The Lytro Illum: As a DSLR

Let's use it for not what it was made for

The universal test of just how good something is.

Oh my, I am never going to get tired of seeing that.

 So, the Lytro Illum. If you follow me on Twitter, you'll be sick to death of hearing about it and if you know me in person, you'll have already punched me. I keep talking about this camera. It's an innovative idea which, at first glance, seems to work well, something you can read more about here!

 If you have read that post, you already know that this camera is made for a specific purpose; moving images. Not like video or cinemagraphs, but panning, zooming and focus shifting on a still image, something that has been proven difficult or near impossible before. But as a camera, we also expect that it should serve another purpose, one that is sort of expected when you buy a camera. To take photographs.[1]

 Yesterday, my wonderful better half and I both decided to go on a trip to Scarborough, UK, roughly 50 miles north of our hometown[2]. Beaches, arcades, amusements, shops and restaurants litter the streets, with stampedes of people as well. Then you've got the hills, houses and monuments lightly scattered across the views. So naturally, there's a lot to photograph.[3]

This was actually the first photo I took. I stuck to 35mm and aimed for a retro, tourist look in both framing and colour grading.

The first thing that I was impressed with was how well the camera fit in the hand. With it's lightweight, angled body, it soon found comfort in my hand. The grip fits perfectly into the palm of my far-from-masculine hands[4] and the shutter button is right where you'd expect it. I have a tendency to hold lightweight cameras in a sort of finger-stretched grip, where I use my middle finger almost as a push[5], a position that I was perfectly comfortable to maintain thanks to the camera's weight. The large lens features a rubber grip in the middle of the two rubber lens rings too, so I was able to maintain a steady hand for the most part.

Please don't leave me.

 One of the camera's real heroes was that screen. That articulating screen.[6] To be able to crouch down and comfortably position the camera was one thing, but to then be able to get a floor-level shot without needing to lay down on the ground [7] was a life-saver. I also found that the controls and menus on the touchscreen were laid out in an effective manner. Not once did I tap the wrong option or accidentally change shooting mode, etc. The camera did exactly what I wanted to. Also the tap to refocus the picture feature after you've taken the shot was golden. 

 The lens is 30-250mm f/2.0, which is not a specification of lens you would normally find for a cheap price, so it's a very nice addition to a camera that cost me less than £400. But the best part is that you don't even need to worry about what aperture you use, since you can adjust that in post.

 So let's recap here. We have a wide range of focal lengths, no care for aperture, a functional and articulating touchscreen, a lightweight body, the ability to change focus later on, as well as the unmentioned flash mount that works with my Yongnuo Canon flash and two dials that work well to adjust exposure. It seems like it's all too good to be true at the price point.

 Now I won't say 'This is where it all goes wrong' because I don't think it's like that. However, I have a few things I feel that need to be brought up.

 During the day of shooting, everything goes without a problem, because you know a great deal of the minor discrepancies can be fixed in post, but it's actually once you get to post where your smile fades. Lytro have their own proprietary software and picture formats: Lytro RAW, Lytro XRAW, and their software being Lytro Desktop. The software is, thankfully, free from their website and features most of the stuff you'd expect to see on an image manipulation program, albeit missing a few of my personal favourite features[8]. Upon importing the pictures into Lytro Library, you will find that your pictures will not be editable. This is because they are imported as JPG thumbnails, with the information saved as a separate file. You have to tell the program that you want to process the picture(s) before editing[9]. Now this does not take a short amount of time. I found myself waiting roughly an hour to an hour and a half to process 50 pictures, and remember, this is before I have done any editing.

 Once your pictures are processed, though, the sky is the limit. You can drag the picture to change perspective, click to focus on a subject and then colour correct your photo, using basic exposure settings, colour saturations, noise reduction and a few more useful features. It's in here where you set your focus range and aperture too. You have a basic, yet almost-satisfactory selection of tools for the job. Once you've corrected your photo, you can enter an effects section. In here, you can, believe it or not, add various effects. They have some preset effects there, such as a 2D vignette, but you are also able to built your own effects using layers and masks from scratch (Although you will find out soon why I don't suggest that). Once you've done that, voila. You have your photo!

This is quite easily my favourite shot from the day on the Lytro.

...

...unfortunately...

 Your picture will likely never match up to the quality of a DSLR in this price range. The Lytro's image quality is measured in at 40 Megarays, which actually translates to around 4 megapixels. My edited photos came out at 2560 x 1778, which dwarfs in comaprison to the 5616 long edge pixel measurement that my 5D mkII pops out[10]. Now that's not to say that the Lytro is now useless, because I think we can all agree that sheer quality is not ALWAYS necessary. These pictures would find themselves at home used on platforms that already compress images or show them on a default small resolution (Such as Instagram). They would even be suitable for printing up to 8 x 10 [11]. But for goodness sake, if someone hires you as their photographer for a paid job, do not substitute your usual setup for the Lytro. The customer will not be happy with the quality of the results.

 That leaves one question then.

Can the Lytro Illum replace your DSLR?

The answer is both yes and no. 

 If you are primarily based on a platform that does not require or benefit from high-resolution photos, then I do believe this would be a wise buy. Not a must have, no, but the features that you find exclusively with this setup may be of use to someone like this.

 If you already have a setup that you're comfortable with and are doing work for other people, then I would not suggest buying this camera to replace your DSLR.

But remember. There is more to this camera than just taking photographs. Something I shall be sharing with you in a future post!

And as always, I will be featuring my photos from the Lytro Illum on my Instagram page.

[1] Something that Lytro are, scarily, not boasting about. Hmm...

[2] For those outside of the UK, it's a very attractive tourist town on the coast of England.

[3] Funny enough, this could well have been another installment of 'Where to shoot?'.

[4] Seriously, they're mid-sized, skinny and soft. You can tell I'm not much of a grafter.

[5] Emperor's New Groove, the seen where they are both walking up the sheer cliffs and Kuzco stretches his neck out to lift Pacha. Like that.

[6] Bear with my excitement. I've never had anything other than a fixed screen before.

[7] In the middle of a busy Scarborough street?

[8] Seriously, what image manipulation software is missing curves adjustment?! And what about presets?

[9] Holy hell, would their restaurant staff expect me to confirm that 'Yes, I would like to eat the food I've ordered, now put it down on the table'.

[10] But that is a highly unfair argument. My body and lens cost £1,300 together.

[11] A quote from a Lytro staff member on a forum.