{"id":3704,"date":"2011-04-02T20:21:35","date_gmt":"2011-04-03T00:21:35","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.stayfocusedpress.com\/blog\/?p=3704"},"modified":"2021-02-05T19:55:40","modified_gmt":"2021-02-06T00:55:40","slug":"3d-photography-the-next-big-thing","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/arnielee.com\/sfp\/?p=3704","title":{"rendered":"3D Photography – the next big thing?"},"content":{"rendered":"

A Look at the Panasonic Real 3D W3 camera <\/strong><\/p>\n

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I’ll have to admit that I wasn’t particularly interested in 3D photography and video until I took a walk through the aisles of CES this past January.<\/p>\n

Among the major television makers LG, Panasonic, Samsung, Sharp and Sony all had huge displays demonstrating some very impressive 3D capabilities.<\/p>\n

From the fanfare that they were lavishing on their new equipment, it appears that the major electronics manufacturers are counting on 3D to be a big part of their revenue in the next few years.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n
Here’s an audience of viewers at the Panasonic booth being wowed with a wall-sized 3D movie.<\/p>\n

To use any of the new 3D televisions, you’ll need those cool 3D glasses to watch the new content but not the glasses which sport the cheap bi-color lenses; instead you’ll need to use battery-powered glasses that must be matched to the television manufacturer.<\/td>\n

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Here’s a set of battery powered glasses for my Panasonic 3D television.<\/p>\n

As I understand it, a 3D television image is displayed as an alternating pair of left eye\/right eye images. So the left eye image appears each 1\/60th of a second and the right eye image the next 1\/60th of a second.<\/p>\n

Each lens of the glasses contains a shutter. The shutter covering the left-eye opens each 1\/60th of a second and the shutter covering the right-eye opens alternating 1\/60th of a second. At this rate, the brain sees the alternating images as a single one in 3D.<\/td>\n

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Several companies are already producing 3D capture devices.
\nPanasonic is taking steps to support 3D with this stereo lens set that fits on their Micro Four-Thirds cameras.<\/p>\n

This has two separate lenses that produces a set of digital image that can be displayed directly on their 3D television.<\/td>\n

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I stopped at the Fuji booth to watch a demo of their 3D camera.<\/p>\n

Well, after a short ten minute introduction, I was hooked. After the show, I ordered one to try out the 3D features for myself.<\/p>\n

This is the Fuji Real 3D W3<\/strong> camera. You can see its two lenses are spaced apart about the same distance as your eyes. When you press the shutter, it captures two simultaneous images from slightly different viewpoints – left side and right side.<\/td>\n

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In fact, each lens is a 3X optical zoom that can also record a 10-megapixel image independently of one another. But when in 3D mode, the lenses are set to work synchronously.<\/p>\n
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On the back is a oversized 3.5″ LCD. But unlike a standard LCD, the one lets you view the 3D image without the need for special glasses.<\/p>\n

In playback, the camera combine the two separate left and right images and displays them on a high resolution, 1.1 megapixel lenticular lens system to simulate the 3D effect and minimizes flickering and crosstalk (double exposure).<\/td>\n

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This picture of me is the closest that I can come to showing you how a 3D image looks on the W3’s LCD.<\/p>\n

If you were viewing it on the W3, you’d see that my outstretched hand is clearly in front of my face and the gentleman behind me is very distant.<\/p>\n

When viewed live, the 3D images are very impressive.<\/td>\n

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Likewise, you can just as easily capture and playback 3D videos with the W3. Press the video button and it’s ready to record 720p HD movies when you press the shutter.<\/p>\n

To view the video on a larger screen, you’ll have to connect the camera to the 3D television with an HDMI cable. My Panasonic 3D television has an SD-slot so I can just insert the SD-card from the camera, precluding the need for the HDMI cable. Playback on a 3D television is very cool. In 3D video mode, the W3 truly gives you the Avatar-like effect.<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n

Although designed especially for 3D photographs and video, it’s also a very capable and unique camera for “normal” 2D photographs.<\/p>\n

Three different modes let the W3 capture two images at different zoom factors; two images with different ISO sensitivities; or two different images with different color attributes (black and white; chrome) all with a single press of the shutter.<\/td>\n

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3D photos and video are cool. But to really take advantage of the impact of 3D, you’ll need a 3D television – something that is bound to slow the adoption of cameras such as this.<\/p>\n

As a side note, I’ve used the Sony Alpha A55 extensively and one of the features that it offers is one called 3D Sweep Panorama<\/strong>. Activate this feature, press the shutter and pan the camera (in a sweeping motion) and the camera automatically captures a 3D panorama image. While you cannot see the 3D effect in-camera, you can display it on a 3D television. Sony has several other less expensive compact cameras with the 3D Sweep Panorama feature so 3D is definitely on the minds of camera manufacturers.<\/p>\n

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In the short amount of time that I’ve spent exploring 3D, I’ve found that the Fuji W3 is a relatively inexpensive yet exciting way for me to add this new dimension.<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n

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I purchased the Real 3D W3<\/strong> in February at a cost of just slightly over $300. For more information about the W3 visit Fujifilm<\/a>.<\/p>\n

For more information about the 3D stereo lens set contact Panasonic<\/a>.<\/p>\n

For more information about the 3D Sweep Panorama feature contact Sony<\/a>.<\/p>\n

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Please note that Stay Focused has no connection to Fujifilm.<\/p>\n

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Written by Arnie Lee<\/p>\n

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A Look at the Panasonic Real 3D W3 camera   I’ll have to admit that I wasn’t particularly interested in 3D photography and video until I took a walk through the aisles of CES this past January. Among the major television makers LG, Panasonic, Samsung, Sharp and Sony all had huge displays demonstrating some very […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[181,24,268],"tags":[282,296,295,87,294,89,293,187,292],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/arnielee.com\/sfp\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3704"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/arnielee.com\/sfp\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/arnielee.com\/sfp\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/arnielee.com\/sfp\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/arnielee.com\/sfp\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=3704"}],"version-history":[{"count":38,"href":"https:\/\/arnielee.com\/sfp\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3704\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":10449,"href":"https:\/\/arnielee.com\/sfp\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3704\/revisions\/10449"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/arnielee.com\/sfp\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=3704"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/arnielee.com\/sfp\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=3704"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/arnielee.com\/sfp\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=3704"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}