California based camera factory Lytro has been consistently presenting new and subverting ways of photography with their different camera models every single time. Following their Light Field Camera (2011) and high-end version Lytro Illum (2014), their research and development team has shifted their focus to the realm of Cinematic VR, where their latest release, the Lytro Immerge, offers a 360-degree panoramic photography function. They have once again, succeeded in the yielding of an innovative vision, which aspire their users with such lovely surprise.
The camera is mounted as a black sphere on top of the given tripod. The body is assembled with five layers of annular light cameras and sensors, making it appear more like a meteorological instrument, or some sort of space technology instead. Whereas existing virtual reality cinematography mostly uses multiple video cameras to shoot the subject via different angles first, before it goes through heavy post-production processes to become a 3D simulated space; Lytro Immerge, which was built on light field technology, successfully supports the “Six Degrees of Freedom”. This means that it can easily capture and comprehend a series of accurate and extensive angles without the need to piece anything together afterwards. This allows the viewer to freely travel within the highly realistic virtual reality as they wish.
Jason Rosenthal, the CEO of Lytro claims that the technology of virtual reality is becoming the new wave for film, and their aim here is to make the process simpler and cheaper. In addition to being a camcorder, the Immerge service package also includes a storage server, a set of editing tools and a playback system, where its video format is compatible with Oculus, Sony, Samsung, HTC and other major manufacturers of head-mount displays. The product is expected to be officially listed in the first season of 2016.
