Facebook collaborates with RED on the development of a high-quality VR camera
Facebook is working with RED to develop a professional, high-quality camera to capture high resolution images. Besides, the freedom of movement in the form of six degrees of freedom is supported.
The new camera should make it possible to Shoot 3d and 360-degree and realistic images. By supporting six degrees of freedom, or 6DoF, the x, y and z axes can be moved in three dimensions. Also, RED provides 16 stops of dynamic range, which should reinforce the in-depth estimation and the sense of realism.
According to Facebook, creating images with the freedom of movement (of six degrees) is always difficult to reveal details about to get into dark corners of a scene. The company says that disappearing parts in a scene due to lack of light in normal cinematographic projects is not a problem, but that at 6DoF it is desirable if each pixel actually contains data about the scene. According to Facebook, the sensor is capable of absorbing a lot of light.
There is no information available yet about the price for the camera and when the device will appear on the market. Facebook has also published no further specifications. In the development of the new VR camera, the company uses the experiences with the 2016 Surround 360, a prototype for a 360-degree camera with 17 sensors. In 2017, the Surround 360 team introduced a spherical successor with a total of 24 camera sensors. The latter model was able to capture 8k video and 6DoF images.