than five inches long with a lens opening at one end and a 1.52-inch (38.6 mm) LCD touch screen at the other. The original camera features an 11 megaray sensor. The lens has 8x optical zoom and an f/2.0 aperture. The first generation of the camera comes in two options: one with 8GB of memory (which can hold 350 pictures) and one with 16GB (which can hold 750 pictures).[8][22][23][24] Megaray is a measurement Lytro uses to describe how many megapixels are in the sensor beneath a microlens array. Raw data is processed to produce photographs with a resolution of 1.2 megapixels.[25]
Lytro Illum[edit]
The Lytro ILLUM features a 40 megaray sensor (in comparison to the original Lytro Camera's 11 megaray sensor), and a more powerful processor. The 30-250mm lens has 8.3x optical zoom, an f/2.0 aperture, and 1:3 macro focus capability. The lens was designed to weigh half a pound to make the camera lighter and more agile. The Illum features a 1,152,000 pixel articulated 4-inch (101.6 mm) LCD touchscreen with a wide aspect ratio. A display overlay shows the photographer the relative focus of all objects in the frame, and which elements are re-focusable. The camera has an SD/SDHC/SDXC card slot and no internal storage. It also features a USB 3.0 port, external shutter release port, hot shoe, tripod mount, and removable battery. The CMOS image sensor measures 1/2-inch (6.4 x 4.8 mm) and the sensitivity can be varied from ISO 80 to 3200.[26][27][28]
Lytro Immerge[edit]
On November 5, 2015, Lytro announced Immerge, an end-to-end system for capturing light fields for use in creating virtual reality (VR) content.[29]
Investment[edit]
Funding Received: $140 Million in 4 rounds from 8 investors.[30] Most Recent Funding: $50 Million Venture on February 25, 2015.[31]Omicron cmc 256-6 user manual pdf.
Technology[edit]
Light-field photography (also known as plenoptic photography) captures information about the intensity of light in a scene, and also captures information about the direction that the light rays are traveling in space. Lytro's light field sensor uses an array of micro-lenses placed in front of an otherwise conventional image sensor; to sense intensity, color, and directional information.[32] Software then uses this data to create displayable 2D or 3D images.[33] Lytro trades maximum 2D resolution, at a given distance, for enhanced resolution at other distances. Users are able to convert the Lytro camera's proprietary image into a regular 2D image file, at any desired focal distance. The maximum Illum 2D resolution is 2450 × 1634 (4.0 megapixels), The 3D light-field resolution is 40 'megarays'.[34] The first generation camera has a maximum 2D resolution of 1080 × 1080 pixels (roughly 1.2 megapixels),[35]
Features of a light-field camera include:
- Variable depth of field and 'refocusing': Lytro's 'Focus Spread' feature allows the depth of field (depth of focus) of a 2 dimensional representation of a Lytro image to be expanded after a picture has been taken.[36] Instead of having to set the focus at a particular distance, 'Focus Spread' allows more of an 2D image to be in focus. In some cases this may be the entire 2D image field. Users also are able to 'refocus' 2D images at particular distances for artistic effects. The Illum allows the 'refocus-able' and 'Focus Spreadable' range to be selected using the optical focus and zoom rings on the lens. The Illum also features 'focus bracketing' to extend the refocusable range by capturing 3 or 5 consecutive images at different depths.[37]
- Speed: Because there is less need to focus the lens before taking a picture, a light field camera can capture images more quickly than conventional point-and-shoot digital cameras.[3] This is an advantage in sports photography, for example, where many pictures are lost because the cameras auto-focus system cannot be kept pointed precisely at a fast moving subject.
- Low-light sensitivity: The ability to adjust focus in post-processing allows the use of larger apertures than are feasible on conventional cameras, thus enabling photography in low-light environments.[3][16]
- 3D images: Since a plenoptic camera records depth information, stereo images can be constructed in software from a single plenoptic image capture.[38][39]
See also[edit]
References[edit]
- ^'Lytro Company Fact Sheet'(PDF). Lytro. Retrieved 24 June 2011.
