Canon – Augmented & Virtual Reality Confabulation

June 10, 2024

Canon to Launch a More Affordable Stereo Wide-angle Lens for Spatial Video Capture

Leading camera maker Canon today announced its next big entry into its dual-optic lens category, which allows its line of high-end EOS R7 cameras to take spatial video and photos.

Called the RF-S3.9mm F3.5 STM Dual Fisheye lens, Canon says its more affordable VR lens system is engineered to offer “a perfect balance between clarity and usability for vlog-style VR creation.”

The new Dual Fisheye lens seems to be mostly the same idea and execution as the previous model introduced in 2021, however features slightly lower specs, including a smaller field-of-view and aperture, but offered at a greatly reduced cost.

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To boot, the new lens system is scheduled to be available sometime this month for $1,099.00, or about half the price of the lens initially announced for its EOS VR System from 2021.

“This APS-C Stereoscopic VR lens’ ability to achieve a 144º wide-angle view and utilize equidistant projection makes it ideally suited for every day, virtually hassle-free VR production,” Canon says in a press statement. “Also designed for versatility, this lens permits multiple methods of camera handling, from hand-holding, mounting on a gimbal, or tripod-mounting.”

Notably, the new stereoscopic lens features an interpupillary distance (IPD) of 60mm, which is very near to an average human IPD, making captured content more realistic when played back the the user.

Check out the full specs below:

Focal Length	3.9mm
Maximum and Minimum Aperture	f/3.5 – f/16 (1/3 stops, 1/2 stops)
Lens Mount Type	Canon RF Mount; Metal Mount
Interpupillary Distance / Baseline Length	60mm
Minimum Focusing Distance	0.66 ft. (7.9 in.) / 0.2 m
Maximum Magnification	0.03x
Angle of View (Diagonal)	144° 00′
Lens Construction (each lens)	11 elements in 8 groups
Special Elements (each lens)	Two UD glass elements
Lens Coating	Canon ASC (Air Sphere Coating)
Filter Size Diameter (rear lens mount)	30.5mm screw-type filter
Rear Mounted Gelatin Filter Holder	Supported – Built-in Supports cut gel or polyester
Aperture Blades (each lens)	7
Lens Switches	None
Dust/Water Resistance	Not Provided
Focusing System	Gear type STM focusing
Left/right focus difference adjustment	User-adjustable, via adjustment mode switch
Dual Pixel CMOS AF	Supported
Focus Guide	Not Supported
Full-time Manual Focusing	Supported
Control Ring	Supported
IS Mode Selection	Not Supported
Optical Image Stabilization	Not Supported
Stabilization with in-body IS (EOS R7)	Not Supported
Dimensions (width x height x length)	4.4 x 3.3 x 2.1 in. (112.0 x 83.7 x 54.6mm)
Weight	Approx. 10.2 oz. (290g)

The post Canon to Launch a More Affordable Stereo Wide-angle Lens for Spatial Video Capture appeared first on Road to VR.

April 27, 2023

High End Camera Maker Takes Its First Step into Consumer VR Software

First unveiled at CES 2022 early last year, Canon has now taken its first step into consumer VR software with Kokomo, its fledgling social VR platform. Compared to more full-featured collaboration apps, Kokomo isn’t there yet, but it’s a start in a new direction for Canon, which up until now has been mostly focused on XR hardware aimed at enterprise.

The Japanese optics and imaging giant announced that early access to its Kokomo social collaboration software for Quest 2 is now available in beta in the US and Canada.

If you didn’t hear about it at CES 2023 back in January where it had a pretty big outing, here’s how it works: you first use a mobile companion app to scan your face while making several expressions to generate a model of your head. Combined with the camera on your phone, you invite a friend to jump into Kokomo’s social VR environment where your avatar is essentially a mixed reality projection of you, replete with that face scan you did earlier to cover where the Quest 2 would normally obscure your eyes.

Realistically, the app still needs a lot of work. There are only a few virtual environments, which although plush, are simple backgrounds without much utility beyond looking nice. Moreover, the face scanning and projection on the mixed reality avatar feels a little too uncanny to give that face-to-face vibe the Japanese tech giant is going for right now. The fail state of Kokomo’s headset replacement is pretty funny too, as your mug can sometimes end up pasted awkwardly in mid-air.

