The $40million Camera FAIL! 📸

[Nostradhomas]

“I guess you guys aren't ready for that yet. But your kids are gonna love it.”

[Robert_E]

The company flopped after making a cinema camera that had a 755 Megapixel sensor and could go up to 300fps, but it required 400gb of storage a SECOND, which was ridiculously expensive in 2016. It was also huge and very expensive, but would have revolutionised VFX...

[Gehe]

It failed consumer and photography markets... but that optic and sensor system is used manufacturing and science in microscope to capture small things which are hard to focus on.

[sebastianbermudez]

They had great ideas, it was not the right time to be released but you'll see similar features in few years from other manufacturers

[theodanielwollff]

my coworker bought one. It was really cool, but the problem was you couldn't really use the photos. it was like stuck on the camera without the special special software. Also it took about 1 minute to take a photo and minutes more to process it. very very slow. This was in 2016 mind you.

[MrOffTrail]

He says it was too expensive, mis-targeted at pros who didn’t need it, was low rez, needed proprietary software which wasn’t good, and meanwhile smartphone camera technology got really good. There, you don’t need to watch a second video. I can’t abide such a blatantly manipulative tactic, leaving out the whole point of the clip intentionally, to force people to watch a second video.

[lareelstv]

That’s because the military grade version of this camera (the size of a satellite) premiered at CESD, google swooped in, purchased it and then the company and all its new technology disappeared.

[LumaControl]

Omg you got the actual illum! I saw the smaller earlier version of the camera, and the story of the company covered by Krazy Ken but I'm excited to see you cover the high-end version!

[AtakulSozcan]

Lytro light field model is from 2011. When you say it is not that pioneer, think about it again. It was the first, back in those days.

[shApYT]

Kai W's review of it is gone. Please do a full deep dive on it. The link isn't there.

[MonsieurSansHonte]

I remember that camera. There were a few very excited preview articles, then it disappeared without a trace.
Thanks for the reminder.

[RaindoggTV]

It did revolutionize photography…..for smart phones.

[setaside]

I still have one of the original commercial demo models. Will keep it forever as a piece of photo history.

[Rumplskin]

I could see taking immersive 3D shots for VR and VR movies. That's a preem piece of tech right there. Well worth 40mil for box office or "box in the office" production purposes. VR cameras like this really provide an opening to what's possible in virtual 3D spaces.

[BenGoldNYC]

The tech was kind of amazing, but it was really niche and ahead of its time. Google ended up acquiring most of the staff and they are likely working in Pixel camera stuff now.

[doesitgame]

I remember when those were announced! much hype!

[ToastyToastiness-zx]

I bought one of those when it came out, but it was too complicated to figure out for me. It's the camera that made me realize I like full analogue

[El_Goblino_]

funny thing is most mobile phones have a " copy " of these features implemented on their gallery apps which allows you to change focus, focal length and the intensity of the blur also that " living image " effect and they work pretty good

[FrmDustDust]

I got one and returned it immediately. Was such a disappointment.

[apollo-rz]

Another way to increase the depth of field focus would be to design an image sensor with stacked multiple sensors on top of one another from largest to smallest. This would increase the depth of field at more open apertures. However, it might be easier to vacuum form Kodak or other film onto a convex former in a darkroom for a similar or better effect, but the film could not be wound and may be more adaptable for single shots with a large format camera, the film may have to be loaded in a darkroom or dark bag. This may result in interesting depth of field results and allow for open aperture sharpness in low lighting without having to stop down the aperture.