![]() There is a misconception among people who have written about the Lytro camera that one does not need to focus the camera at all, that it magically does it all for you. The bottom of the camera features the power-off button and the USB port for downloading images to your computer. The top of the Lytro camera features the shutter button and a zoom control that is activated by swiping your finger across the camera’s lens end. That is, when you first got the camera, I wasn’t aware that I needed to focus much less how to focus by tapping on the LCD screen. Its functionality is - almost - intuitive. The Lytro is a small hand-held photographic instrument with superb industrial design. But the photos I normally take have a different purpose and they don’t have the capability to be focused or refocused after-the-fact. In my world of print, a 3MB photo is laughably small. It takes what boils down to a 3MB photo, which is very small. ![]() It does not replace your point-and-shoot or DSLR camera. In actuality, the Lytro is a small, low-resolution digital camera with limited purpose. They make take a minute to load and to be fully functional, so please be patient.) (Editor’s note: The photos that are embedded in this story are indeed Living Pictures by the author so you can experiment with them for yourself. Click the leaf in the foreground to put it in focus, Then click the trees in the background to focus on them. This Living Picture, taken form the Lytro Web site, is an example of how you can experiment with focus. Living Picture photos are perfect for viewing live on a Web site, blog post, Facebook page, or other online entity. Lytro calls these images “Living Pictures.” The first time you see one, and experiment with focus, you will be impressed by how unusual these photos are. Click on another part of the same image, and that point comes into focus. Once the photo is on your computer screen, you click on any part of the image to bring that point into focus. The 11 million pieces of data the camera captures are written to a proprietary file that you download to your computer. Here’s one thing to get out of the way: the “focus later” aspect of the Lytro happens in special software after the shoot. The camera’s inventor, Ren Ng, says that the Lytro captures 11 million “light rays” in every photo. The camera captures all the light coming through the lens from all angles, striking an array of microlenses on its sensor. The Lytro uses a technique that is called plenoptic - or light field - photography. ![]() But does it work? Is this something you should add to your camera bag? I’ve had the opportunity to use one for several weeks now, and I’m pretty gung-ho. A new camera has been in the news recently: the Lytro, a $399 camera that allows you to take a photo now, and focus - or refocus - later.
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