- Hey guys, this is Austin, and this is the Lytro Illum.
Now, it is one of the coolest pieces of tech
to come out in quite a while,
except for the fact that no one actually bought it.
So, when this came out a couple years ago,
it cost a whopping $1,500.
However, today you can pick them up for about $200 or $300.
What makes Lytro special
is that it is a completely different way of taking a photo.
So, instead of a traditional camera
which captures a flat 2D image,
Lytro actually captures the light rays,
which sounds a little goofy.
What it allows you to do is change the focus,
the depth of field, and even the perspective
after you take the shot.
And here is the camera itself,
which is actually bigger than I thought.
There's almost nothing on here.
There's a big touchscreen around back,
a couple of buttons and that's pretty much it.
It feels like some concept of a camera
versus an actual normal DSLR.
To put things in perspective,
this is what the Illum looks like
compared to a more traditional camera, the Sony A6300.
As you can see, while this is not exactly
the smallest camera in the world, it absolutely dwarfs it,
especially with this huge lens.
Before we get started, let's see what we actually need
to get this thing up and running.
This is actually kind of a cool unboxing experience.
There's a lot here.
We've got a cleaning cloth
and it looks like a lens hood as well.
I can't get over the fact
that this just doesn't look like any other camera.
It's vaguely sort of mirrorless-like,
but with that huge screen around back
and essentially no buttons,
it's a super unique look.
So, we do have an articulating display.
And since we have no buttons,
thankfully it is a touchscreen.
All right, so if I want, can I focus on the camera?
Okay, so we took a quick test shot
and at first glance it looks nice.
But if I want, I can switch focus to Ken,
switch over to Kirby.
That's actually really cool.
So, the refocusing thing is definitely nothing new.
So, a lot of smartphones have been able
to do a sort of rudimentary version of this
by either using multiple camera or taking a lot of stills
and kinda merging them together.
With this, you're actually getting full control
over what it looks like.
And at first glance, it's not bad.
What's interesting about this is that inside,
it's actually kind of like a smartphone.
So, powering this guy
is actually a Snapdragon 801 processor.
Now, mind you, in 2014,
that was a little bit more impressive than it is today,
but that's still a lot of power for a camera.
So, when I started shooting, one of the things I noticed
is that while it's nice to have a big four-inch display,
the viewing angles are not great.
So, especially since it's articulating,
when I kinda lower it, I can't see anything
unless I get right in the sweet spot.
It's nice.
Although, there looks like some weird artifacting.
So, even though this doesn't focus
like a traditional camera,
you still can use the autofocus button on the back
as well as tapping to get that initial focus.
So, even though this gives you a lot more flexibility
than a traditional camera,
you do at least have to get it in the rough ballpark,
as far as focus goes.
I feel like when I'm shooting from lower angles,
everything looks a little bit more impressive.
There's a lot more kind of depth to work with.
So, handling-wise, it's not bad.
It might not be the most ergonomic camera in the world.
However, the weight is not, (pauses) running into plants?
I see how it is.
It's almost like you're trying to walk backwards
with a camera or something.
So, while it might not be the most ergonomic camera
in the world, that large grip really does help.
I'm not so sure how durable this is gonna be.
It's all very, very soft touch plastics and rubber,
and there's definitely a little bit of metal here,
but it seems reasonable.
Maybe not $1,500 reasonable, but definitely $200 reasonable.
I gotta say, this dynamic range is awful.
Like that's, the sky's blown out
and your face is completely gone.
I get that this is more of a pro camera, and that's cool.
It's nice to be able to have some of the features
where you can actually refocus and stuff.
But image quality doesn't really seem to be on par
with something like what you could get out of a DSLR.
The more I play with this,
the more I feel like this would be
a lot better suited for video.
So, this is actually not totally crazy.
Lytro does have a video camera that they are working on,
but it's gonna be a lot more high-end
than something like this.
However, the idea of being able to shoot video
and be able to refocus after the shot is really interesting.
Once you're done shooting, you need to take your photos
into the Lytro app for Windows or Mac.
So, unlike a traditional camera that shoots normal JPEGs,
here all of your photos have to be processed first.
My initial instinct is, "Oh god, everything's out of focus."
However, all we need to do is click on Ken's face
and it looks actually pretty decent.
So, this is actually a really good example
of how you get that little bit of depth.
It's a cool effect.
I don't really think it's gonna make a huge difference
in how you would actually save your final image,
but say you get something very slightly wrong,
it's easy enough to just click and adjust it
to kind of pull some depth out.
So, just like if you shot RAW in a normal camera,
you can change things like the white balance,
the exposure, saturation.
What I wanna see
is how some of this virtual camera stuff works.
So, as you can see here,
we can almost kind of digitally adjust the aperture.
That actually looks kind of cool,
although maybe not quite so extreme.
So, once you actually get these processed,
you're looking at a picture that's around five megapixels.
But looking at it, it's a little soft.
So, this is shot at ISO 2,500
and, honestly, it's not really usable.
I mean, you can see some of this cool focus effect,
and it's not perfect, but it actually does look pretty cool.
The thing I can't get away from
is that the image quality just isn't that great.
Now, don't get me wrong,
this is an incredible piece of technology.
And for a couple hundred dollars,
there is definitely a lot worse options out there.
However, at the end of the day,
the pictures are interesting,
it does a lot of very cool stuff,
but the tech just doesn't feel fully baked to me.
So, what do you guys think about Lytro and the Illum?
Definitely be sure to let me know in the comments below
and I will catch you in the next one.