- ^Azevedo, Mary Ann (1 July 2011). 'Lytro Inc. focused on its light field camera technology'. San Jose Business Journal. Retrieved 20 July 2011.
- ^ abcFried, Ina. 'Meet the Stealthy Start-Up That Aims to Sharpen Focus of Entire Camera Industry'. All Things Digital. Retrieved 24 June 2011.
- ^A Start-Up's Camera Lets You Take Shots First and Focus Later Steve Lohr, New York Times, 2011 June 21
- ^Andrew Couts, Digital Trends. 'Lytro: The camera that could change photography forever.' June 22, 2011. Retrieved July 21, 2011.
- ^'Lytro announces Light Field Camera'. Digital Photography Review. October 19, 2011.
- ^Inside the Lytro by Frank O'Connell, Business Day, New York Times, 2012 March 1
- ^ abDiana Samuels, Silicon Valley / San Jose Business Journal. 'Lytro ships first cameras to lucky customers.' Feb 29, 2012. Retrieved Apr 25, 2012.
- ^'Lytro unveils a more sophisticated 'light-field' camera'. Reuters. Retrieved 23 April 2014.
- ^By Heather Kylle, CNN.'/ Lytro refocuses with a new $1,600 camera.'April 22, 2014. Retrieved May 9, 2014.
- ^Nicole Lee (April 22, 2014). 'Lytro's new light-field camera looks like an actual camera, costs $1,599'. Engadget.
- ^'Lytro's Immerge aims to make virtual reality video more realistic ExtremeTech'. ExtremeTech. Retrieved 2015-11-15.
- ^Robertson, Adi (March 27, 2018). 'VR camera maker Lytro is shutting down, and former employees are going to Google'. The Verge. Vox Media. Retrieved 3 July 2018.
- ^Price, Molly (March 27, 2018). 'Google acquires some Lytro folks as the company shutters'. CNET. Retrieved 3 July 2018.
- ^ abBonnington, Christina (23 June 2011). 'Ren Ng Shares His Photographic Vision: Shoot Now, Focus Later'. WIRED. Retrieved 18 August 2011.
- ^ abcGeron, Tomio (21 June 2011). 'Shoot First, Focus Later With Lytro's New Camera Tech'. Forbes. Retrieved 19 August 2011.
- ^ ab'About Us'. Lytro. Retrieved 19 August 2011.
- ^Lance Whitney, CNET. 'Steve Jobs wanted to reinvent iPhone photography, says book.' January 24, 2012. Retrieved January 24, 2012.
- ^'HTC One 2 (M8): dual rear cameras for Lytro-like refocusing confirmed'. Stuff. Retrieved 25 May 2014.
- ^'To the Cinematic and VR Community, Live Long and Prosper'. March 2018. Archived from the original on 2018-03-28. Retrieved 2018-07-02.
- ^'Lytro Light Field Camera'. Industrial Designers Society of America. 2012. Retrieved 30 January 2019.
- ^Ned Potter, ABC News. 'Lytro Light-Field Camera: Shoot First, Ask Questions Later.' December 20, 2011. Retrieved December 20, 2011.
- ^Dante Cesa, Engadget. 'Lytro introduces world's first light field camera: f/2 lens, $399, ships early 2012.' Oct 19, 2011. Retrieved Apr 20, 2012.
- ^John Bradley, Wired. 'Focus on the Future.' Feb 29, 2012. Retrieved Apr 20, 2012.
- ^Michael Archambault (22 June 2015). 'Behind Lytro's Light Field Technology'. PetaPixel. Retrieved 21 November 2018.
- ^'Lytro's new light-field camera looks like an actual camera, costs $1,599'. Engadget. Retrieved 23 April 2014.
- ^'Lytro Illum changes focus even after you've taken the photo'. CNET. Retrieved 23 April 2014.
- ^'Lytro Illum changes focus even after you've taken the photo'. DPREVIEW. Retrieved 24 March 2015.
- ^'Lytro's Immerge aims to make virtual reality video more realistic ExtremeTech'. ExtremeTech. Retrieved 2015-11-05.
- ^Maya Kosoff, Business Insider. 'Lytro, a 'magic' camera startup that raised $140 million, announces layoffs and pivots to virtual reality.' February 26, 2015. Retrieved December 13, 2016.
