A new, more full-featured standalone camera know as the Illum will target professionals as well as high-end enthusiasts, going one up on the original Lytro. Sure, the Illum still remains as a “light-field” camera that captures information about the angle from which light arrives, where users can then adjust the perspective and focus of a picture even after it has been shot. This time around, it has a more premium feel to it, and the early bird here gets the proverbial worm since those who place a pre-order now will have to fork out just $1,499 instead of $1,599 later this July.
Lytro has referred to its captured photos as “living pictures,” since they were shot in a proprietary format that will require a special kind of software to view and edit. Lytro is said to offer free desktop software for Mac users so that they can view, edit and export Lytro pictures on OS X. Not only that, its dynamic image files can also be transferred to Aperture on OS X, and opened using Adobe’s Lightroom and Photoshop.