Kokomo failing to position a face scan correctly | Image courtesy TechCrunch

Granted, it’s still in open beta, so we’re hoping to see some improvements in the near term before considering it over professional collaboration apps like Meta’s Horizon Workrooms, Spatial or Immersed.

And why Canon? The Japan-based company accounts for nearly half of all global camera sales, putting it in a good position to look for ways to integrate its high-quality optics in service of metaverse immersion. For now, it’s far from the most functional social collaboration tool we’ve seen, although the company’s commitment to sidestepping some of the inherent weirdness of avatars today (Zuckerberg has fake legs for you) by using what you already have in your pocket may show some real results with time.

Contrasted with something like Google’s Project Starline, which provides a stereo correct 3D chatting experience thanks to its host of sensors, light-field display, spatial audio, and computer vision—more akin to a telephone booth from the future—Canon’s Kokomo certainly takes accessibility to heart.

On the flipside, Canon has a number of XR devices which are largely focused on the Japanese enterprise market. Its most recent MREAL mixed reality headset is still very expensive—think 10s of thousands of dollars—making Kokomo the first step in an entirely new direction for the company.

We’ll be checking in on Kokomo as it progresses in the coming months. In the meantime, you can try it out for yourself by downloading the free app on Quest’s App Lab, and free companion app for either Android or iOS device.

April 22, 2022

Canon Announces MREAL X1 Enterprise Headset with Larger FOV

Canon announced its next enterprise XR headset, MREAL X1. The device, which offers passthrough AR, appears to be a modestly upgraded version of the company’s 2021 model, MREAL S1, as it boasts a field of view (FOV) that’s “2.5 times larger.”

The headset, which is detailed in an English language video (seen below), is said to make use of Canon’s proprietary display panels and optical technology, something the company says has allowed it to expand from MREAL S1’s quoted 45° × 34° to MREAL X1’s 58° × 60°.

The display resolution has also increased from 1,600 × 1,200 per eye in MREAL S1 to 1,920 × 2,160 per eye in the new X1 model.

It appears the company is also offering an optional grip-style handheld display configuration, effectively working like the one for Canon MREAL Display MD-20, which was introduced in 2020. The halo headset strap system, with front-facing adjustment knob, appears to be very similar to last year’s model as well.

“In particular, by expanding the longitudinal viewing angle, which was often requested by users, it is possible to check the entire view area without moving the head greatly,” Canon says in its Japanese language site, underlining the headset’s biggest upgrade.

Although the announcement video is dubbed in English, Canon has not made supporting information available in anything but the Japanese language, which suggests it’s again primarily targeting its domestic market like it has with other MREAL headsets in the past.

Additionally, the headset’s price is marked as “open,” which means you’ll likely need to partner with Canon Japan to get a pricing list. That said, if the steeply priced MD-20 model is any indication, it’s probably in the range of 10s of thousands of U.S. dollars.

Unlike standalone AR headsets such as HoloLens 2 or Magic Leap 2, which feature wave guide-based see-through optics, Canon’s tethered headset is a passthrough XR device, which literally passes real-world imagery through a pair of front-facing camera sensors and blends it with virtual images on a completely opaque conventional display.

If you want to learn more about different AR display methods, check out our primer on the differences between smartglasses and AR glasses.

Specs

MREAL X1
Connection
MREAL Display Body		dedicated terminals for interface cables (×1)
interface board		Dedicated Interface Cable Terminal (×1) Mini DisplayPort Terminal (×1) PCI Express 2.0 (Gen3) ×4 Card Edge (×1)
interface box		Interface Cable Dedicated Terminal (×1) AC Adapter Terminal (×1) PC Connection Cable Terminal (×1)
Size
MREAL Display body (head mount unit, interface cable not included)		Approx. 158 mm (W) ×86 mm (H) ×38 mm (D)
MREAL Display body + head mount unit (minimum state, interface cable not included)		Approx. 186 mm (W) × 150 mm (H) × 250 mm (D)
mass
MREAL Display body (head mount unit, interface cable not included)		approximately 158g
MREAL Display body + head mount unit (minimum state, interface cable not included)		approximately 359g
Cable Length
interface cable		approx. 10m (20m optional accessory)
display system
display angle of view		approx. 58° (horizontal) ×60° (vertical)
display resolution*4		approx. 3840 × 2160 (1920×2160 images on each left and right display)
display frequency		Approximately 120Hz*5
IPD Support Range
IPD range		approx. 55 to 78 mm (adjustment range) approx. 57 mm to 76 mm

The post Canon Announces MREAL X1 Enterprise Headset with Larger FOV appeared first on Road to VR.

