Nicker on 23/10/2011 at 00:00

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I don't think we have had a Cool Gear thread in a while so as the global economy teeters and western civilisation makes a mad dash to oblivion, let's pause for some distraction, courtesy of the world of shiny things.

The (https://www.lytro.com/science_inside) Lytro Camera creates "shoot now - focus later" pictures by capturing "the color, intensity and vector direction of the rays of light", rather than focusing on a single plane, like a conventional camera.

Check out the (https://www.lytro.com/living-pictures/282) interactive gallery.

Keep your $400 in your pocket for now though - there's a waiting list for orders and they won't start shipping until "early 2012".

PROS: It's fucking cool.

CONS: You need a Mac to do the post processing.

If you get it before Dec 21, 2012, you will be able to catch some excellent shots of the Mayan Apocalypse without the worry of having to focus the camera during your terrified last moments. How cool is that?!

Vernon on 6/11/2011 at 13:20

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Apparently the Dyson fans aren't very effective? They look great though :D

Muzman on 8/11/2011 at 09:20

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I'm not sure how that would work unless you are perhaps fixing focus on a point permanently. I don't think it's got an autofocus currently. But it's all rather hard to tell. I can't find a great deal about it in practical terms and there's an untechnical "Don't worry about it. Just have fun!" vibe to their general PR (Mac first. Tells you all you need to know, really).
You're probably right. They are aiming at casual web sharing pretty much exclusively. Which I guess makes sense. I'm not sure it has many other uses as it is. The pictures don't seem that sharp, to be honest. Each snap runs about ten megs yet the resultant res isn't very large, all the data no doubt going into the 'field'. The software surely allows you to skim off fixed stills. How big they are is a bit of a mystery. What shutter speed it allows for also doesn't seem available (I imagine that's still relevant. Using a slow one might be rather cool I think). I can't think of a reason why there wouldn't be a minimum focus distance either, but can't see one listed anywhere. May be close enough that it doesn't matter much. No talk of focal lengths either that I can see. That surely has to matter too, but perhaps differently.
In short they aren't talking to photography nerds yet at all, that I can see. It'll be interesting to see what they make of it.

For all the focus on...focus gimmickry I think probably one of the cooler things this tech might be able to do is make pictures with no shallow focus at all. Completely sharp from 2cms to the ol Nyquist limit or whatever. That'd be a feat. But that may not be in how it works either. Ah well, have to wait and see I guess.

Muzman on 3/12/2011 at 05:14

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Speakng of spy planes; these things aren't exactly new but they are awfully tempting for a lot of reasons.
Trouble is I don't have any sort of touchscreen device, so that bumps up the cost a bit.

(http://ardrone.parrot.com/parrot-ar-drone/usa/)

If you're like me at all and used to covet remote control things like crazy as a kid, looking around these days is kinda freaky. Where they were once extraordinarily expensive and complex (or shit and battery chewing, but fun) they are now highly accessible. Particularly things like helicopters, which were like the holy grail of RC things once, and fittingly the most expensive and impossible to pilot.
Now look at this crap: people flying the things around indoors using their phones with a sort of virtual xbox controller.
Madness I tell you.

Yakoob on 4/12/2011 at 13:31

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But... who controls the human operators :sly: