Apple and Canon Announce Mirrorless Camera Lens Designed for Spatial Video Capture

[MacRumors]

Apple and Canon today announced the development of a new mirrorless camera lens designed to capture spatial video for the Vision Pro headset.

Canon's RF-S7.8mm F4 STM DUAL lens is specifically intended to capture spatial video content, tailored for use with Apple's Vision Pro headset. The new lens is designed for the Canon EOS R7 camera and features dual optics, mimicking the human field of view.

The RF-S7.8mm F4 STM DUAL lens features a high-speed autofocus mechanism, ensuring that even in challenging lighting conditions, videographers can capture clear spatial video. After recording, the footage can be processed using Canon's EOS VR Utility app, which transforms the video into spatial content optimized for the Vision Pro.

The announcement marks a significant step in the effort to create more content for the Vision Pro. The RF-S7.8mm F4 STM DUAL lens is set to be available later this fall, with pricing details yet to be announced.

Article Link: Apple and Canon Announce Mirrorless Camera Lens Designed for Spatial Video Capture

 

[TapDatApp]

As a photographer, this is very cool and unexpected. I did not foresee something like this being available at a consumer level so soon.

 

[Zerlina]

start a new era of youtube content?

 

[Rradcircless]

This is particularly exciting to me. Such hardware empowers independent creatives to create high quality media without a colossal budget. Imagine short films, music videos, travel vlogs, in 3D! That's one thing I love about Apple, they give everyone the power of creation. I remember making music videos with my iPhone 6s in high school.

 

[Rradcircless]

start a new era of youtube content?

Spacial video will be viewable on Vimeo on Vision Pro.

 

[psxp]

Oh nice one more thing!

 

[G5isAlive]

I have Sony’s but this is enticing.. interesting it’s a crop censor.. almost affordable lol

 

[nathan_reilly]

This is sweet!

 

[UltimateSyn]

I don’t understand how this is possible with a single sensor, but that’s extremely cool.

 

[kc9hzn]

Now, unfortunately, this probably won’t get indies up to the level of the Alicia Keys Apple Vision Pro demo (though multiple of them will), but, if the quality of the resulting Spatial Video is better than the iPhone’s Spatial Video, this could possibly finally bring 3D video, maybe even photography, into the prosumer space. I’m not that into 3D content, but the democratization of 3D content creation could bring some really cool things (especially with how stale Hollywood is these days).

 

[spaxxedout]

We know what you’re thinking…

 

[jz0309]

This is great news, even more for Canon

 

[MrRom92]

It is only a matter of time before 3rd party lens manufacturers make this for other mounts to Apple’s exact specifications. Lenses like this (better ones, even) have existed for decades. Leica made one almost just like it in the 1940’s.

 

[Mizouse]

Wonder why it’s only currently supported by the R7.
Would love to give it a try on my R6mkII.

 

[TSE]

Now THIS is cool.

 

[macduke]

Nobody is making VisionOS content, so they’re getting desperate. But what I don’t get is how this and the iPhone makes video that has enough spatial separation to create 3D? Traditionally 3D camera rigs have to be set apart about the average distance between human eyes, which is a few inches, not less than an inch.

 

[Sirobin]

One of the coolest things announced today, and I can't wait to get more details on it (even as a Sony shooter who is very much hoping this spreads to other lens mounts). Wonder how they're saving recording the video on one sensor, probably just alternating frames, right?

 

[kc9hzn]

Nobody is making VisionOS content, so they’re getting desperate. But what I don’t get is how this and the iPhone makes video that has enough spatial separation to create 3D? Traditionally 3D camera rigs have to be set apart about the average distance between human eyes, which is a few inches, not less than an inch.

You can do a pretty good job of getting enough spatial separation through differences in angle. If the angle is close enough to emulate the angle of difference between the left and right eye, that usually works just fine for 3D photography. (That’s what the 3DS did, after all.) If this lens does do that, it probably would give you more depth than the iPhone’s Spatial Video.

