Lytro Adds 3-D Viewing Capability to Its Living Images, Apple Online Store as Distributor
Lytro is unlocking another feature for images taken with its light-field cameras, enabling all photos ever taken with the devices to be displayed in 3-D.
The camera startup is also announcing that Apple will start selling Lytro models through its online stores.
Lytro has been showing off 3-D as a potential feature since it first unveiled its technology more than two years ago, but has taken its time adding it as a publicly available capability.
“It took us some work to get to the point where we thought it was fully consumer-ready,” CEO Jason Rosenthal said in an interview. “The work was in making it easily usable and consumer-friendly — which has been one of the challenges for 3-D in general.”
The 3-D features will work with 3-D displays, or on standard displays while wearing those old-school red-and-blue glasses.
Rosenthal wouldn’t say how many cameras Lytro has sold, but insists that business remains on track, with sales this year 20 percent ahead of the company’s goal.
He also remained noncommittal on when the company might update its hardware. Though Lytro has added a number of features to its core product through software updates, it is still selling the same hardware that it debuted in 2011.
“I cannot be more excited about what we’ve got in the works,” Rosenthal insisted. “You will be pleasantly surprised both with the products and the timing.”