Following the introduction of its Immerge virtual reality system, Lytro, the "light field" camera company whose consumer models we now see discounted nearly everywhere, recently left the consumer space to concentrate on and introduce its new product, Lytro Cinema. Offering a complete solution with an included server to handle the 755 megapixels of data at up to 300 frames per second (not typos), the Lytro Cinema is a new kind of too-good-to-be-true beast. But the most incredible thing about the camera? It's no lie.
As the questionnaire for a trial of the system asks for production budget estimates of the largest film you're working on in increments of "Under $10M" all the way to "Over $50M," you can be sure the Lytro Cinema won't be cheap. It must take a supercomputer to run all that data regardless. And as photos show the form of the camera is more that of a larger studio camera as opposed to a RED-type system, it won't help directors win awards in fast-action sequences of flying cameras. But the Lytro Cinema offers something other systems cannot (apart from its ridiculous resolution and maximum frame rate).
Since every pixel has full directional information, depth can be measured at any part of the image. This allows editors to refocus, change the depth of field, and, perhaps most importantly, pull out and edit specific objects or entire sections of a scene in post without the need for a green screen or otherwise more complicated effects.
After some experimentation in the consumer market, perhaps Lytro has found its true calling.
Awesome read! This is a beast, want one.
Rumours I've been hearing is the thing starts at $125,000 to rent for a small production. Start saving your pennies!
This looks amazing, and I hope that Lytro is successful in selling it to the industry. Even moreso than this particular camera this hints at their future developments as they make them smaller and more capable. Imagine how crazy a RED-sized version of this would/will be 10 years from now?
Making the sensor smaller would hinder the ability to re-position the camera since the sensor would cover a smaller area around the subject. But I consider the re-position ability less important compared to the other attributes this camera has and thus making a smaller-sized version would of course be the next step in product development. This way the camera could be placed on a regular HeavyDuty-tripod and not on a pickup truck.
It will be very interesting to see what this leads to in the years to come. It could definitely cut a lot of production jobs (ACs and grips specifically), cut the need for multiple cameras, and streamline vfx.
But you'd lose the collaboration which goes into these productions and lose the look of the film/video. Lenses, filters, and the type of cameras chosen do so much to create the look of the image-and computers can't quite replicate the organic feel of film, or the distortions a vintage anamorphic or Cooke lens gives... I'm not sure I like the direction this would lead to from a cinematography standpoint.
Sure, but will it mount to a drone? Or a Steadicam, for that matter? :-)
Hum...Just like their other cameras the images look weird to me. Not sure if any footage from that promo was actual footage, but it would be interesting to see.
I read an article where it explains how the demo video is actually filmed with a green screen, to demonstrate what this video camera should be able to do. No one has seen the end product yet. And 775MP ~ 40k resolution sounds cool but lets see if they can deliver. Also, how do they plan on handling 400GB/s transfer speeds?
I guess time will tell if this will be revolutionary or just another flop like the illum that was sold for 80% off.
I can't help but be skeptical. "We just crushed every digital motion imaging company by whole orders of magnitude" prrrrrooobably comes with a catch.
Looks like Lytro realized the "Tesla Model" of development was the way to go. Start with the expensive, luxury, low-volume technology and use that to fund future consumer tech.
I know they started with the consumer camera, but those were an absolute toy; a proof of concept. By really starting over from the top (Roadster), next they can fund professional photography cameras (Model S/X). Then with the profits from that, they can fund serious consumer cameras (Model 3).