- ^'CrunchBase Lytro Company page'. CrunchBase. Retrieved 26 June 2015.
- ^Coldewey, Devin. 'Doubts About Lytro's 'Focus Later' Camera'. TechCrunch. Retrieved 19 August 2011.
- ^Lars Rehm, DP Review. 'CES 2012: Lytro Photowalk.' Jan 13, 2012. Retrieved Apr 20, 2012.
- ^'Lytro Illum 40 Megaray Light Field Camera'. Digital Photography Review. Retrieved 2014-10-19.
- ^Goldman, Joshua (26 October 2011). 'Lytro camera: 5 things to know before you buy'. CNET Editor. CNET. Retrieved 21 November 2018.
- ^'Lytro software update introduces Focus Spread feature'. DPREVIEW. Retrieved 25 March 2015.
- ^'Depth Composition Features'. Lytro Illum manual. Lytro. Retrieved October 19, 2014.
- ^José Manuel Rodríguez-Ramos (1 April 2011). '3D imaging and wavefront sensing with a plenoptic objective'. SPIE.
- ^'Plenoptic lens arrays signal future?'. TVB Europe. 23 September 2011. Archived from the original on 18 December 2012.CS1 maint: BOT: original-url status unknown (link)
External links[edit]
Wikimedia Commons has media related to Lytro Inc. |
A light field camera, also known as plenoptic camera, captures information about the light field emanating from a scene; that is, the intensity of light in a scene, and also the direction that the light rays are traveling in space. This contrasts with a conventional camera, which records only light intensity.
One type of light field camera uses an array of micro-lenses placed in front of an otherwise conventional image sensor to sense intensity, color, and directional information. Multi-camera arrays are another type of light field camera. Holograms are a type of film-based light field image.
- 1Technology
- 2Manufacturers of light field cameras
Technology[edit]
Early research[edit]
The first light field camera was proposed by Gabriel Lippmann in 1908. He called his concept 'integral photography'. Lippmann's experimental results included crude integral photographs made by using a plastic sheet embossed with a regular array of microlenses, or by partially embedding very small glass beads, closely packed in a random pattern, into the surface of the photographic emulsion.
In 1992, Adelson and Wang proposed the design of a plenoptic camera that can be used to significantly reduce the correspondence problem in stereo matching.[1] To achieve this, an array of microlenses is placed at the focal plane of the camera main lens. The image sensor is positioned slightly behind the microlenses. Using such images, the displacement of image parts that are not in focus can be analyzed and depth information can be extracted.
Standard plenoptic camera[edit]
The 'standard plenoptic camera' is a standardized mathematical model used by researchers to compare different types of plenoptic (or light field) cameras. By definition the 'standard plenoptic camera' has microlenses placed one focal length away from the image plane of a sensor.[2][3][4] Research has shown that its maximum baseline is confined to the main lens entrance pupil size which proves to be small compared to stereoscopic setups.[1][5] This implies that the 'standard plenoptic camera' may be intended for close range applications as it exhibits increased depth resolution at very close distances that can be metrically predicted based on the camera's parameters.[6]
In 2004, a team at Stanford University Computer Graphics Laboratory used a 16-megapixel camera with a 90,000-microlens array (meaning that each microlens covers about 175 pixels, and the final resolution is 90 kilopixels) to demonstrate that pictures can be refocused after they are taken.[2]
Focused plenoptic camera[edit]
Lumsdaine and Georgiev described the design of a type of plenoptic camera in which the microlens array can be positioned before or behind the focal plane of the main lens. This modification samples the light field in a way that trades angular resolution for higher spatial resolution. With this design, images can be post focused with a much higher spatial resolution than with images from the standard plenoptic camera. However, the lower angular resolution can introduce some unwanted aliasing artifacts.
Coded aperture camera[edit]
A type of plenoptic camera using a low-cost printed film mask instead of a microlens array was proposed by researchers at MERL in 2007.[7] This design overcomes several limitations of microlens arrays in terms of chromatic aberrations and loss of boundary pixels, and allows higher-spatial-resolution photos to be captured. However the mask-based design reduces the amount of light that reaches the image sensor compared to cameras based on microlens arrays.
