At CES2018, KODAK PIXPRO announced two new 360 cameras: a hockey puck sized three-lens 8K camera and a foldable 4k 360 camera that converts to a 3d 180 / VR180 camera. They also had on display the new underwater case for Orbit360.
Kodak had a very large presence at CES 2018. In fact, there were two booths — one for Kodak and the other for Kodak PIXPRO. I visited the PIXPRO booth and saw my friend and tech vlogger Kevin Kunze who works closely with Kodak PIXPRO.
In addition to showing the the Orbit360 and the SP360 4K Dual Pro (yes they’re still selling it), PIXPRO showcased two new cameras: a hockey puck-sized 360 camera for professionals, and a foldable 360 camera that converts to a 3D camera. Kevin let us get a closer look at the two new cameras.
Here is a video by Kevin:
The professional camera has no real name yet but is temporarily called the “360 Pro VR Camera.” It has three lenses and according to Kevin, it will have 8K video. Staff also said it will reportedly have stabilization. What I don’t know yet is how the 3 sensors can result in 8K resolution. 8K is four times higher than 4K. Even if each lens is 4K, combining the videos would not result in 8K video (unless interpolated). If it is truly 8k, then each of the three sensors would need to be higher than 4K, which is possible but unusual. In any case, the 8K camera will supposedly cost around $1500, and will be available Q3 or Q4 of 2018.
The other camera is a foldable 360 camera that converts to a 3D 180 camera when unfolded. The camera is temporarily called the “3D 360 VR camera” and will have 4K video resolution. According to staff, it will also have stabilization (I don’t know if there is stabilization in 3D mode). I’m hoping that in 3D mode it will be compatible with Google VR180. There is no specific timeframe for production yet but it is estimated to cost around $500.
I also saw the new underwater case for the Orbit360. The new case has spherical lenses to minimize the effect of refraction underwater. Note also that it has a compartment for wireless remote of the Orbit360. The shaft is tilted because the Orbit360 has an asymmetric lens design, so the tilt angles the shaft toward the stitch line. The underwater case is available on kodakpixpro.com for $119.
Thanks to Kevin Kunze for showing the two cameras to me!
8K or 4K is the linear dimension. 8K is twice 4K in terms of linear dimensions (width & height) therefore this becomes 2×2=4, four times in terms of image surface and therefore pixels.
So 3 x 4K is 3 x 4096 = 12288 pixels…. 8K is supposed to be 8192 pixels wide, you have enough pixels for a decent image overlap (1365 pixels per overlap)
Hi photoGerbil. Here are my calculations: 4K is 3840 x 1920 or equivalent (e.g. 2880 x 2880). Three 4K lenses = 22,118,400 or thereabouts, assuming zero overlap. 8K is 7680 x 3840, which is 29,491,200. This is why I think three 4K lenses would not have the required resolution.
Best regards,
Mic
Hi Mic,
that’s correct if you consider the consumer 4K resolution used in consumer TVs.
“Technically, “Ultra High Definition” is actually a derivation of the 4K digital cinema standard. However while your local multiplex shows images in native 4096 x 2160 4K resolution, the new Ultra HD consumer format has a slightly lower resolution of 3840 X 2160.”
So native 4K is 4096 x 2160…. it’s mostly untrue for consumer TVs but mostly true when applied to sensors…. We’ll see what Kodak delivers !
It seems most Prosumer 360 cameras have adopted a 2:1 aspect ratio — not just Kodak. Effectively this means that a lot of cameras claiming UHD or 4K are for instance 3840 x 1080 instead of 3840 x 2160
Per this logic, with a 2:1 ratio, it is kind of OK to claim it would be 8k but it is true it is only 8K horizontally and not in a 16:9 aspect ratio.
Although a lot of camera makers are using the 2:1 ratio, the thinking is a bit flawed is that already the top and bottom suffer from equirectangular distortion and I am not sure the 2:1 ratio helps. I do think the 2:1 ratio has been widely adopted to be able to claim higher resolutions, reduce component costs and reduce engineering challenges for prosumer level 360 cameras.
Erratum: I mistakenly wrote 3840 x 1080 but I mean 3840 x 1920 for UHD at 2:1 aspect ratio
Ex: all Insta360 cameras, the Fusion, the Garmin, Theta… all use 2:1 aspect ratio
Hi Fabrice. 2:1 is the standard ratio for equirectangular videos and photos, not just for prosumers. 8K 2D 360 means 7680 x 3840.
Best regards,
Mic
Hopefully, the foldable camera will work with YouTube’s VR180. I love 360 but I want to break into 180 3D as well.
Yes i hope so too. That would be cool. A camera that can switch between fully spherical and Google VR180 would be awesome.
Best regards,
Mic