Light L16 compact camera packs 16 lenses for DSLR skills

Back in 2013 a start-up called Light formed with the plan to create a compact camera that features an array of lenses and sensors. The idea behind this is that combining the images captured by the different cameras, a higher-quality image can be achieved without greatly increasing the size of the camera module. Well, recently Light announced that the L16 is almost ready to hit the market.

The idea for the L16 came when Light co-founder and CTO Rajiv Laroia wanted to create a camera with the capabilities of a DSLR camera, and keep it small enough to fit in your pocket. The Light L16 was designed specifically to eliminate the tradeoff between the quality you get with a DSLR, and the convenience you get with a cell phone.

Light’s new camera technology utilises 16 lenses built in to the compact L16 and, because the lenses are integrated into the camera from the beginning, means that you will never have to swap them out, or carry them around as additional equipment.

The L16 ditches all physical buttons, save the shutter, in favour of a user-friendly touchscreen to give more of a smartphone-like experience. The Light user interface allows you to pinch and zoom to set the field of view you want before you take the picture, as you would with a DSLR camera.

Depending on what the user selects, this determines which modules will fire when the L16 takes a picture. The resulting shots are then digitally combined in a way that emulates a much bigger camera lens.

Laroia says:

The Light L16 was designed specifically to eliminate the tradeoff between the quality you get with a DSLR, and the convenience you get with a cell phone. I wanted the camera to be easy, so that anyone could pick it up and instantly get amazing pictures with that “magic” quality. I wanted it to be small and light enough to go where I go. And I wanted to design the entire camera experience around the way we share our pictures in the modern era – on Instagram, Twitter, Tumblr, and Facebook.”

It also sounds that, as you can with the Lytro camera, because you’re shooting with multiple camera modules (10 fire at once), you can adjust depth of field even after the picture has been taken. And because the final image is extremely high-resolution, the photo you took of your child on stage from the back of the auditorium is going going to be crisp and clear, even after aggressive cropping.

Zooming comes way of the integrated 35mm-150mm optical zoom.

Using all of those modules, once stitched together, the resulting low noise, high resolution image is rated at 52 megapixels. Thanks to in-built Wi-Fi you can then squirt your results to your favourite social or photo sites.

The L16 will retail for £1,199 and ship in late summer 2016.

A limited quantity are available for pre-order for the special price of £1,099 by depositing £199 at https://light.co/.

I am hoping to get hands-on with one in the new year so stay tuned for that – it promises to be interesting and a little bit awesome!

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