More ways to get your hands on a Lytro

Posted on November 11, 2011 by Lytro

Lytro is coming to Times Square – and maybe your city too!

Lytro cameras will be on display, and available for hands-on, in-store demos, at the WIRED Store in New York City. Located at 42nd and Broadway, the 7th annual WIRED Store promises a first look at unique gadgets and gear, events, installations and experiences that embody the “WIRED lifestyle.” The three Lytro camera models will be featured along with more than 200 other hot new products. Visit the store between noon and 7pm Wednesdays through Sundays between Friday, Nov. 18 and Saturday, Dec. 24 (closed Thanksgiving Day) to request a Lytro camera demo with one of the WIRED Store employee “Ambassadors.”

We’ve also started hosting Lytro Demo Days near our headquarters in Mountain View, CA, and we’re opening our next one, on Friday, November 18, to the public. Pre-registration is required, and limited to 40 people. (If you end up on the waitlist, we’ll do our best to get you a priority invite to a future Demo Day.)

Are you thinking, “But what about me?” If you’re not heading to New York City for the holidays, and don’t live near Mountain View, how can you get your hands on a Lytro camera? You can vote to help us determine where we should host future Lytro Demo Days: Atlanta, Austin, Boston, Chicago, Seattle, or submit a write-in vote for your city.

Pk

Is Lytra available in europe now?? In begium or germany?
Quek Ming Yeow

Was wondering are there any examples of night shots ?
Was thinking of using this for travel photography.

Possible?
- Lytro
  
  The Lytro can handle many low-light shots, but darkness is another story. More info in our FAQs.
wildta

Is it possible to have the complete picture in focus both fore and backgrounds?
- Lytro
  
  “All in focus” is possible and coming soon. More in our FAQs.
Stephen

What potential! The file contains so much useful information. The pictures look like they have the depth of field expected with f2 – does the desktop software allow you to recompose the picture with different depth of field corresponding to a different shooting f-stop? Also, seems like it would be a natural to combine light field photography with eye-tracking, which could create a truly immersive picture viewing experience. And pattern-recognition algorithms agains the light field, rather than a traditional 2D image, could transform facial recognition, webcams, etc. Can’t wait to see how this all plays out over the next few years. And, of course, can’t wait to get my hands on one of these!
http:704dujour.com D

Lytro-
Come to Charlotte, NC! We would love to have you! If you have a chance, check out my blog post on your amazing new gadget- just helping to get the word out!
Presley

Hi. I’m not sure where to submit this question so I’ll ask it here and hope for some sort of response from Lytro.

I remember reading academic papers about experiments in light-field-type photography almost 10 years ago and am quiet excited that someone’s finally brought it to the consumer market.

But I have some concerns about Lytro’s implementation. Not so much the hardware but rather the file format.

I realize it’s impossible to store light-field type images in one of the traditional image file formats. But there’s no mention anywhere on your website regarding developer documentation of your new light-field format.

I’m a big supporter of free software but not one of those types that demands that all software has to be free & open source. So although it would be great if you did openly license & distribute the source code for your software I can perfectly understand why you may not want to do that.

But the file format in and of itself *must* be documented. (And similarly free of patent-based threats if re-implemented.) I don’t want my photos forever tied to your proprietary software. If I want to do something silly like display a ‘living photo’ on my linux desktop I should be able to do that. (Or even simply write a ‘living photo’ viewer for linux.) I want to be able to continue viewing my ‘living photos’ 65 years from now (assuming I’m still around than) on Windows 2075 after Lytro has gone bankrupt. (Ok, ok, nobody wants Lytro to go bankrupt, but it is a possibility). Without a documented file format that can’t happen.

You promise to release developers APIs later, but that isn’t the same thing and, quiet frankly, although a good move, APIs are not enough. I’m still inevitably tied to your software when using an API.