April 22, 2022

First Look at Canon Japan’s MREAL X1 Mixed Reality Headset

Canon isn’t often thought of as an XR company but the camera manufacturer has been involved for quite some time, it’s just that most of its kit is very high-end and enterprise-focused. Yesterday, Canon Japan revealed its latest mixed reality (MR) device in the form of the MREAL X1, due to hit the market later this year.

Canon MREAL X1 — MREAL X1. Image credit Canon

Just like previous models the MREAL MD-20 and last year’s MREAL S1, the new model aims to cover a range of industrial use cases, from design and training through to product demonstrations. Keeping a similar form factor to the S1, the MREAL X1 will offer a range of improvements over its predecessor, giving it a wider field of view (FOV) so that the display area is about 2.5 times larger and a better resolution of 1920 x 2160 per-eye.

The headset also boasts 6 DOF inside-out tracking to help users walk around virtual objects, hand tracking to interact with the digital space, a 120Hz refresh rate, and an adjustable IPD range of 57-76 mm. The change in some of these features has meant that the MREAL X1 comes in a little heavier than its predecessor, adding an extra 21g – for total combined weight with the head strap of 359 g.

Because the MREAL S1 is so enterprise-focused its main use is to work with CAD (computer-aided design) software, displaying very high-resolution virtual objects. As such the headset is always cabled to a PC via a Mini DisplayPort cable.

One of the more unusual aspects of the MREAL series is the multiple ways users can interact with the headset depending on their requirements. The most common way is as a head-mounted display (HMD) using the supplied Halo head strap. But there are additional accessories whereby the device can be fitted into either the “Handheld Unit HH-4” which has two hand grips or a more compact unit that has to be placed in front of your eyes in a similar fashion to Google Cardboard.

The Canon MREAL X1 is expected to go on sale in June 2022 in Japan only just like the previous models, no price has yet been revealed. However, the mixed reality headsets won’t be cheap. The MREAL S1 – which Canon now describes as an ‘entry model’ – retails for $38,000 USD so that gives a rough idea of what companies will have to fork out.

If you’re into 180-degree photography (and who isn’t?) then Canon does have some slightly cheaper hardware. 2021 saw the release of the Canon RF 5.2mm F2.8L Dual Fisheye lens to expand those photographic possibilities for those who have a spare £2,099.99 GBP. For further updates on Canon’s latest XR hardware, keep reading gmw3.

October 6, 2021

Canon Introduces 180° Stereoscopic Lens to Support a “bright future for VR content creation”

Canon, one of the world’s leading camera makers, today introduced a new dual-optic lens which captures 180° stereoscopic views through a single sensor on the company’s high-end EOS R5 camera.

Canon today announced what it calls the EOS VR System which includes its new dual-optic camera lens, new firmware for its EOS R5 camera to support immersive capture, and new software for handling post-processing.

The new RF5.2mm F2.8 L Dual Fisheye lens is interesting because it captures both views onto the single image sensor in the Canon EOS R5 camera. Although this divides the resolution (because both views are captured in the same frame), it also stands to simplify the process of capturing 180° imagery because both views will necessarily have matching time sync, alignment, color, calibration, and focus. If any of these factors aren’t matched they can have a negative impact on the vieweing experience because it’s uncomfortable for the eyes to reconcile the discrepancies between each view. Capturing this way also means that the output is a single file for both eyes, which can streamline post-production compared to cameras which capture each eye’s view in a separate file (or many views which need to be stitched together).