Stereo with plenoptic cameras[edit]
Plenoptic cameras are good for imaging fast moving objects where auto focus may not work well, and for imaging objects where auto focus is not affordable or usable such as with security cameras.[8] A recording from a security camera based upon plenoptic technology could be used to produce an accurate 3D model of a subject.[9]
Manufacturers of light field cameras[edit]
Cameras available for purchase[edit]
Lytro was founded by Stanford University Computer Graphics Laboratory alumnus Ren Ng to commercialize the light field camera he developed as a graduate student there. Lytro has developed consumer light field digital cameras capable of capturing images using a plenoptic technique.[10]After Lytro ceased operations in March 2018, few options exist for purchasing light-field cameras.
Raytrix has sold several models of plenoptic cameras for industrial and scientific applications since 2010, with field of view starting from 1 megapixel.[11][12]
d'Optron and Rebellion Photonics sell several plenoptic cameras, specializing in microscopy and gas leak detection, respectively.
Other cameras[edit]
Pelican Imaging has thin multi-camera array systems intended for consumer electronics. Pelican's systems use from 4 to 16 closely spaced micro-cameras instead of a micro-lens array image sensor.[13]Nokia has invested in Pelican Imaging to produce a plenoptic camera system with 16-lens array camera expected to be implemented in Nokia smartphones in 2014.[14] More recently, Pelican has moved to designing supplementary cameras that add depth-sensing capabilities to a device's main camera, rather than stand-alone array cameras.[15]
The Adobe light field camera is a prototype 100-megapixel camera that takes a three-dimensionalphoto of the scene in focus using 19 uniquely configured lenses. Each lens will take a 5.2-megapixel photo of the entire scene around the camera and each image can be focused later in any way.[16]
The CAFADIS camera is a plenoptic camera developed by the University of La Laguna (Spain).[17] CAFADIS stands (in Spanish) for phase-distance camera, since it can be used for distance and optical wavefront estimation. From a single shot it can produce several images refocused at different distances, depth maps, all-in-focus images and stereo pairs. A similar optical design can also be used in adaptive optics in astrophysics, in order to correct the aberrations caused by atmospheric turbulence in telescope images. In order to perform these tasks, different algorithms, running on GPU and FPGA, operate on the raw image captured by the camera.
Mitsubishi Electric Research Laboratories's (MERL) light field camera[7] is based on the principle of optical heterodyning and uses a printed film (mask) placed close to the sensor. Any hand-held camera can be converted into a light field camera using this technology by simply inserting a low-cost film on top of the sensor.[18] A mask-based design avoids the problem of loss of resolution, since a high-resolution photo can be generated for the focused parts of the scene.
Amateur light field cameras[edit]
The modification of standard digital cameras requires little more than the capacity to produce suitable sheets of micro-lens material, hence a number of hobbyists have been able to produce cameras whose images can be processed to give either selective depth of field or direction information.[19]
Use in education[edit]
In a study published in 2017, researchers observed that incorporation of light field photographed images into an online anatomy module did not result in better learning outcomes compared to an identical module with traditional photographs of dissected cadavers.[20]
Lytro Camera Review 2015
Light field microscope[edit]
Stanford University Computer Graphics Laboratory has developed a light field microscope using a microlens array similar to the one used in the light field camera developed by the lab. The prototype is built around a Nikon Eclipse transmitted light microscope/wide-field fluorescence microscope and standard CCD cameras. Light field capturing ability is obtained by a module containing a microlens array and other optical components placed in the light path between the objective lens and camera, with the final multifocused image rendered using deconvolution.[21][22][23] A later version of the prototype added a light field illumination system consisting of a video projector (allowing computational control of illumination) and a second microlens array in the illumination light path of the microscope. The addition of a light field illumination system both allowed for additional types of illumination (such as oblique illumination and quasi-dark-field) and correction for optical aberrations.[22]
See also[edit]
References[edit]
- ^ abAdelson, E. H.; Wang, J. Y. A. (1992). 'Single Lens Stereo with Plenoptic Camera'. IEEE Transactions on Pattern Analysis and Machine Intelligence. 14 (2): 99–106. CiteSeerX10.1.1.53.7845. doi:10.1109/34.121783.
