For photography enthusiasts, every opportunity for a snapshot means making a decision. With the ever-present smartphone, pictures can be taken anytime, anywhere and shared immediately with location information and other data. However the quality of these pictures, even with more megapixels, never holds up to what can be done with a professional grade camera.
Lumera is a camera accessory with the design to bridge this gap. attaching to the bottom of any camera with a tripod screw, Lumera offers one-button sharing to various social networks or cloud storage sites. When paired with the Lumera Android or iOS apps, Lumera can do even more, including wireless aperture control, time-lapse settings, and more. Lumera uploads either through Wi-Fi or Bluetooth LE 4.0, and is OpenSource and Openhardware friendly to allow for the potential of even more unique features later in development.
If the camera’s memory card is getting too filled up with photos, Lumera has an additional USB port built in to allow for the connection of any USB storage device to store any overflow photos. As of right now, Lumera only officially supports certain Nikon and Canon cameras, but offers a survey where the development team can confirm whether the camera is supported or begin working on support for it. Lumera Labs needs $90,000 CAD (~$80,000 USD) to engineer the product’s design, complete the apps, and get Lumera certified. Lumera will be out in May 2015 to those that pledge $170 CAD (~$150 USD).
Lumera’s features are all more or less offered by using a Wi-Fi enabled SD card like Eye-Fi, but offers the freedom of flexible hardware and ideally limitless storage through the USB port. Professional photographers who demand the most from their equipment will love the sharing features without sacrificing quality, but only the most dedicated will need to keep Lumera on hand.