Recording live-action scenes for virtual-reality devices has been limited by the fact that cameras are stuck in one position and headset wearers can't lean their heads over to get a different view.
That'll change with a new camera called Immerge from startup Lytro. The spherical head unit includes hundreds of tiny cameras that measure light coming in from every direction, a technique known as light field photography.
The camera will allow viewers to do things like lean to their left or right within about a cubic meter of space (1.3 cubic yards) to look around real-life objects rendered in the virtual world.
Renting the camera will run in the low thousands of dollars each day. The fee includes servers to hold several terabytes of footage. Each set, about the size of a cabinet, is good for one hour of shooting. Servers can be swapped out while shooting.
CEO Jason Rosenthal says the resolution of the camera is close to four times better than the 4K standard known as Ultra HD and will also render images in 3-D. The current practice of using software to stitch together footage shot from multiple cameras isn't needed, he says.
– Ryan Nakashima, AP Business Writer
