Light L16 is sold for $1,699, but pre-ordering the unit is $1,299. (Photo : Twitter)
Startup camera maker Light introduces the new L16, an innovative compact camera that uses 16 separate camera modules.
The Light L16 is a camera quite unlike anything that people have seen to date. It takes the intensive processing and clever multi-shot modes that make phone camera images pop and blows it up. Light says that L16 can compete against DSLRs of giant companies.
Light's co-founder and CTO Rajiv Laroia said the L16 is a slim and compact camera that performs like a bulky DSLR without the need for expensive interchangeable lenses or even a large sensor, according to Wired.
Light L16 uses multiple small sensors rather than one big one to make its images. The front is embedded with 16 different lenses, pointing to 16 different sensors in the camera’s body. Light says that for any one photo, 10 of these sensors will be used to make the final image.
The camera will choose which ones, and it will depend largely on the focal length the user chooses for their photo. They can shoot between 35mm and 150mm, using an array of lenses plus processing to simulate an optical zoom.
Each optical porthole feeds light into a separate 13-megapixel sensor—and the camera has the ability to capture images at three discrete focal lengths. Five sensors tucked behind five 35mm lenses point straight out. The other 11 camera uses a lens arrangement called folded optics.
Their sensors, tucked behind five 70mm lenses and six 150mm lenses, are perpendicular to the front of the camera. Little robotic mirrors, ones that are visible through the front of the L16 as you mug for a shot, deflect photons at right angles toward the sensors.
The L16 is currently in the prototype phase and slated to launch in spring 2016 launch. Light L16 will be sold for $1,699, but people can pre-order the unit at $1,299 on Nov. 6 with a $199 deposit due at the time of order, PCMag reported.