- ^ abR. Ng, M. Levoy, M. Bredif, G. Duval, M. Horowitz, and P. Hanrahan. Light Field Photography with a Hand-Held Plenoptic Camera. Stanford University Computer Science Tech Report CSTR 2005-02, April 2005.
- ^Lumsdaine, A., Georgiev, T., The Focused Plenoptic Camera, ICCP, April 2009.
- ^Hahne, C.; Aggoun, A.; Velisavljevic, V.; Fiebig, S.; Pesch, M. (2016). 'Refocusing distance of a standard plenoptic camera'. Optics Express. 24 (19): 21521–21540. doi:10.1364/oe.24.021521. hdl:10547/622011. PMID27661891.
- ^Hahne, C.; Aggoun, A.; Velisavljevic, V.; Fiebig, S.; Pesch, M. (2017). 'Baseline and Triangulation Geometry in a Standard Plenoptic Camera'(PDF). Int. J. Of Comput. Vis. (IJCV).
- ^Light field geometry estimator
- ^ abAshok Veeraraghavan, Ramesh Raskar, Amit Agrawal, Ankit Mohan and Jack Tumblin. Dappled Photography: Mask Enhanced Cameras for Heterodyned Light Fields and Coded Aperture Refocusing. ACM Transactions on Graphics, Vol. 26, Issue 3, July 2007.
- ^Polydioptric Camera Design, says good for following moving objects.
- ^Computer scientists create a 'light field camera' that banishes fuzzy photos, Anne Strehlow. Stanford Report. November 3, 2005.
- ^Lytro website
- ^One Camera With 40,000 Lenses Helps Prevent Blurry Images. Popular Science May 2011.
- ^The First Plenoptic Camera on the Market
- ^http://www.pelicanimaging.com/technology/paper.html.
- ^'Pelican Imaging's 16-lens array camera coming to smartphones next year'. May 2, 2013.
- ^Koifman, Vladimir (2015-07-25). 'Pelican Imaging Layoffs?'. Image Sensors World. Archived from the original on 26 November 2019. Retrieved 2015-11-17.
- ^Keats, Jonathon; Holland, Kris; McLeod, Gary. 'PopSci's How It Works – 100 Megapixel Camera'. PopSci.com. Popular Science. Archived from the original(Adobe Flash) on 2008-01-17. Retrieved 26 July 2009.
- ^'CAFADIS - University of la Laguna'. Archived from the original on 26 November 2019.
- ^http://www.umiacs.umd.edu/~aagrawal/sig08/BuildingLightFieldCamera.html.
- ^home build plenoptic camera
- ^Pascoe, Michael A.; Lee, Lisa M.J. (September 2017). 'Incorporation of Light Field Photography into an Online Anatomy Resource Does Not Influence Student Quiz Performance or Perceptions of Usability'. Medical Science Educator. 27 (3): 465–474. doi:10.1007/s40670-017-0410-8. ISSN2156-8650.
- ^Levoy, M; Ng, R; Adams, A; Footer, M; Horowitz, M (2006). 'Light Field Microscopy'. ACM Transactions on Graphics. 25 (3): 924–93. doi:10.1145/1141911.1141976.
- ^ abLevoy, M; Zhang, Z; McDowall, I (2009). 'Recording and controlling the 4D light field in a microscope'. Journal of Microscopy. 235 (2): 144–162. CiteSeerX10.1.1.163.269. doi:10.1111/j.1365-2818.2009.03195.x. PMID19659909.
- ^Levoy M. 2008. Stanford Light Field Microscope Project (web page). Stanford Computer Graphics Laboratory.
External links[edit]
Lytro Light Field Camera User Manual Panasonic Lx 100 Manual
- Article by Ren Ng of Stanford (now at Lytro)
- Say Sayonara to Blurry Pics. Wired.
- Light Field Microscopy video by Stanford Computer Graphics Laboratory.
- www.plenoptic.info Website explaining the plenoptic camera with animations.