Thursday, August 14, 2014

Lytro Illum Camera – Photography Just Got Better

When Lytro first introduced its light field camera two years ago, it shook up not just photography, but of technology in general.

Lytro Illum is classified as THE camera of the future and its time that you forgot just about everything else that you knew about photography.

Image courtesy : (http://uncrate.com/stuff/lytro-illum-camera/ )

Everybody knows that blurred photos cannot be made sharp after the fact but now it has all been changed with the new $1600 Lytro Illum Camera.

The Illum’s positive points are that it has a cool, futuristic design using light-field photography that take perfect shots that often feels like magic. It also has helpful tools for showing you how to shoot, however, most of the amateur photographers might find both the software and hardware a bit too buggy, albeit expensive, not to mention the difficulty in importing and editing the images. To make matters worse, if you are not a bit careful, you might miss the perfect image.

However, the photographer has to have some technical and artistical strengths as when they work with the Illum, because they have to visualize each image in a 3D format. If everything is in the same plane, then it would just look like any other photo. While it is easy to take photos of portraits, landscape photography is altogether different as you have to learn to give each item that required depth.

Instead of snapping a solitary image, the Illum captures a million light rays in a sequence what it calls a light field. In other words, it uses light field technology to take photos that could be refocused after the fact.

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IMAGE – 2

IMAGE – 3

(Image courtesy : http://www.popularmechanics.com/technology/gadgets/reviews/lytro-illum-the-future-gets-pretty-17062472 )

The above three examples are so called living images that are designed to be interactive so that the viewer can discover the different parts of the image. The new Illum makes all of this accessible to the average photographer.

The Illum is a second generation camera. While the last one was a testament to prove light-field photography, this one is a statement to announce the arrival of its second generation. In short, it is the marriage of present and future, with more emphasis on the future. The Illum comes with a superb lens, a bit baggy and hefty body, and comes with a lot of manual controls. It is heavier than the usual cameras that you have to use both hands. It looks a reduced DSLR as you can see from the image. More specifications can be found by CLICKING HERE

Lastly, for those who think the Illum is expensive, it is better that they run a check on the prices of those digital or telephoto compact fixed camera lenses in Amazon or Ebay and they will be surprised to see the prices of even the used ones. Comparatively, the Illum provides more value for money. Besides, this is only the second generation and they are only going to improve with time. As Lytro CEO Jason Rosenthal aptly puts it “we are only just getting started and hope to do much, much more in the future”.

Having said that, there is little mistaking the Lytro Illum for anything else, but a camera of the future.



Sunday, March 23, 2014

Native Mobile Apps Vs HTML5 Mobile Apps

Technology plays a pivotal role in today’s markets as businesses are constantly thinking of new ways to boost their revenue, and reach out to an increasing number of customers. As a result, one of the hottest competition in today’s technology markets is the rivalry between the use of Native Mobile Apps and HTML 5 Mobile Apps. While both of them have their individual gains, they also have their limitations.

Native Mobile Apps
Native apps run on your iPhone or Android device. To use them, individuals/ businesses need to purchase them from its respective distribution platforms, viz., the Apple Apps Store or Google Play. All you need to do is to install these applications directly on your tablet, smart phone or mobile device.

Benefits
Native apps not only offer total user control but you can also use the cache memory to store the last visits. Hence, the use of application is not dependent on the network or internet connectivity. They are also reliable as you can easily download apps that you want directly from the Apps Store or Google Play. Additionally, when it comes to smooth user experience and high performance, this is indeed a better choice. Monetary benefits are also more because stores generate higher revenues.

Limitations
Unlike HTML 5, native apps face higher deployment costs across multi-platforms. Similarly, there are also limitations involving updates and distribution control with native applications. Since there is no cross-platform support, one faces problems during fragmentation. The number of developers offering such apps are also less, which makes finding of such compatible apps difficult compared to HTML 5.

HTML 5 Mobile Apps
HTML 5 mobile applications use the web HTML 5 technology for their development. They can run across any platform that supports a standardized modern browser. This includes Symbian, Blackberry, iOS, and Android. Additionally, one can easily access live applications by using the web browser installed on their mobile device.

Benefits
HTML 5 apps are all about cost savings. Since it is based on the browser, compatibility with the screen size of the device is not an issue. Marketing of apps happens directly through the website.

Limitations
When it comes to performance, HTML 5 is lower than native mobile apps. It does not have a notification feature, camera access, contact and calendar access, nor pinch and spread support.


The bottom line is that there is no clear winner when it comes to comparing Native Mobile apps versus HTML 5 mobile apps, as most mobile consumers go for native apps with a higher propensity. However, for enterprise platforms, HTML 5 emerges as the clear winner.