The lens has an aperture of f/2.8 to f/16 and can be focused as close as 8-inches. The distance between the lenses is fixed at 60mm to be close to the typical human IPD. The company plans to update its Canon Connect and EOS Utility programs to offer a remote live-view through the lens for monitoring and shooting at a distance. Canon says the lens will be available in late December and priced at $2,000.

Around that time the company will also release two pieces of subscription-based software, an EOS VR Utility and EOS VR plug-in for Adobe Premiere Pro.

The EOS VR Utility will be able to convert the captured files from dual-fisheye to an equirectangular projection (which is supported by most immersive video players), as well as make “quick edits” and choose the resolution and file format before exporting.

The EOS VR plug-in for Premiere Pro will enable equirectangular conversion right inside of Premiere and allow the footage to be easily managed within other Adobe Creative Cloud apps.

The company has yet to announce pricing for either utility.

Canon calls the new lens “an important milestone in our company’s rich history as a lens manufacturer,” and says it “welcomes a bright future for VR content creation.”

“This new RF lens produces a stunning 8K virtual reality image and sets itself apart through its simplified workflow. Our goal is to make immersive storytelling more accessible for all,” says Tatsuro “Tony” Kano, EVP and GM of Canon Imaging Technologies & Communications Group.

Live-action immersive video was thought by many to be the next-generation of filmmaking to in the early days of modern VR, but it hasn’t seen nearly as much traction as pre-rendered CGI or real-time rendered content. Complicated immersive camera systems surely didn’t help, and to that end, Canon hopes its new lens and software tools can make a difference.

However, most live-action immersive video also lacks volumetric capture, which means the view can rotate (3DOF) but can’t also move through 3D space (6DOF), which tends to be less comfortable and immersive than VR content which can. Several companies have been working toward volumetric live-action capture, but several key players—like Lytro and NextVR—ultimately didn’t survive and were sold off before finding a market fit.

Whether or not simplified capture and production pipelines are enough to reboot 3DOF live-action immersive content remains to be seen.

In addition to its new lens, Canon has also experimented with XR headsets, most recently the MREAL S1 which it showed off earlier this year.

The post Canon Introduces 180° Stereoscopic Lens to Support a “bright future for VR content creation” appeared first on Road to VR.

October 6, 2021

Canon Made A $2K Lens For Shooting 3D VR Video

Canon will start shipping a dual fisheye lens with an estimated retail price of $1,999 in late December that can shoot 3D 180° video when paired up with the EOS R5 camera.

The Canon RF5.2mm F2.8 L Dual Fisheye lens will debut alongside a subscription-based software utility and Adobe Premiere Pro plug-in “for completing the post-production process,” a press release explains. Canon says it will offer free trial periods for the EOS VR Utility and EOS VR Plug-in, with details to be shared later, but there will also be “the ability to process still images and certain clip lengths for free.”

Canon says the lenses were engineered with an interpupillary distance of 60mm to deliver a field of view about 190 degrees onto a single full-frame sensor inside the R5 camera. The product is said to be capable of focusing up to 7.87-inches away with an aperture range from f/2.8 to f/16.

The product is a curious release from Canon. The VR market already saw a range of consumer and professional camera products come and go that were targeting 180-degree and 360-degree capture, and consumers haven’t really shown a willingness to pay for content captured this way. Still, Canon’s cameras are in widespread professional use and the company is pitching a “simplified workflow” for processing captures with its hardware that might be tempting for some creators. Likewise, Facebook’s Oculus Quest 2 is heading toward mainstream adoption and millions of engaged Quest owners might breathe new life into this type of content.

October 6, 2021

Canon Unveils All-New EOS VR System Using a Dual Fisheye Lens

While Canon has previously dabbled in virtual reality (VR) and augmented reality (AR) technology with devices like the MREAL Display MD-20, its latest announcement offers a far more serious stab at entering the market. Canon has just announced a brand new EOS VR system that features a dual fisheye lens with an RF mount, designed exclusively for its EOS R5 camera.

At the centre of this new system is the unusual Canon RF 5.2mm F2.8L Dual Fisheye lens, the company’s first interchangeable lens designed for stereoscopic 180° VR capture. The pair of ultra-wide 190-degree field of view (FoV) lenses project two images onto the camera’s single, 45-megapixel sensor, allowing creators to capture 8K (8,192 x 4,096) resolution 3D images and video. The lenses have an interpupillary distance of 60mm to resemble normal human vision, which should make for comfortable content viewing.

