About Lytro

Lytro will forever change how everyone takes and experiences pictures.

Light Field Capture Makes Living Filters Interactive and Amazing

Living Filters lets you apply stunning interactive special effects to your living pictures. These are filters like you’ve never seen before – filters that were never before possible. Living Filters uses light field capture to react to every click of the computer mouse with a playful response that shows off your unique style and imagination. There are nine creative filters, including the Crayon filter shown on this picture, that let you add drama, whimsy or artistic flair to your pictures.

You’ve probably played with popular filter apps that apply one effect to the whole photograph. For example, a black and white filter makes the entire photo black and white, or the app may combine effects to vignette the edges and boost the brightness in the middle. The results are static: every viewer sees the same result and the filter’s effect never changes.

Lytro’s Living Filters feature is different – more immersive, more interactive, and more fun. When you play with a Living Filter, you change the way the picture looks. When you share your pictures online, you and your friends can play with Living Filters simply by clicking on your picture. When viewed on a mobile device, the filter responds either to the tap of your finger.

Living Filters changes a picture based on light field capture and user interactions such as focus point, object depth, center of perspective, and more. For example, the Crayon filter has the in-focus area in color and the out-of-focus area in black and white. As you refocus, the color and black and white areas move, smoothly transitioning between the in- and out-of-focus areas.

Living Filters works with all living pictures, including any that you have taken before December 4, when Living Filters becomes available as a free Lytro Desktop update. You can buy a Lytro camera now with overnight shipping for delivery before Thanksgiving.

If you’d like to know more about how Living Filters work as well as future possibilities, read our whitepaper about the science inside Light Field Living Filters.

Lytro Cameras are for Sale in Hong Kong

After our recent announcements of new manual controls and expanded distribution in the United States, Canada, Australia and Singapore, we’re excited to share more news. Starting today, the Lytro camera will be available in retail stores in Hong Kong and Macau. The camera retails for HK $3,888 for the 8GB Electric Blue and Graphite models, and HK $4,688 for 16GB Red Hot Lytro camera.

Please see below for a full list of Hong Kong retailers, or check our “Where to Buy” page for purchasing options in other countries.

We have already seen some creative living pictures of Hong Kong and look forward to seeing what others photographers can capture.

Retail Locations in Hong Kong:

  • A&A Audio & Video Centre Ltd.
  • City Super
  • Crown Digital World
  • DC Fever
  • Delon Photo & Hi-Fi Centre Ltd.
  • Dollar Studio
  • Earner Development Ltd.
  • Pro Source Trading Int’l Company

Retail Locations in Macau:

  • One Central Store

Singapore Retailers Sell Lytro Cameras

We continue to expand purchase options for the Lytro camera in more countries and at more retailers. Starting today, the Lytro camera will be available in retail stores in Singapore. The camera retails for SGD 648 for the 8GB Electric Blue and Graphite models, and SGD 778 for 16GB Red Hot Lytro camera.

Please see below for a full list of retailers in Singapore, or check our “Where to Buy” page for details on all current purchasing locations around the world.

We have already seen some creative living pictures of Singapore and look forward to seeing what other local photographers capture and share.

Retail Locations:

  • Challenger Store
  • EpiCentre @ 313@somerset
  • Parisilk Electronics & Computers
  • South Asia Computer
  • SONG Brothers
  • Sprint-Cass Duty-Free Shops at Singapore Changi International Airport, Terminals 2 and 3

New Manual Controls Expand Creative Capabilities

We’re celebrating the launch of three big changes for the Lytro camera: new manual controls, new colors and new accessories.

Manual Controls – Creative Tools for Lytro Photographers

With new, easy-to-use, and readily accessible manual controls, Lytro camera owners have more creative capabilities with light field photography. “Manual controls give Lytro photographers the opportunity to take control of the exposure in a scene,” said Eric Cheng, Lytro’s director of photography. “We introduced these features as a result of feedback from our most creative camera owners, who are capturing things like subjects in motion or experimenting with artistic styles like light painting. With manual controls, they now have more flexibility as they push the boundaries of the light field.” Check out these examples for inspiration.

