Lytro
| Lytro Inc.
|
|
|---|---|
 |
|
| legal form | Corporation |
| founding | 2006 |
| resolution | 2018 |
| Reason for dissolution | liquidation |
| Seat |
Mountain View , CA, United States
|
| management | Ren Ng (Executive Chairman) Kurt Akeley (CTO) Jason Rosenthal (CEO) |
| Branch | photography |
| Website | www.lytro.com |
Lytro Inc. was a US company based in Mountain View , California, USA, that manufactured plenoptic cameras for private users. The devices made it possible to determine which image area is in focus only after the exposure. The company announced on March 28, 2018 that it would cease operations.
history
The computer scientist Ren Ng, who previously at Stanford University to light fields researched and finally his doctorate about founded the company in 2006 under the name of Refocus Imaging . Jason Rosenthal was the boss. Lytro launched the first model in the US in 2012; since July 2013 it was also available in Germany. In April 2014 Lytro introduced the second generation of their cameras with the Illum. This was designed as a bridge camera and has been available in Germany since summer 2014. In April 2016, the range of light field cameras for private customers was discontinued. From then on, Lytro concentrated on developing a light field VR platform.
On March 28, 2018, it was announced via the company blog that the company would cease operations. A few days earlier, the press had already speculated that Google would take over the company for an amount between 25 and 40 million US dollars. An official statement from Google has not yet been given. It became known that Google will probably take over large parts of the team.
technology
In plenoptic photography , also known as light field photography, the camera not only records the position and intensity of the incident light rays, but also their direction. This light field measurement is made possible by a grid consisting of several microlenses in front of the image sensor.
The camera's software can use this data to calculate images with different focus and aperture settings. Thus it is z. B. possible to redefine the focus after exposure.
Since each pixel has to be recorded several times to record the light field, the 2D resolution is very limited compared to a conventional camera with a comparable image sensor. In addition, the file size of the recorded images and the computational effort required are significantly higher compared to a 2D image.
Products
Lytro
The light field sensor of the Lytro , which has been available since 2012, is organized in 540 × 540 positions of 6 × 6 directions each, i.e. it delivers 10.5 megarays. The 2D images exported by the proprietary software are interpolated to 1080 × 1080 pixels. The camera has an 8x optical zoom. The aperture coupled with the zoom keeps the f-number constant at f / 2.0, which is due to the working principle of the sensor. There is no optical focusing, the depth of field extends from just in front of the lens to infinity, with a correspondingly coarse depth resolution.
The camera is cuboid with a square cross-section, 11.2 cm long and has a weight of 214 g. On the back there is an LCD touchscreen with a 1.52 inch diagonal. The camera is available with 8 and 16 GB flash memory, sufficient for approx. 350 or 750 3D images. It also offers USB and WLAN interfaces.
front
back
Pattern of a microlens grid
Lytro ILLUM
The successor model, the Lytro ILLUM , came out in summer 2014. The CCD sensor is larger at 13 mm diagonal (1 / 1.2-inch format); The zoom lens has grown accordingly (still small image equivalent 30 to 250 mm, f / 2.0). The increase to 40 megaray fully benefits the 2D resolution, which is now nominally 4 megapixels (2450 × 1634 interpolated), effectively 1.5 to 2 megapixels. The number of depth levels is unchanged, but distributed over a significantly lower depth of field: the distance range that can be calculated in post-processing without significant loss of quality is shifted by optical focusing and must be determined before taking the picture, e.g. B. from 20 to 30 cm, from 60 cm to 1 m or from 1.5 m to infinity (the size of the area can be described by “just under a diopter ”). The camera supports the user with a depth histogram on the 4 "touchscreen or with a depth range autofocus.
The limitation of the depth range benefited the image quality, which, however, was not yet sufficient for professional use. Sales were so low that production was stopped in spring 2015 and the consumer market was abandoned.
Lytro Immerge
For the professional sector, the company is developing the Lytro Immerge , a planar array of 95 individual video cameras with a diameter of around 1.2 meters. The depth information is much more precise due to the larger base width. In addition, the angle-dependent reflection properties of the surfaces and the direction of incidence of the light are estimated. The associated software uses the data to calculate a 3D model of the moving scene in which users can not only turn their gaze and perceive depth using VR glasses, but can also move within a limited area (six degrees of freedom, 6DoF).
financing
Lytro has received a total of $ 150 million in funding. The investors include the venture capitalist Andreessen Horowitz.
Individual evidence
- ↑ a b To the Cinematic and VR Community, Live Long and Prosper. Accessed March 29, 2018 .
- ^ Lytro Company Fact Sheet. (PDF; 62 kB) Archived from the original on October 20, 2012 ; accessed on July 13, 2013 .
- ↑ Lytro hires new CEO. Archived from the original on August 11, 2013 ; accessed on July 16, 2013 .
- ^ Andreas Donath: Lichtfeldfotografie: Lytro is closed. Golem.de, March 28, 2018, accessed on March 29, 2018 .
- ↑ Radical Camera Lets You Pick What's Blurry And What's Not. Retrieved July 13, 2013 .
- ↑ pictures.lytro.com ( Memento of the original from June 27, 2017 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.
- ↑ Second video from 2:20 in: Lytro Illum: The future of photography in a practical test ( Memento of the original from July 21, 2017 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. . Chip.de, November 15, 2014.
- ↑ Lytro Technical Specifications ( Memento of the original dated February 19, 2017 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. .
- ^ Jason Rosenthal: Why I Lit Up Lytro and Scrapped the Strategy as CEO . PetaPixel, April 4, 2016.
- ↑ LightField Forum: Video: The Making of Hallelujah with Lytro Immerge . May 7, 2017.
- ↑ Lytro. Retrieved December 28, 2015 .
Web links
- Lytro. Retrieved October 16, 2015 (Lytro Official Website).
- Lytro Meltdown. Retrieved October 16, 2015 (detailed technical information on the Lytro camera for developers).