Lytro Illum Tech Specs and Details – What You Need to Know

Earlier today, Lytro announced Lytro Illum, the company’s second-generation light field camera which boasts professional-grade hardware.
Set to start shipping in July 2014, the camera is priced at 1,499 USD for pre-orders.
The official product page contains mostly introductory information, so we’ve dug through the knowledgebase articles to find some more details and additional information about the camera’s hardware, features, controls, and international availability.

Here are the most pressing questions we had:

What is the Lytro Illum’s image resolution?
Lytro Illum features a 40 Megaray light field sensor (i.e. it records 40 million light rays), which results in an effective resolution of 4 Megapixels maximum. In other words, you’ll be able to view and export images in 4 Megapixel resolution.

Does Illum have interchangeable lenses?
The camera is a fixed lens system, so you can’t interchange lenses. In a support article, Lytro mentions that “existing interchangeable lens systems are not optimized nor calibrated for the unique light field capabilities and requirements of Lytro Illum’s light field engine”.

Are Lytro Illum pictures also square format?
In contrast to the square-shaped pictures of Lytro’s 1st Gen. Light Field Camera, the Illum’s image aspect ratio seems to be 3:2 in the preview pictures.

Can I edit Illum pictures in Adobe Photoshop, Adobe Lightroom, or Aperture?
Yes! Lytro teases “export and re-import functionality” to work with standard image editing software. We believe that means you’ll be able to do whole-image adjustments (e.g. colour, contrast, …) to RAW light field pictures in third-party software, and then re-import the files to process the light field and get refocus and other features.

Where is Lytro Illum available for pre-order?
Right now, you can pre-order an Illum camera for 1,499 USD (100 $ off the MSRP; a further 20 % off for existing Lytro camera owners) at lytro.com. The camera is available in the US and Canada, across Europe, in Australia and New Zealand, and Hong Kong and Singapore.

Looking for more details? Find out all about the new Lytro Illum at our Lytro Illum info page.