I bought an early version of the Lytro camera. It's an interesting gadget for sure but I didn't know what to do with it in a tradition photographic sense. After taking a picture you upload the "image" to your computer. From there you can click on any point in the image and that part of the image will come into focus whereas other areas will be defocused if they happen to be in a different focal plane. For instance, take a picture of a vertical cylinder, like a fire extinguisher. The curved surface offers multiple focus points but I could only pick one. Now if I could simulate something like focus stacking and basically increase my depth of field then I would be in paradise. Maybe that is possible nowadays with the current hardware and software. You really had to have a purpose to use one of these early versions of the camera.
Despite the unique user experience, I did not find myself wanting to come back to it. Maybe it's just my style. This could be the camera of the future and we just don't know it yet.
I would call this version a gadget for early adopters and for technophiles. Pass.
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