There are some other quirkier features that should interest both photographers and VR content creators alike. There’s a manual focus ring that focuses both lenses at the same time, however, the right lens can be independently adjusted using an Allen key. Plus, as this is an L-Series lens, it comes with all the bells and whistles pro Canon users would expect, an aperture range of f/2.8 – f/16, coatings to suppress ghosting and sunlight flare, two UD elements per lens to correct for aberrations and dust and splash resistant seals. It even has a rear-mounted gelatin filter holder for pre-cut ND gels.

So that’s the hardware but as a 360°/180° creator knows, the software is a big part of the equation. Canon’s aim with the RF 5.2mm F2.8L Dual Fisheye lens is to make the whole process as simple as possible. This is why the EOS VR system will utilise Canon’s newly developed software application EOS VR Utility and an EOS VR Plug-in for Adobe Premiere Pro to streamline the post-production process, both of which are subscription-based. Canon will also update its EOS Utility and Camera Connect App for remote control and live image previewing.

Because the whole setup puts both images onto a single sensor only one file is created, removing the issue of stitching and syncing multiple images. These two images are circular initially, with the EOS VR Utility software converting them into a side-by-side equirectangular 180° VR format for viewing on VR headsets.

The Canon RF 5.2mm F2.8L Dual Fisheye lens will retail for £2,099.99 GBP/ €2,399.99 EUR / $1,999 USD, coming to market in late December 2021. Considering the standard price for the Canon EOS R5 is £4,299.99, the entire set-up will cost you a rather substantial £6,399.98, then again it is a pro kit and if you already own the camera just buying the lens could be a good investment if you’re interested in this growing field.

For comparison, a 360° camera like the Insta360 Pro 2 starts from £4,599 and does offer all-around recording but doesn’t offer the compact versatility the EOS VR system seems to provide. For continued updates on Canon’s new EOS VR system, keep reading VRFocus.

October 7, 2020

Canon kündigt MREAL S1 an

Canon kündigt eine neue AR-Brille mit der MREAL S1 an. Das Headset für Unternehmen bietet eine AR-Durchgangsfunktion (passthrough) und kann sowohl an einer Kopfhalterung befestigt werden, um die Hände frei zu haben, als auch an einem Gehäuse, das für das Halten in den Händen gedacht ist.

Canon kündigt MREAL S1 an

Canon Mreal S1 Mixed Reality

Im Gegensatz zum MREAL Display MD-20, das Anfang dieses Jahres vorgestellt wurde, könnte man das MREAL S1 technisch als ein VR-Headset mit AR-Sicht beschreiben, welche durch den Einbau von stereoskopischen Kamerasensoren auf der Vorderseite des Geräts erreicht wird, die dem Benutzer eine “gemischte Realität” bieten. Das Headset enthält auch zwei zusätzliche optische Sensoren für die Positionsverfolgung.

Bisher hält sich Canon zu den Spezifikationen bedeckt. Jedoch sagt das Unternehmen, dass es das kleinste und leichteste MR-Gerät in der Geschichte von MREAL sei. Zum Betrieb der MR-Brille soll jedoch auch ein PC notwendig.

Aktuell ist nicht bekannt, wie und wo Canon das MR-Headset zukünftig anbieten wird. Es ist aber davon auszugehen, dass sich das Unternehmen zunächst auf den japanischen Markt konzentrieren wird.

(Quelle: Road to VR)

Der Beitrag Canon kündigt MREAL S1 an zuerst gesehen auf VR∙Nerds. VR·Nerds am Werk!

October 7, 2020January 27, 2021

Canon Showcases Its Next Enterprise AR/VR Headset ‘MREAL S1’ in New Video

Canon previously announced its next AR/VR headset MREAL S1 back in October. Now, the Japan-based company has shown off the enterprise-focused device in a new video.

Update (January 27th, 2021): Canon Japan released the first promo video for their upcoming AR/VR headset, which uses a passthrough camera for room-scale augmented reality interactions. The headset is set to release in late February 2021.

