Hey guys, Brian Tong here with CNET TV and we have a first look at the Lytro camera.
This is the first ever light field camera.
Now, you see this design, it's really unique.
It's not a traditional camera because this camera does not do traditional things.
So, when you talk about your standard digital cameras, you know, you focus on one angle, one specific amount of light focused on a subject, but here, this captures everything, a light field sensor captures all the light information in the picture.
So, what I'm gonna do here is
kind of show you an example.
We're gonna take this camera right here now and we're gonna just go up really close.
The beauty of this, you do not need to focus.
I know it doesn't sound like it could happen, but you don't need to focus on the picture.
I just snap it instantly and I have this dinosaur right here in the forefront.
Now, some of the specs inside of this camera, it includes an 8x optical zoom, an F2 constant aperture, really unheard of in any kind of camera at this size.
And what you can do, once you have the pictures in here is you'll plug it into your computer, your PC or your Mac.
The software that comes included
allows you to manipulate the pictures.
So, no matter what I take right now, after the fact, I'll be able to choose what I wanna focus on.
So, I mean, like I said, really crazy, amazing stuff.
Now, if you look at the form factor on here, there's not too many buttons.
There's really not many buttons at all.
You have your standard power button.
You also have your shutter button.
It's an instant shutter.
And you have here up on top, if you kind of slide back and forth, you'll have a zoom.
What also makes this product unique is that this glass screen in the back, this is a touchscreen that allows you to interact with the pictures
just like you interact with it on your computer.
So you can swipe left or right to see some of the previous pictures you've taken, and then what's a beauty of this is in the camera, the software is all there which enables you to pick a focal point and then it focuses it on the camera, just some really amazing stuff where, again, you don't need to focus when you take your picture.
So, the big question is when are these gonna be available.
You can jump on to lytro.com's website.
There's a few models out there, the graphite and the aqua blue color.
They'll be going for 8 gigs
at $399, and then if you talk about the red hot model, that's gonna be a 16-gig model for $499, but they'll be starting to ship early sometime in 2012.
But overall, this is just some really killer technology, first time we've ever seen it, bringing it to you in your living room.
I'm Brian Tong for CNET TV with a first look at the Lytro camera.