Are You Still Limited to 2D? The New 3D Story
25 August 2009
If you’ve watched the 3D version of Harry Potter then you must have felt the spells reaching out to you. Many people go watch 3D movies despite the additional cost to ordinary cinemas for its lifelike rendition. 3D photography has been around for a century and a half. It is a method of photographically recreating an image as seen with naked eyes, perceiving depth in everything you see. 3D photographs are taken from at least two perspectives, i.e. the view from each eye. By forcing each eye to see only one photograph – the left eye sees the left and the right eye sees the right, the brain will reconstruct the depth from the two pictures and a 3D image arises.
To be able to create a 3D image, you need to capture the same subject from two slightly different angles. This can be done by shooting from 2 different angles one after another with one camera or placing two cameras on tripods stood in alignment. Capturing the image in 3D is only half the story though. The traditional method for displaying 3D photography renders the two images into different colours and then superimposes them. The viewer would need to wear coloured glasses so that each eye can see the relevant image to create the desired effect. This is the kind that you may watch on television, however everything will have distorted colour as a result. Conversely, you can view 3D images using a stereoscope which shows 2 images, one for each eye, with a divider in between so that you won’t have any crossover viewing. The display would have to be at least twice the size and not ideal either. More modern versions use polarised glasses and projectors to keep the colours more true to life.
3D photography was not entirely as straightforward as most people would like and have been limited to enthusiast or large budget productions. However, with the announcement of 3D cameras like the Fujifilm FinePix REAL 3D W1, simple and convenient 3D photography may well become common to all households. The Fujifilm FinePix REAL 3D W1 is basically 2 cameras packed into the size of one compact camera. Its 3D image capture system comprises of two Fujinon lenses and two CCDs which will take two 6 megapixels images simultaneously and blend them together for the 3D image. It removes shooting inconsistencies by taking two images at different instances and the built-in “3D auto” will determines optimal shooting conditions so that the picture taken is not merely 3D, but of high quality as well.
On the display front, you won’t have to worry about wearing coloured glasses to view your images. Fujifilm has developed the 3D LCD Monitor System for easy and natural viewing of the 3D images. In addition, the high quality 3D print system allows prints in high resolution with low halation. You may not only view the 3D image on the screen, but getting the visual satisfaction at hand.
While taking 3D images will no doubt be an interesting option to our photography, dedicated 3D equipment may not be so justifiable. This is where the Fujifilm FinePix REAL 3D W1 really shines as it also opens up new frontiers in 2D shooting. The advanced 2D mode allows you to shoot 2 images simultaneously at different focal lengths, different ISO sensitivities and different capture settings. You may make full use of the twin lenses to capture the exact same moment with totally different angles of view.
Thanks to the development in 3D technology, enjoying 3D photography no longer needs to be complicated. The FinePix REAL 3D W1 is the first ever compact digital camera adopting the 3D photography concept, and we are sure that there will be more to come, both cameras as well as 3D displays. It is no doubt good news for those who are interested in exploring the vivid rendition of 3D images but put off by the hassle and limitations of the traditional method.
this really is very exciting news, it is amazing that so few technologies are "new" but they were just hibernating so to speak until they could be developed into a commercial reality.
I might just give this a try and I can already hear the oohs and aahs of my children when they see the results.
To be able to create a 3D image, you need to capture the same subject from two slightly different angles. This can be done by shooting from 2 different angles one after another with one camera or placing two cameras on tripods stood in alignment. Capturing the image in 3D is only half the story though. The traditional method for displaying 3D photography renders the two images into different colours and then superimposes them. The viewer would need to wear coloured glasses so that each eye can see the relevant image to create the desired effect. This is the kind that you may watch on television, however everything will have distorted colour as a result. Conversely, you can view 3D images using a stereoscope which shows 2 images, one for each eye, with a divider in between so that you won’t have any crossover viewing. The display would have to be at least twice the size and not ideal either. More modern versions use polarised glasses and projectors to keep the colours more true to life.
3D photography was not entirely as straightforward as most people would like and have been limited to enthusiast or large budget productions. However, with the announcement of 3D cameras like the Fujifilm FinePix REAL 3D W1, simple and convenient 3D photography may well become common to all households. The Fujifilm FinePix REAL 3D W1 is basically 2 cameras packed into the size of one compact camera. Its 3D image capture system comprises of two Fujinon lenses and two CCDs which will take two 6 megapixels images simultaneously and blend them together for the 3D image. It removes shooting inconsistencies by taking two images at different instances and the built-in “3D auto” will determines optimal shooting conditions so that the picture taken is not merely 3D, but of high quality as well.
While taking 3D images will no doubt be an interesting option to our photography, dedicated 3D equipment may not be so justifiable. This is where the Fujifilm FinePix REAL 3D W1 really shines as it also opens up new frontiers in 2D shooting. The advanced 2D mode allows you to shoot 2 images simultaneously at different focal lengths, different ISO sensitivities and different capture settings. You may make full use of the twin lenses to capture the exact same moment with totally different angles of view.
