Mountain Valley, CA—Lytro, Inc., creator of the world’s first consumer light field camera, added manual controls for all new cameras and a free firmware update for existing customers. Lytro cameras offer photographic capabilities never before possible, such as focusing a picture after it’s taken, creating interactive living pictures that can be endlessly refocused and enjoyed by friends and family online.
The company noted that with “the easy-to-use and readily accessible manual controls, Lytro photographers can take even more creative living pictures” in a variety of conditions from low-light settings to high-speed subjects.
“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.”
The new features include manual controls for shutter speed, ISO sensitivity, the neutral density filter and autoexposure lock. 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.
Controlling ISO now 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 80–3200. And, when in full manual mode, Lytro photographers can also turn on the ND (neutral density) filter to adjust the amount of light captured in extremely bright settings. They can also lock the autoexposure while changing the composition of a picture in a scene.
New Accessories and Colors
Lytro is building on its family of camera products with new colors. The camera is now offered in a choice of red hot, electric blue, graphite and the new seaglass and moxie pink. The company is also introducing a camera case and a protective camera sleeve.
The 8GB versions of Lytro, including the new colors, are available for $399. The case, made of coated canvas and lined with soft microfiber, holds a Lytro camera and includes a removable bucket to hold several accessories. $59.95.
The camera sleeve, meant for everyday use, is also made of coated canvas and soft microfiber. It includes a matching wrist strap. $29.95. lytro.com