Since Canon seems to be pitching the device only within Japan, YouTuber ‘Tyriel Wood’ did the courtesy of running the video through Google Translate so we can get a handle on the particulars.

In the video, we learn the headset weighs an impressive 137g, and claims to be the smallest, thinnest and lightest of Canon’s offerings. With the headstrap attached, it can be flipped in the upward position and adjusted for fit. A mechanical IPD adjuster is also built into the headset’s lenses. As previously seen, the MREAL S1 can also be used like a pair of hand-held binoculars, replete with light-blocking guard around the sides.

Original Article (October 7th, 2020): Unlike the MREAL Display MD-20, which was unveiled earlier this year, you might describe MREAL S1 as technically a VR headset with passthrough AR, which is achieved by the inclusion of stereoscopic camera sensors on the front of the device and VR displays, providing a ‘mixed reality’ view to the user. The headset also includes two additional optical sensors for positional tracking.

Canon Japan hasn’t released specs, prices or availability yet, however the company says on its Japan-facing site “the smallest and lightest video see-through MR device in the history of MREAL.”

MREAL S1 requires a PC tether to function (ie. not a standalone headset), however the company says its been created to work with mobile workstations, and is both cheaper and more portable than its predecessors, the MD-20 and 2016-era MD-10. Of course, some degree of that portability is owed by the headset’s notable lack of any sort of light-blocking blinders, although that’s been a design choice the company has made with all of their MREAL headsets to date.

As you’d imagine with any enterprise-focused AR headset, the head-mount version of MREAL S1 is designed for work with industrial applications, which might require two hands such as CAD software. The handheld style however was created for easier use at exhibitions.

Canon Reveals MD-20 Enterprise AR headset With High Resolution And FOV

Camera giant Canon isn’t a major player in the augmented reality headset space, but it has been selling an $82,000 enterprise-class AR headset to Japanese customers since 2016. This week the company announced a sequel that promises even higher-fidelity AR visuals — enough to “fuse the real world with 3D CG in real time” — for businesses including car makers.

Looking more like an optometrist’s tool than a pair of glasses, the new Mreal Display model MD-20 includes twin screens inside a black plastic housing, held in front of the user’s face with a large padded head ring. The odd design enables Canon to include atypically high-resolution 2,560 x 1,600-pixel displays for each eye, and achieve a large 70-degree horizontal by 40-degree vertical field of view. Canon’s latest screens operate at roughly 60 frames per second and cover 99% of sRGB colors, using graphics provided by a tethered PC.

Another element is a front-facing camera with a “uniquely developed global shutter” that uses three CMOS sensors, matching the wearer’s line of sight with high-precision compositing of real and computer-generated imagery. Canon claims that the MD-20 generates real-time spatial maps that precisely account for the user’s current location and field of view, so that digital objects — the car on the right, above — will seamlessly integrate with real ones, such as the car on the left. Optional external markers and sensors can also be used to provide 3D positioning data without on-device mapping.

Beyond just visualizing photorealistic 3D objects, MD-20 can display virtual touch menu interfaces for controls and access multiple applications — more than 10, Canon says, including third-party apps. The headset appears to be compatible with Mreal software developed for the predecessor model, MD-10, which had a narrower 60-degree horizontal field of view, 1,920 x 1,200-pixel resolution, lower color gamut, and 54Hz frame rate. Even in prototype form, the new model weighs only 60% as much as its predecessor — 620 grams versus 1,040 — though Canon hopes to reduce the weight further ahead of its general release.

There’s no specific timeline or pricing yet for MD-20’s sale to interested companies, but the prior model’s ¥9 million (~$82,260) price tag suggests that it could be sky high. That said, increased competition in the enterprise AR space could bring this model closer to earth: Companies such as Varjo are offering enterprise-class mixed reality headsets in the $10,000 range, combining AR and VR capabilities for businesses. Users interested in seeing MD-20 in person can visit the 28th 3D & Virtual Reality Exhibition, running from February 26-28 at Japan’s Makuhari Messe.

This post by Jeremy Horwitz originally appeared on VentureBeat.

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