And ultimately other companies will eventually come out with their own light-field-type photography. If you don’t open up your file format then they’ll create their own competing formats. And then everybody will lose. But if you open up your format now there’s a decent chance it could become an industry standard (or at least contribute to one).
- Lytro
  
  Have you seen our new blog post on the The Science Inside Living Pictures? Please note the last paragraph: “This is just the beginning of our work to explore the full potential of light field technology. For now, we’re very focused on getting the first Lytro camera in people’s hands. But, we are also thinking about developers. Besides supporting easy online sharing, another goal in designing our LFP format was to make it extensible to support future capabilities. Want to explore with us? Sign up for developer updates.”
  - Presley
    
    Thanks.
    
    Although that still leaves things a little nebulous as to exactly what you’ll be doing it seems Lytro does at least seem to be heading in the right direction.
    
    And of course I understand the current priority is getting cameras out to people. (I can’t even get one in Canada yet, but yes, I’m signed up for future notifications.) So I’ll wait a few months to see how things unravel.
    
    And good luck to the company on making the camera and light-field photography in general a success.
    - Lytro
      
      Thanks – glad you signed up for updates. We’ll keep sharing more.
  - denkpat
    
    Is there any discussion of what this technology could mean to photomodeling? For example, what are the cameras potential uses with Autodesk’s Photofly ?
coola1321

When can I buy it in Australia? I really want one!
Kiran

I have went to the wired store in NYC on the first day they opened the store and was half happy to see lytro locked inside the glass… ( I had a lood at the device :) ) I did not get a change to get hands on… Yesterday when I went to the wired store i had a chance to get a hands on, but they said they do not have the software to load the snaps into mac.. Are you planning to do any instore full demo in NYC?
- Lytro
  
  Stay tuned.
Paul

Put in a full frame sensor and you’ll have a real revolution not to mention a new generation of henri cartier bressons!
http://zwavetech.ca David Johl

Need to know if we can purchase in bulk, @wholesale pricing
Can someone help in a contact name?
Al B

Any chance you will be selling this awesome gadget in the United Kingdom?
- Lytro
  
  If you haven’t done so already, sign up to be notified about future shipments outside the U.S.
http://www.lumiererouge.com Francois

How do you explain that a 5 $ memory chip extra cost make the model 100 $ more expensive ?
Red paint is very expensive ?

Francois, France
http://pennypup.wordpress.com Kris

Plans to come to Ottawa, Canada? =D
Alex

Any chance we will be able to share through Flickr? I spend much more time there than the current choices.
http://www.beckmann.com Gerd Beckmann

What is the time required for a complete light field ‘exposure’ ? is motion during exposure captured (and accessible) from the sensor as a vector and can these data be determined from sequential light field exposures – especially for multiple objects in a l’light field’ of view? Can Doppler shift be resolved from a light field – i.e. what is the spectral resolution of the sensor? What is the spectral range of the sensor – I see no cut off filters in the schematic – is near IR resolvable?

Also, what is the maximum rate of acquiring of light field photos, I.e. fields per second?

Are light fields ‘RAW’ or have they been wavelet transform processed?

Will review dissertation

And how about mounting two devices next to one another like the new HERO PRO HD-II 3-D enclosure? You might want to consider modular product design such as GO-Pro has adopted , enabling ‘add ons’ like LCD, Battery and WI-FI (early 2012) for wireless control and streaming for up to 50 HERO cameras.

What is the Z buffer resolution (i.e. ability to resolve and individual plane of a lught field) and will it be selectable?

