Canon announces a $450 budget 3D lens for shooting VR content
Kyiv • UNN
Canon has introduced a new RF-S7.8mm F4 STM Dual lens for 3D shooting with a 63-degree viewing angle. The device will go on sale in November 2024 at a price of $450, which is significantly cheaper than existing analogs.
Canon has officially announced the new RF-S7.8mm F4 STM Dual lens, first shown in June at Apple's WWDC 2024. UNN writes about it with reference to The Verge.
Details
The lens has stereoscopic elements squeezed into a body that is no larger than a traditional 2D camera lens. It was first introduced during a keynote at Apple's WWDC 2024 conference last June and is designed to work with the Canon EOS R7 as a more affordable tool for creators who create 3D VR content for headsets like Meta Quest 3 or spatial videos for Apple Vision Pro.
The company has not set a specific date for when the new 3D lens will be available, but says it will be sometime in November 2024, with an "estimated retail price" of $449.99. This is significantly cheaper than Canon's existing dual fisheye lenses designed to capture 3D video, including the RF5.2mm F2.8L Dual, which costs $1999, and the RF-S3.9mm F3.5 STM Dual, which costs $1,099.
Combining Canon's new 3D lens with the 32.5-megapixel EOS R7 digital camera, which starts at $1,299, brings the total cost of the kit to more than $1,700. However, this is still cheaper than Canon's more expensive 3D solutions, which start at $2,498 (and can go up to $6,298) when combined with the necessary camera hardware.
Canon's new 3D lens has an aperture range of f/4.0 to f/16, supports autofocus, and features a button and control wheel for separate manual focusing on the left and right sides. What makes it much cheaper than existing Canon 3D lenses is its limited field of view. More expensive Canon lenses are capable of capturing video and images with a 180-degree field of view - close to what the human eye can see - while the new RF-S7.8mm F4 STM Dual lens only covers a third of that angle, 63 degrees.
Using Canon's standard RF mount, the new lens has stereoscopic elements aligned in a straight optical path, resulting in its front lenses being only 11.8mm apart compared to the 60mm gap between the dual fisheye lenses on Canon's existing 3D lenses. As a result, Canon claims that the strongest 3D effect will be achieved when shooting subjects that are between 6 and 20 inches away from the lens. If you use it to shoot more distant subjects, the 3D effect will be less pronounced.
Images and videos captured with this lens need to be processed before they can be viewed with a virtual or augmented reality headset, either with the EOS VR plug-in available for Adobe Premiere Pro or with Canon's own EOS VR Utility software available for Mac and PC. Both tools require a paid subscription, but can generate 180-degree 3D, VR, or spatial video content.
Recall
Apple has announced that it will introduce new products via a press release. New Mac mini, iMac, and MacBook Pro with M4 processors are expected to be introduced.
