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Watch: Lytro Cinema, the Camera that Could Kill Two-Camera 3D Camera Rigs
Lytro Cinema from Lytro on Vimeo.
Next week at NAB, a potentially very important new camera is being debuted. The Lytro Cinema camera has capabilities that could potentially eliminate the need for two-camera 3D rigs. Over at Studio Daily, Bryant Frazer has a good explanation of the camera’s features, technical specifications and potential implications. (Note: it’s going to be a very expensive piece of equipment, at least at first.) As he sets it up:
Lytro is debuting a light-field cinema camera that captures volumetric data about a scene rather than a single image from one fixed perspective. That means it captures information about the direction light is traveling, along with the intensity of light hitting the camera’s sensor — enough to partially reconstruct the actual 3D space in front of the camera. Of course the camera can’t see what’s happening behind walls or other objects in the frame. But it captures enough information to allow the camera to be repositioned in post.
The video above is from Lytro, illustrating how this all works along with predictably enthusiastic endorsements from DPs, f/x guys and 20th Century Fox’s resident futurist.
