 | |
 Lytro light field camera from 2014 | |
| Company type | Private |
|---|---|
| Industry | Digital cameras |
| Founded | 2006 |
| Founder | Ren Ng |
| Defunct | March 27, 2018 |
| Headquarters | Mountain View, CA |
Key people | Ren Ng, Executive Chairman; Kurt Akeley, CTO; Jason Rosenthal, CEO |
| Products | Light-field camera |
Lytro, Inc. was an American company founded in 2006 by Ren Ng which developed some of the first commercially available light-field cameras.[1][2][3][4] Lytro began shipping its first generation pocket-sized camera, capable of refocusing images after being taken, in 8 GB and 16 GB versions on February 29, 2012.[5][6][7][8] In April 2014, the company announced Lytro Illum, its second generation camera for commercial and experimental photographers.[9] The Lytro Illum was released at $1,600.[10] The Illum has a permanently attached 30–250mm (35mm equivalent) f/2.0 lens and an articulated rear screen.[11] In the fall of 2015, Lytro changed direction, announcing Immerge, a very-high-end VR video capture camera with companion custom compute server. Immerge was expected to ship in 2016, and be useful to studios trying to combine CGI-based VR with video VR.[12]
Lytro ceased operations in late March 2018. Initially it was reported Lytro was acquired by Google, but later was reported that most of Lytro's former employees transitioned to work at Google.[13][14]
- ^ "Lytro Company Fact Sheet" (PDF). Lytro. Archived from the original (PDF) on 30 May 2012. Retrieved 24 June 2011.
- ^ Azevedo, Mary Ann (1 July 2011). "Lytro Inc. focused on its light field camera technology". San Jose Business Journal. Retrieved 20 July 2011.
- ^ Fried, Ina. "Meet the Stealthy Start-Up That Aims to Sharpen Focus of Entire Camera Industry". All Things Digital. Retrieved 24 June 2011.
- ^ A Start-Up's Camera Lets You Take Shots First and Focus Later Steve Lohr, New York Times, 2011 June 21
- ^ Andrew Couts, Digital Trends. "Lytro: The camera that could change photography forever." June 22, 2011. Retrieved July 21, 2011.
- ^ "Lytro announces Light Field Camera". Digital Photography Review. October 19, 2011.
- ^ Inside the Lytro by Frank O'Connell, Business Day, New York Times, 2012 March 1
- ^ Diana Samuels, Silicon Valley / San Jose Business Journal. "Lytro ships first cameras to lucky customers." Feb 29, 2012. Retrieved Apr 25, 2012.
- ^ "Lytro unveils a more sophisticated 'light-field' camera". Reuters. Archived from the original on March 6, 2016. Retrieved 23 April 2014.
- ^ By Heather Kylle, CNN."/ Lytro refocuses with a new $1,600 camera."April 22, 2014. Retrieved May 9, 2014.
- ^ Nicole Lee (April 22, 2014). "Lytro's new light-field camera looks like an actual camera, costs $1,599". Engadget.
- ^ "Lytro's Immerge aims to make virtual reality video more realistic | ExtremeTech". ExtremeTech. Retrieved 2015-11-15.
- ^ Robertson, Adi (March 27, 2018). "VR camera maker Lytro is shutting down, and former employees are going to Google". The Verge. Vox Media. Retrieved 3 July 2018.
- ^ Price, Molly (March 27, 2018). "Google acquires some Lytro folks as the company shutters". CNET. Retrieved 3 July 2018.