7 things you need to know about Light’s 16-lens L16 camera

7 things you need to know about Light’s 16-lens L16 camera

Like a Lovecraftian horror that’s crawled from the depths, the Light L16 is a camera that comes with a frankly ludicrous 16 eyes – and they’re all sizing up a big chunky bit of prey: your DSLR. Two years after it was first revealed it’s finally available to buy (and with a 30% discount until 31st March), and we’ve been lucky enough to point our inferior pair of eyes at this multi-lensed minibeast to see if it’s worth the hype.

1. It can multi-task with the best of them

Traditional cameras use one lens at a time, and while we’ve seen smartphones double up with two (and triple-lens setups are sure to appear sooner rather than later), there’s never been anything like the L16 before. It takes at least 10 shots with every shutter release and then smartly pieces the images together to create one optimised, 52MP shot.

2. It’s got a lens for all occasions

The L16 has five 28mm ƒ/2.0 lenses, five 70mm ƒ/2.0 lenses, and six 150mm ƒ/2.4 lenses. Focal lengths are all full-frame equivalent, and there’s a 13MP sensor behind each one. On top of all that there’s 5X ‘optical’ zoom. If lenses are candy, then the makers of Light L16 are children dosed up on blue food colouring and they’ve been let loose in M&M World.

3. But it’s not as complicated as it looks

Using the camera is actually very simple. In fact, it’s best not to think about the lens frenzy, and instead focus on composition. There’s the option to shoot in manual allowing you to alter aperture, shutter speed and ISO, but it feels as if it’s designed to be left on auto so the algorithms do all the brainy stuff.

4. At least its buttons will be familiar

There’s a shutter button at the top, which you can half press to focus like on most DSLRs, and a dimpled rubber grip around one side that gives you decent purchase when snapping. A 5in touchscreen allows you to pinch to zoom and tap to focus, plus there’s also the option to track your subject, which should be very handy when video becomes available on later models. At the bottom there’s a tripod mount and a USB-C charging port.

5. It only shoots in RAW

The L16 only shoots in RAW, which gives you greater control when editing photos. Once you take a photo, you see a preview image on screen, but if you want to see more detailed, larger pictures, you have to process them, which takes up extra space on the 256GB of onboard storage. You’ll comfortably be able to take over 1500 photos with it, but there’s no expandable option.

6. It’s not great for Insta fodder

You’re not going to be able to directly upload your snaps to social media, and just to generate a jpeg you’ve got to use Lumen, Light’s dedicated image-processing software. It’s very intuitive, and includes everything you’d expect for photo editing: levels, tone curves, colour sliders and contrast controls, plus you can even alter the focal point of your image afterwards.

7. It’s pocket-friendly, but not wallet-friendly

The L16 isn’t as small or slim as a smartphone, it actually looks more like a very slim basic DAB radio, but it’s still more petite than any DSLR and most compact cameras. That makes it just about small enough to slide into a generous back pocket – not that we ever would, considering it costs nearly £2000.