Not bigger than the size of volleyball, Lytro Immerge camera is an insanely sophisticated camera from Lytro which even lets you move in the Virtual Reality video. Immerge comprises of five layers of optics with each layer loaded up with lenses and image sensors that capture high-resolution spherical video all around the camera. Can it be a Virtual reality game changer?
The Build and Design
The Lytro Immerge camera is Lytro’s next addition to its list of light field cameras after its previous two cameras were not much successful in the VR market. Its two previous launches could neither capture high-resolution images nor record videos. But Immerge is not something ordinary. It is the most advanced light field camera till date. Lytro Immerge camera captures the light field volume, that is, it captures every ray of light coming from the outside world. While doing so, it records two things, firstly, the place where the light ray hits the sensors and secondly, the direction the ray was traveling to. The whole process allows the Lytro Immerge camera to record all the light that would have passed through that volume the camera occupies the space. The result is the recreation of a model of the scene that is being viewed. What’s, even more, mind-blowing is the fact that the captured VR allows the viewers to move into space through a Virtual Reality headset. This depth of field opens the doors for further possibilities that can be a leap forward for VR filmmaking and immersive gaming.
Immerge comprises of a rig that contains several rings of cameras capable of capturing an entire sphere. It sports a globe design that is portable and an end to end system that acts like something out of a sci-fi thriller. But looks is not something that makes Lytro Immerge the game changer for Virtual Reality industry. It is the technology it uses that sets it apart from its league of 360-degree cameras. The light field technology enhances audience’s belief in what they see and cheats them to believe that they are somewhere they are not. The groundbreaking technology also enables content creators to blend the live action and computer graphics using light field information, therefore giving direction to VR industry towards what seems like an incredible future ahead.
Performance
Lytro Immerge camera is capable of delivering lifelike VR content for live action using it six degrees of freedom. The massive orb-shaped camera includes hundreds of tiny cameras that measures the light coming from all the directions. The technology is known as light field photography which, when complimented with CGI to blend live action and computer graphics together, provides an unparalleled creative freedom to immersive VR storytellers and content developers. Lytro Immerge camera system is based upon four main components: The Configurable dense Light Field camera array, the servers that stores and process the data, the light field editor which integrates with existing visual effects like Nuke and the player which is the Light field video playback engine for leading VR headsets and platforms.
Lytro Immerges light field provides its users with certain unique benefits which other 360 degree cameras don’t offer. The biggest highlight of Immerge is that unlike other 360-degree VR cameras, the recorded footage does not require any stitching. The virtual reality content captured through Lytro Immerge camera is capable of being played on any device. The camera provides depth information in every single frame and supports any intraocular baseline after capture. Immerge is backed by eight years of Lytro"s research on the light field, module data capture, and incredibly well-built rig that enables VR content creation with six degrees of freedom. The quality of footage captured through the camera is around four times better than the 4k standard Ultra HD. The post production time is reduced dramatically as the system requires no need to stitch the images from all the cameras to create integrated 360-degree footage.
Price
Lytro Immerge camera offers some mind-blowing specifications; thanks to an equally mind-blowing technology it is based upon. One of them is the ability it grants to viewers to be able to lean left or right in the space to check the content in the Virtual reality space. But as it is said, everything comes with a price. To get hands on one of the Immerge rigs, one needs to pay hundreds of thousands of dollars, with prices starting at $250000 However; the camera can also be rented at a slightly more manageable rate of $6000 to $8000 per day.
The Verdict
There is more than one reason as to why Lytro Immerge Camera is a game changer in the league of 360-degree cameras. Creating immersive environments that can take advantage of free motion supported by virtual reality headsets like Oculus Rift or HTC Vive required a lot of hard work, but with the introduction of Immerge, the whole process becomes a very easy feat. The image quality is superb and seamless which sets a standard for other companies that does not look easy to be matched anytime soon. But the price tag is the bar this beast sets upon itself as to who can use it. It is not for the hobbyists or the small budget videographers. Lytro Immerge camera is one of the most amazing cameras built till now which even allows you to move around footage on screen. If Lytro can continue pulling it off in the way they did with Immerge and reduce the cost to afford their Light Field 360-degree cameras, then the future of virtual reality is certainly going to be very, very different from what we are expecting and Lytro will be the pioneer of that change.
To sum it all, Lytro Immerge Camera is one of the most advanced and incredible cameras from Lytro. They have established its brand in the VR market and does what it was meant to do, amaze us with its high quality image clarity and unmatched virtual experience but, does so at a huge price of hundreds of thousands of dollars. The camera, through its groundbreaking features sets a benchmark in VR, an industry that is soon going to enter an omnipresent stage if companies like Lytro keep coming up with such incredible innovations.
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