 

[zantafio]

and thus began the era of 3D home made porn....

 

[steve09090]

Nobody is making VisionOS content, so they’re getting desperate. But what I don’t get is how this and the iPhone makes video that has enough spatial separation to create 3D? Traditionally 3D camera rigs have to be set apart about the average distance between human eyes, which is a few inches, not less than an inch.

The focal length of the lens is important.

 

[kc9hzn]

and thus began the era of 3D home made porn....

Honestly, I kinda forgot porn was a thing. I mean, I know intellectually that it’s something that exists (I’m not sheltered), but it’s not content I go out and consume, so it’s not the first thing that occurs to me about stuff like this. So, what does occur to me? Well, with a PoV camera with this type of lens, you could film PoV video of stuff like skateboarding tricks or rollercoasters. 3D storm chasing video would be pretty cool, as well. There’s enough of a community of weather geeks online that storm chasers have taken to using Patreon to fund their storm chasing, and 3D storm chasing would legit be pretty cool!

Oh, PoV 3D driving videos of cars I’d never be able to afford to even rent, or PoV 3D flying videos! That would be cool, too! Get on it, GoPro!

 

[Jensend]

You can do a pretty good job of getting enough spatial separation through differences in angle. If the angle is close enough to emulate the angle of difference between the left and right eye, that usually works just fine for 3D photography. (That’s what the 3DS did, after all.) If this lens does do that, it probably would give you more depth than the iPhone’s Spatial Video.

Huh? A display using a lenticular filter has nothing to do with a camera system using two lenses. And the camera lenses on the 3DS have significantly wider spacing than the iPhone cameras or this new Canon lens.

Today, Canon also announced a new dual lens with much wider stereo lens spacing: 60 mm, instead of the 19.5 mm of the iPhone lenses. https://www.dpreview.com/news/9404654349/canon-announces-compact-dual-fisheye-lens
I don't understand why Apple didn't promote it instead.

 

[steve09090]

Honestly, I kinda forgot porn was a thing. I mean, I know intellectually that it’s something that exists (I’m not sheltered), but it’s not content I go out and consume, so it’s not the first thing that occurs to me about stuff like this. So, what does occur to me? Well, with a PoV camera with this type of lens, you could film PoV video of stuff like skateboarding tricks or rollercoasters. 3D storm chasing video would be pretty cool, as well. There’s enough of a community of weather geeks online that storm chasers have taken to using Patreon to fund their storm chasing, and 3D storm chasing would legit be pretty cool!

Oh, PoV 3D driving videos of cars I’d never be able to afford to even rent, or PoV 3D flying videos! That would be cool, too! Get on it, GoPro!

Can you imagine Formula 1 with PoV? Wow! Scary stuff in high speed corners 250+kph

 

[mozumder]

I don’t understand how this is possible with a single sensor, but that’s extremely cool.

Each lens records into a separate half of the sensor.

You do end up losing half the resolution of each image, so an 8k sensor becomes 4k at most. But spatial videos need a LOT of resolution to cover the full image circle, which is why a lot of the spatial videos on Vision Pro look blurry, as they were recorded with half the resoltion of the camera sensor.

Also the problem with this particular lens is that it looks like the lens separation isn't the width of the human eye. It appears to only be a centimeter apart, which gives it less depth effect for anything besides macro photos. Canon already has a similar lens with better separation: https://www.usa.canon.com/shop/p/rf5-2mm-f2-8-l-dual-fisheye?color=Black&type=New

Also Canon just announced a similar lens for APS-C sensors at 3.9mm focal length: https://www.dpreview.com/news/9404654349/canon-announces-compact-dual-fisheye-lens

Hoping other vendors produce these lenses for their system as well. Also, we need 16k or dual 8k sensors.

 

[MacBird]

Wonder why it’s only currently supported by the R7.
Would love to give it a try on my R6mkII.

Maybe because it's APS-C, and according to Canon, the R7 will need a firmware update.