lytro

If there was one camera that got people talking about the future of digital photography last year, it was the Lytro. Just looking at it you know this isn't an ordinary point-and-shoot digital camera.

The smooth metal, two-tone box--4.4 inches long and 1.6 inches square--strays far away from what you expect a camera to look like. It's basically a metal tube housing its lens with a constant f/2.0 aperture throughout its 8x optical zoom.

Its controls are just as simple with nothing more than power and shutter release buttons, a tiny touch-sensitive strip to … Read more

Just a few months before his death, Steve Jobs was envisioning a major refinement to the iPhone camera as he met with the CEO of a company expanding the boundaries of photography.

Though the iPhone 4S camera delivered improvements in megapixels, sharpness, and performance, Jobs as usual wanted to push the envelope even further, according to 9to5Mac's advance peek at a new book called "Inside Apple" by Adam Lashinsky.

Toward that end, the late Apple leader met with Ren Ng, CEO of a photography company called Lytro, in June of last year.

Looking to advance the current … Read more

It's sad but unsurprising that Kodak appears headed for bankruptcy protection. And that should be a cautionary tale for camera industry powers that might think themselves better off.

Kodak, a technology titan from an earlier industrial age, has been struggling financially for years as digital photography killed Kodak's former cash cow, film. Bankruptcy protection, as reported yesterday in the Wall Street Journal, could open the door to some otherwise difficult options such as evading its pension obligations.

But fundamentally, it's hard to see Kodak surviving except as a shadow of its former self. Some technology bright spots--digital … Read more

SmartPlanet talks to Lytro founder Ren Ng about how the Silicon Valley startup is re-imagining the digital camera with its patented light-field photography technology. Ng also discusses his future plans, including the ability for users to capture images that are more three-dimensional.

This video originally appeared on SmartPlanet with the headline " Inside the Lytro camera, and the start-up's 3D future."

Related SmartPlanet links:

In case you missed it last week, Lytro, a Silicon Valley startup, gave the first public demonstrations of its ultracompact camera that uses a technology called light-field photography. Without getting bogged down in the science of it, the technology allows the camera to shoot instantly without the need to focus first.

Shooting performance is definitely a stumbling block for point-and-shoot cameras, so eliminating that from the equation is certainly a selling point, even at the camera's high starting price of $399. What you get after you shoot, though, is not a standard photo. Instead, you get what Lytro calls living pictures that allow you to refocus the image over and over again using Lytro's software.

So, while this technology is undoubtedly cool, the Lytro camera might just be too limiting for its own good. Before you get out your credit card for the preorder, here are some things to consider.… Read more

VidBlogger Nation's founder Marc Scarpa joins us to talk about his Social TV Network and the rise of new media. Buzz Out Loud's own legal advisor Gil Cabrera joins us to talk about Samsung and its reach for something, anything in their patent battles with Apple. Guess what, they aren't winning. But you know who IS winning? Steve Ballmer. It's Gadgets Galore with the Samsung Nexus, Droid Razr and the Lytro camera. Which one is Molly going to buy?

It's a busy job being president of CBS Interactive, but Jim Lanzone takes an hour to sit down with CNET's The 404 Podcast to talk shop, so we're minding our Ps and Qs, our Fs....Ss....Bs....and Ds.

Jim kicks off the conversation and tells us about his experience in the start-up world with eTour, Clicker, and Ask.com, then we explore his ideas about the future of television and how Web programming will compete with DVRs.

We'll also chat about GameSpot and EA teaming up for The Controller, a competition reality show where the best pro-gamers from around the country battle in a high-stakes competition without ever touching the controller.

Finally, we're taking questions from the live chat room and talking with Jim about today's tech news headlines, like the new Lytro camera that captures light in every direction in every point in space (whoa), the most annoying tech words in Web 2.0, and a reminder to turn off Siri access in your iPhone 4S's lock screen!… Read more

Those cameras that everyone calls point-and-shoots? For years, they've involved a lot more than pointing and shooting. They give you different settings for portraits, low-light situations and sports shots. You can turn the flash on or off. You get to choose the resolution and image quality. You can capture in HDR. Most models let you burrow into endless manual settings if you want precise control. Did I mention you can record video?

And then there's Lytro's camera, which was revealed yesterday at a press event led by founder Ren Ng. We already knew that the Silicon … Read more

Get ready for camera 3.0. Because next year, you might have to decide whether an 11-megaray sensor is enough for your new light-field camera.

Lytro, a Silicon Valley startup, today unveiled its radical new camera--also called the Lytro. With it, the company hopes to rewrite the rules with a technology called light-field photography, but the scale of the company's ambition is matched by the scale of its challenge.

On the outside, the Lytro looks different--a smooth, two-tone elongated box 4.4 inches long and 1.6 inches square. At one end is the lens and at the other … Read more