---
title: Lytro's CEO explains why it exited the consumer market
description: Lytro's CEO explains why it exited the consumer market
---

[RedShark News - Video technology news and analysis ](https://www.redsharknews.com)

# [Lytro's CEO explains why it exited the consumer market](https://www.redsharknews.com/production/item/3381-lytro-s-ceo-explains-why-it-exited-the-consumer-market)

 Written by [David Shapton](https://www.redsharknews.com/author/david-shapton) | Apr 11, 2016 2:20:00 PM

Lytro Immerge Light Field VR Camera

**This blog post from Lytro CEO Jason Rosenthal helps to contextualize the company's recent bombshell announcement of its Cinema Camera.**

On 29th January last year, the board of Lytro made the decision to kill off its consumer division. It was a painful choice, but a clear one. Mere fascination in the magical properties of Light Field still cameras was not enough to sustain a profitable business in consumer cameras that made files four times the size of "normal" cameras and which were of lower resolution.

In [this blog post](https://backchannel.com/war-stories-why-i-lit-up-lytro-b46124da32a6#.e5ng3zmne), Lytro CEO Jason Rosenthal explains the background to the company's exit from the consumer market. While this was written some days before the [Lytro Cinema Camera announcement ](http://redshark.ebizontech.biz/index.php/2016/12/27/is-lytro-s-new-755mp-300fps-cinema-camera-the-biggest-leap-in-video-tech-ever/)and therefore doesn't mention it directly, it sheds some light on why the comopany has gone after more compelling markets like Virtual Reality and – we now know –  digital cinema.

[It's a compelling read!](https://backchannel.com/war-stories-why-i-lit-up-lytro-b46124da32a6#.o1ifotiv8)

 

[View full post](https://www.redsharknews.com/production/item/3381-lytro-s-ceo-explains-why-it-exited-the-consumer-market)

```json
{
  "@context" : "http://schema.org",
  "@type" : "BlogPosting",
  "author" : {
    "@type" : "Person",
    "name" : "David Shapton"
  },
  "dateModified" : "2020-04-22T12:41:21.262Z",
  "datePublished" : "2016-04-11T14:20:00Z",
  "headline" : "Lytro's CEO explains why it exited the consumer market",
  "image" : {
    "@type" : "ImageObject",
    "height" : 366,
    "url" : "https://cdn2.hubspot.net/hubfs/6155957/Imported_Blog_Media/2dedde23adab0fc0b3a784931dae4c50-1.jpg",
    "width" : 650
  },
  "mainEntityOfPage" : "https://www.redsharknews.com/production/item/3381-lytro-s-ceo-explains-why-it-exited-the-consumer-market",
  "publisher" : {
    "@type" : "Organization",
    "logo" : {
      "@type" : "ImageObject",
      "height" : 60,
      "url" : "/hs/hsstatic/content_shared_assets/static-1.4092/img/default-amp-logo.png",
      "width" : 60
    },
    "name" : "RedShark News"
  }
}
```