Lytro is out to prove its light field cameras are more than just a novelty.

The company on Tuesday unveiled a new "professional grade" light field camera, dubbed the Illum, which is a huge departure from the previous kaleidoscope-shaped model. The camera brings the power of 3D computer graphics to photography, letting you create what Lytro calls "living pictures," which can be refocused and viewed from multiple perspectives after they have been shot.

At $1,599, the camera is more than three times the price of its predecessor, but offers faster processing power, a 4-inch touch screen, and an "advanced set" of playback controls that let you preview the dimensions of photos right on the camera. During image capture, there's an interactive depth feedback display, which shows the relative focus of all objects in a frame, letting you compose images in three dimensions.

"Light Field Photography is following the classic pattern for a transformational concept," Lytro founder Dr. Ren Ng said in a statement. "The original Lytro camera, which launched in 2012, introduced an entirely new era in photography. Lytro Illum will advance this movement to a new level. We are very excited by the potential of this camera to ignite a photography revolution on the magnitude of the transformation from film to digital."

In terms of specs, the Illum sports a custom-designed 40-megaray light field sensor, 8x optical zoom range, constant f/2.0 aperture, and a high-speed shutter capable of freezing motion under a wide variety of conditions. It measures in at 86mm x 145mm x 166mm, and weighs at just a half pound.

The camera includes a desktop application for importing, processing, and interacting with living photos from the camera. The new software platform lets you adjust aspects of images that were previously fixed – such as focus, tilt, perspective shift, and depth of field – after the image has been captured. You can also view images in 3D, build custom animations, export images into common formats like JPED, and share them to the Web or mobile devices.

The Illum is available for pre-order today on Lytro's website, and will begin shipping in July. Those who pre-order before July 15, however, can get a specially engraved Illum for $1,499 with an extended two-year warranty plus "insider access to product development insight and support," Lytro said.

To sweeten the deal even further, those who pre-order will be able to submit their own photo series to win a trip alongside a professional photographer on an all-expense paid photo shoot.

"With Lytro Illum, creative pioneers — ranging from artistic amateurs to experienced professionals — will tap into a new wave of graphical storytelling," Lytro CEO Jason Rosenthal said in a statement.

"Now artist and audience alike can share an equally intimate connection with the imagery, and, in a sense, jointly participate in the magic of its creation," Rosenthal continued. "By combining a novel hardware array with tremendous computational horsepower, this camera opens up unprecedented possibilities to push the boundaries of creativity beyond the limits inherent in digital or film photography."

For more, check out PCMag's review of the original Lytro Light Field Camera.

Also watch PCMag Live in the video below, which discusses the new Lytro Illum camera.