Fun with Light L16

[Godfrey]

Still traveling, but the L16 with SnapSeed and Flickr apps installed let me selectively post more photos online directly from the camera... This is the growing album on Flickr.com from the trip:

NY Trip 2022

A collection of photographs made on my Fall 2022 trip to visit the East Coast. - September 2022

flic.kr

I think there are 22 photos in there now, out of the likely 200 or so I've made with the camera. More will surface.

Woodland Walk - Redding, CT 2022​

Enjoy! G

 

[Godfrey]

I was back in the East for a week in April and carried the Light L16 once again. This photo: I haven't decided whether I like the color more or less than the B&W rendering.

Shed - Redding, CT 2023
Light L16
ISO 100 @ f/15 @ 1/500 @ 35mm


Shed - Redding, CT 2023
Light L16
ISO 100 @ f/15 @ 1/500 @ 35mm
Rendered monochrome​

Enjoy! G

 

[handymike]

I still think these cameras are cool- even though I ended up returning mine.
Way to go @Godfrey!

 

[Godfrey]

Thank you! I think they're great, particularly for travel and bicycling. Small, light, high quality, versatile, etc. I wish Light.co had continued the line of development, but I fully understand why they didn't. I figure as long as I have it and it works, I'll use it. It's already made enough great photos for me that I don't think it owes me anything at this point.

G

 

[handymike]

Yeah, if I could ever find one that was fully updated I’d give it a go…Until then, fuji 100s.

 

[caver3d]

(I have just now registered here) IMPORTANT INFO: I don't know if this was posted earlier in this thread. Here are some answers for you folks who need Lumen and need to Upgrade the Light OS. Be sure to check out the following YouTube video: The video is "Hacking the Light L16 Camera Part 1" (BTW, I have not found Part 2 yet, it may not be posted). Just under the video there are also two critical links - one for downloading Lumen to a Mac and the other for downloading Lumen to a Windows PC. You need Lumen in order to get the most out of your L16.

Also, I will soon try to follow-up with more info (it's a link) on where and how to get the latest Light-OS. The latest and last version is actually LightOS-1.3.5.1-118 and I can tell you that I have successfully updated my several (yep, I have several) Light L16 cameras to this version. What I really like is that - two versions back - Beta Video was included. In this final version it is simply called Video (no Beta anymore). I am quite satisfied with my L16 cameras now. This is as good as it gets, and I am happy with what we now have. Again, I will follow-up with this additional info. I am traveling right now, but soon I will get back to all this.

So, yes, L16 owners, take heart. You can indeed upgrade your L16 cameras. Do not junk them just yet or sell them. You really can do some nice photography with them, and even get some passable video.

- caver3d

 

[caver3d]

Also, check out this video in YouTube: "Light L16 Camera in 2023!!! Review + Update." It's not in English, but there are useful links listed just under the video.

- caver3d

 

[caver3d]

BEST SITE: Well, rather than wait until I returned from my trip, I decided to search and post here the other information from the internet: Go to "github.com", and then search on "helloavo/Light-L16-Archive".This has the Lumen download too, plus the download for upgrading to LightOS-1.3.5.1-118 (the latest and last update), guides, APKs, hardware information, etc. This is the site I used in order to update my L16 cameras, and it all worked! Also, on this page (near the bottom) are the written instructions to follow for updating your Light L16 OS. This is a treasure trove of information on the Light L16 camera. Yes, the L16 lives!!! Enjoy!

- caver3d

 

[Godfrey]

Thank you @caver3d! Good info, excellent stuff.
I can't say enough about how useful this old camera is...

Table & Chairs by Godfrey DiGiorgi, on Flickr

 

[caver3d]

Thanks, Godfrey. I just hope more owners of the L16 camera now upgrade the OS on their camera to the latest version, and also can once again download and use Lumen.

Note: You can upgrade directly to the latest OS version from the earliest version. You do not need to sequentially update with the intermediate versions. You can update from any existing version to th latest, and final, version.

Also, I will eventually post some photos too. This camera is much better than the bad rap and vitriol spewed by the so-called experts (but actually armchair pseudophotographers) populating YouTube. With the most recent update the L16 is very usable as a camera.

 

[Godfrey]

... This camera is much better than the bad rap and vitriol spewed by the so-called experts (but actually armchair pseudophotographers) populating YouTube. With the most recent update the L16 is very usable as a camera.

I agree with you. I've been using the Light L16 since it came out and, basically, just ignore all the foofawraw. It has its limitations, but once you 'get it', it can produce very very nice photographs. It's an excellent travel camera ... compact and light, with a great range of focal lengths to work with ... and if you upgrade to the last version OS and install the SnapSeed and Flickr apps, you have a wonderful and flexible camera with the ability to post ~12Mpixel photos easily while on travel, with the added capability of rendering those same shots out to near 50Mpixel quality later.

I've made thousands of photos with the L16. Here's an about 157 photo library of Light L16 photos I've posted so far: 157 Random Light L16 Photographs .. have fun!

G

 

[scho]

I am running OS 13.3.1 (a) (22E772610a) on a Mac mini M1 and cannot open Lumen (either latest version or an older copy). Hangs when trying to open. My Light 16 OS is 1.3.4.1.111 and FW 006FD118. I have not attempted to, update fw yet. It still is functional but no way without Lumen to get raw output over to my Mac (just jpg). A dead ender for me.

 

[Godfrey]

That doesn't surprise me, Carl. A Mac mini M1 is a completely different processor than the Lumen app was built for, and Lumen uses a lot of deep OS services and frameworks that are simply not compatible between Intel-based systems and Apple hardware-based systems ... Apple wasn't even doing developer hardware testing for the M series machines yet at the point where Light.co cancelled further development on the L16 and Lumen.

I kept my 2012 Mac mini and did a fresh install of macOS v10.14 Mojave on it; I found Lumen and Lightroom both died somewhere during Catalina versions. Lumen in its last release runs perfectly on Mojave... I use that to transfer files from my camera to disk, do whatever rendering in Lumen I see as appropriate, then output to DNG files for further rendering in LR Classic.

As long as the camera works, I'll keep that mini setup this way ... it's only a couple of minutes to run it and output DNG files every so often. Might be worth picking up an old Intel mini and setting it up for occasional use the same way.

G

 

[Godfrey]

Three new L16 photos:

Path Stones - Redding, CT 2023
Light L16
ISO 100 @ f/15 @ 1/240 @ 35mm


Daffodils In Woodland - Redding, CT 2023
Light L16
ISO 100 @ f/15 @ 1/440 @ 128mm


Woodland Tea Party - Redding, CT 2023
Light L16
ISO 100 @ f/15 @ 1/620 @ 75mm​

enjoy! G

 

[caver3d]

Nice shots, Godfrey.

To Everyone: Even though later releases of Mac OS are not compatible with Lumen, Windows 10 and 11 on a PC laptop continues to function well with Lumen. I have a MacBook Pro and iMac, but I am now on the latest MacOS, hence no Lumen. But I also have a couple Windows laptops where Lumen works well. My recommendation to some of you is to consider investing in a Windows Laptop. You can get a good, used Windows 10 laptop on ebay - and they are not expensive at all (depending on which generation Intel processor it has - 6th gen should be fine). Download Lumen and you are good to go. Otherwise, you will need to stay with an earlier version of MacOS such as Mojave (as Godfrey has explained). Links are provided above for downloading Lumen.