Lytro comes with new Illum lightfield camera

Lytro has announced the Illum, the company’s second lightfield camera. Unlike the first model, simply called Lytro, the Illum looks more like a traditional camera. The resolution has also been increased thanks to a 40 ‘megaray’ sensor.

According to the manufacturer, the Illum is a logical development of the Lytro, the first camera that the company released and with which a different focus point can be chosen afterwards. According to the manufacturer, the resolution is 40 megarays, while the first generation Lytro had to make do with 11 megarays. The 40 megaray corresponds to a ‘flat’ 4 megapixel photo, Lytro says. The image processing is provided by a Snapdragon 801 soc.

The new 0.93kg lightfield camera has a fixed 30-250mm lens with the fixed aperture of f/2 and 8x optical zoom. Partly because a viewfinder is missing, the adjustable touchscreen at the back is slightly tilted in relation to the body. There are only four buttons on the back: operation is largely via the 800×480 pixel 4″ touchscreen, where the software can indicate to the user via a histogram which part of a composition is within the depth of field range of the lightfield camera. fall.

Lytro has also made the Illum more versatile than its predecessor. For example, the Illum is equipped with an SD card reader, 802.11n WiFi and a removable battery, while the camera can also be placed on a tripod and a flash can be used. The software has also been updated. For example, captured photos can be exported as a video.

The Illum should be available in the US in July with a solid suggested retail price of USD 1599. With a pre-order before July 15, the price drops by $100.