The new controls are:

  • Shutter Speed- By manually controlling the shutter speed, Lytro photographers can keep the shutter open longer to capture living pictures in dark conditions. The maximum shutter speed is 8 seconds and the minimum is 1/250 second.
  • ISO Sensitivity – Controlling ISO gives Lytro photographers more ways to take creative living pictures in a variety of lighting conditions, from low-light concerts and restaurants to brightly lit soccer fields and amusement parks. The ISO range is 80 (min) to 3200 (max).
  • Neutral Density (ND) Filter – When in full manual mode, Lytro photographers can turn on the ND Filter to adjust the amount of light captured in extremely bright settings.
  • Auto Exposure (AE) Lock – Lytro photographers can lock the auto exposure while changing the composition of a picture in a scene.

These controls are included in all new camera purchases starting today. For existing Lytro camera owners, the free camera update begins rolling out today. To check for the update, just plug your Lytro camera into your computer.

New Colors and Accessories – More Choices to Customize Your Camera

In addition to introducing new creative tools, we’re also offering two new colors (U.S. only), Seaglass and Moxie Pink, and two new accessories, a Camera Case and Camera Sleeve.

  • The Lytro camera in Seaglass – Available starting today, exclusively on Lytro.com (8GB, $399);
  • The Lytro camera in Moxie Pink – Starting today, available exclusively at Target.com and in November at CityTarget stores (8GB, $399);
  • Camera Case – Made of technical, coated canvas and lined with soft microfiber, it holds a Lytro camera and includes a removable bucket to hold several camera accessories. Available on Lytro.com and at select retailers ($59.95);
  • Camera Sleeve – Meant for everday use, the camera sleeve is made of technical, coated canvas and soft microfiber. It includes a matching wrist strap. Available on Lytro.com and at select retailers ($29.95).

The Grand Prize Goes to Light Field Photographer Ken Trombatore

We have a winner in the first light field photography contest ever. Ken Trombatore has won the Grand Prize in our Share the Fun Photography Contest with this submission, “Regan on the hunt.”

Judges Vincent Laforet, Heather Champ, Richard Koci Hernandez, and Eric Cheng, along with over 18,000 fan votes over the course of 7 weeks, determined the winner. According to Eric, Ken’s picture stood out among over 750 submissions, and beat the other 34 Weekly Finalists because of the unique subject matter and storytelling within the picture. “It’s an unusual moment. You can see the focus on the hunt in Regan’s expression. Then, there is the unknown story of what comes next.”*

How did Ken get the shot? “There are about three or four groundhogs that live in the field near my home,” explained Ken, who does sports photography for a running club and frequently shoots with a DSLR camera. “Every afternoon, we find the groundhogs and she chases them. Regan is eleven years old, so she’s more about the hunt than she is about the kill. To get this picture, I got as close as I could to the groundhog and got down low to frame the shot. When shooting with the Lytro camera, I look for the unique perspective, the one that you’re not used to getting with your regular camera.”

Congratulations to Ken, who has won a Master Light Field Photography Lesson with Eric Cheng, plus five Lytro cameras to gift to his (very good) friends. Thank you to the hundreds Lytro camera owners who submitted their pictures and an additional congratulations to all of the Weekly Finalists, who have their pictures featured in the Lytro picture gallery.

* No animals were injured :)

Lytro Named POPULAR MECHANICS Breakthrough Award Recipient

Popular Mechanics Breakthrough Awards 2012We are thrilled to share that POPULAR MECHANICS has awarded the Lytro camera a 2012 Breakthrough Award for setting benchmarks in design and engineering. This is a huge honor!

For those of you who are not familiar, the 8th annual POPULAR MECHANICS Breakthrough Awards recognize innovators and products that have dramatically advanced the fields of technology, medicine, space exploration, automotive design, environmental engineering and more.

We are in good company along past recipients of the Breakthrough Awards including James Cameron, genomics pioneer J. Craig Venter, efficiency expert Amory Lovins, inventor and FIRST Robotics founder Dean Kamen, and humanitarian engineer Amy Smith.

Be sure to check out Lytro and other winners in the November issue of POPULAR MECHANICS, available on newsstands October 16. For now, you can watch Glenn Derene demonstrate the camera on the Today Show.

Visit NBCNews.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy

Light Field Photography Contest Update

The world’s first light field photography contest will come to a conclusion in just a few more days, on Sunday, September 30.