Can an arbitrary plane (or other defined surface) defined by three light field coordinates as an example of a plane be specified such that non-equidistant objects in a light field exposure be simultaneously in focus?
- Lytro
  
  The dissertation may help with some of your questions, and check out the FAQs on our Support site, too.
Danace

I was excited to find out the features of the camera and decided to check out in 42nd street in New York. Sadly, I was told that there is no demonstration and they don’t know if there is ever going to be one since the company has yet contact them about the product. Honestly I don’t think I want to trust a company who doesn’t even show up in one of the biggest city that they can promote to. Like I said I was excited, I was told that the pictures aren’t really the great from the person who has a chance to try it. He said that it is very creative and that is a really good feature of the camera. Good job dropping the ball and now someone isn’t even giving your product a good review.
- Lytro
  
  Danace – Thanks for sharing this. We traveled to New York and trained the WIRED Store “Ambassadors” on how to demo the camera. We will be hosting more Demo Days in the future, so please stay tuned for more information on that.
kip folsom

please come to omaha…. or sell me one “mail order,” I’m ready to buy!!
Steve Leeke

It looks like the 2D export resolution is currently 1MP. Is it reasonable to expect this to increase rapidly over time to the point where 10MP resolution exports will be available?

Thanks for making cameras relevant again – and not just a feature in a cellphone! Although I’m sure a Lytro in an iPhone would be pretty cool! Would that be a LyPhone? :)
andreas

would like to be able to take ultra-long shots, such as several hours, in plain daylight.

andreas
Pingback: The Advent of the Computational Camera
Wolfgang

What about coming to Europe? Or at least thinking about a way to sell it there? The world is bigger than just USA…

If you need help to sell Lytro in Europe, contact me :-)
- Lytro
  
  If you haven’t done so already, you can sign up to be notified about future shipments outside the U.S.
- Michael
  
  Wolfgang – any idea how to get it in Europe?
  - http://Europeshipment Klaus
    
    I was trying to use my (german) credit card and have it shipped to friends in the US. Even this did not work as the payment system is too smart for that and won´t allow human interaction.
    
    Maybe you guys just aren´t interested.
    
    Yes, I had signed up ages ago….
Megan

How about Denver?
http://manylittletreasuresinlife.blogspot.com Maria

Would it be okay to create a link and a photo to your site? I love the lytro and want all my friends to see this incredible device!
- http://manylittletreasuresinlife.blogspot.com Maria
  
  Used the embed from Youtube :) Can’t wait for Christmas to have my own!!
- Lytro
  
  Go for it!
Kim

I just bought one online right now coz i’m convinced that this is the next imaging tech to become a hit hence the decision to buy. My question is since it doesn’t have a flash can it take pictures at night or in dark settings? And oh by the way i’m from asia but i have a family in the US but i can’t wait for it’s release here. Hope you can gimme a swift reply
- Lytro
  
  More information about low-light shooting is available in our FAQs.
http://kiding.kmug.co.kr Don Kim

I truly want to take a look at a Lytro, and buy one, but I’m in South Korea.
There is no way you’re gonna be in Seoul, and also, after the official release in 2012, I wouldn’t even get a chance to buy one. So Sad. :(
- Carol
  
  You should be able to order one online, I would think.
Liz Oliver

Hi,
I am writing from Germany and would like to know if you have any plans for Europe?

Liz
Bernie

There are problems with your Vote for a city webpage. When I fill out the form and hit submit it tells me that I am already registered (I am) so it won’t let me vote. And when I check other for the type or camera it tells me to fill in the type of camera I use but there is no space to tell you.

Anyway, I vote for Dallas.
- Lytro
  
  Thanks for letting us know Bernie. We’ll look into this, and note your vote.
Joseph Hyde

I would love to get my hand on a Lytro Camera…I let my pre-order lapse…when the Lytro is more ‘camera like’, enough for me that is…and also $500 for a shell with a lens and sensor, USB Port is more then I would want to spend for that. When Lytro comes out with a model that is more like a real camera…even if it’s basically only in the body of the camera and $350 then I’ll reconsider.

That being said until others come out with ‘light field’ cameras Lytro got there first and the technology does have some very very interesting possibilities. One would be in high speed photography wher the whole scene is in focus at once and even being able to have ’3D’ movies of the action.

I’m sure all of this is coming but I am sure that at present there are some constraints holding it back financial/technical.

Lytro Good Stuff.
Bevin

I wrote-in Nashville, TN, but if it’s considered too close to Atlanta, I’d probably make a trip to Atlanta! :-D