Tim Milliron, VP, Lytro
From pyrotechnics to animation and computer-generated graphics, the film and TV industry has a long history of creating groundbreaking visual effects. But this has often been a time-consuming process that has slowed down creative direction.
The Lytro Cinema and Lytro Immerge cameras use light-field technology to open up a whole new world of visual options for film, TV, and virtual reality applications. Unlike regular cameras, which just record light intensity, Lytro’s cameras capture the color, direction, and placement of light in every pixel. This allows the camera to be virtualized, meaning focus, perspective, aperture, and shutter angle can be changed in post-production.
Lytro was founded in 2006 by Executive Chairman Ren Ng, whose Ph.D. research on Light Field imaging won Stanford University’s prize for best thesis in computer science. In late 2015, Lytro announced the world's first Light Field solution for Virtual Reality (VR), Lytro Immerge, that was quickly followed by the 2016 launch of Lytro Cinema, the world's first Light Field capture system for cinematic content. With continued innovations and projects in the works, Lytro is firmly at the forefront of the generational shift from legacy 2D imaging to 3D volumetric video.