No more dilly-dallying! Submit your light field pictures, or vote to be eligible to win a Lytro camera of your own.

Our newest Weekly Finalists in the Share the Fun Photography Contest include Ken Ezell, Kevin Gray, Juliet Fiss, Roger Hall, and Nancy Lundebjerg, who submitted this picture, “Fairy Wings.”

We’ve seen over 730 submissions that have been narrowed to 30 Weekly Finalists, with the help of our weekly guest judges:

Just five more Finalists will be selected with the help of David Pierce from The Verge, before director/photographer Vincent Laforet helps our regular panel of judges, Eric Cheng, Heather Champ, and Koci Hernandez determine the Grand Prize winner.

You don’t need a camera to get involved. Your vote helps determine who becomes a Weekly Finalist, and gives you a chance to win a Lytro camera of your own.

 

Lytro’s Going Global! And Expanding in the U.S., too

We’re taking the picture revolution on the road, making the Lytro camera available to more creative photographers in the United States and around the world. Since our first shipments of the Lytro camera only six months ago, we’ve been inundated with requests to bring the Lytro camera to countries near and far and to stores near you.

In the United States, starting in October, retailers Target.com, BestBuy.com, and Amazon.com will sell the Lytro camera. Starting in November, the Lytro camera also will be sold in all of the new CityTarget stores, located in Chicago, downtown Los Angeles, San Francisco, Seattle, and Westwood, California. Internationally, starting in October, the Lytro camera will be available in Australia, Canada, Hong Kong and Singapore.

Details about Where to Buy and the schedule for availability:

  • Online at Target.com, BestBuy.com and Amazon.com starting October 9
  • Online at Future Shop in Canada, starting October 9
  • In-store through retailers in Australia, starting October 10
  • In-store through retailers in Hong Kong and Singapore, starting mid-October
  • In-store at CityTarget, starting November
  • If you don’t see your country listed, please sign up on our international interest list.

The first Lytro camera owners have shared nearly 400,000 living pictures to Lytro.com since we began selling in the United States. Now, as we start selling around the world, we’re looking forward to seeing the continued expansion of creativity with light field photography. Happy shooting!

Lytro Goes to Europe: Meet us during Photokina in Cologne

Next week, the Lytro Team is headed to Photokina in Cologne, Germany. Join us for a presentation by Lytro Director of Photography, Eric Cheng:

Turning Light Into Living Pictures
Photokina Communities Hall 5.1

Light field photography has the potential to revolutionize the way we take and experience pictures. This session will cover the capabilities of the Lytro camera and light field photography, including where the technology is today and a look at what it means for the industry and the future of photography.

Thursday, Sept. 20, 12:15-12:45pm
Friday, Sept. 21, 12:15-12:45pm
Saturday, Sept. 22, 2:30-3:00pm

This week, Eric will share this presentation at Photoshelter’s Luminance Conference at 9:15am on Thursday, Sept. 13.

Photowalks
If you’d like a chance to get your hands on a Lytro camera, register for one of three Lytro Photowalks. Eric and several other members of the Lytro Team will share tips and advice to help you quickly learn how to shoot with the Lytro camera. The Photowalks will be held outside of the Koelnmesse, so you do not need admission to Photokina to participate. Space is limited.

The Top Fifteen Living Pictures

Fifteen Weekly Finalists’ pictures now are featured in the Lytro Picture Gallery, including this one by Glen Vigus. Our Share the Fun Photography Contest was designed to highlight the creativity and photographic skills of new light field photographers. Congratulations to Greg Tokarski, Jeff Wilson, Joe D’Anna, and Mike Frank, who also became Finalists this week.

All of the Finalists are eligible to win the Grand Prize, a Master Light Field Photography Lesson with Eric Cheng plus five Lytro cameras to share with very good friends. You could win a camera of your own too. Voters are entered in a sweepstakes with three new winners selected each week.

Next week’s guest judge is Coco Rocha, the first high fashion model photographed with the Lytro camera. Besides walking the runway for top designers, including Jean Paul Gaultier, Coco is frequently featured in the pages of top fashion magazines around the world, including Vogue, Harper’s Bazaar, W, and Elle. She also actively volunteers for charities such as the Children’s Aid Society.

Want some tips to win? Check out this prior contest update, as well as Eric Cheng’s light field photography podcasts.