Facebook and RED finally show their 3D VR camera after months of teasing. Built specifically with the goal of creating VR-ready footage, the Red x Facebook Manifold Camera aims to provide total immersion.
The camera utilizes 16 RED Helium 8K sensors with 180-degree Schneider lenses used to capture 60 fps VR videos in a single scene with depth information to display high-quality 360-degree footage. The optics are provided by custom Schneider 8mm fisheye lenses, and the system can record RAW footage from all 16 cameras in 8K, at 60 fps, simultaneously.
“Manifold is the first professional camera to fully capture a spherical set of images to accurately recreate entire scenes,” Facebook says.
The control and storage units can be kept up to 328 feet away from the camera and third-party storage options provide an extra hour of recording time. As for editors, they are limited to using tools from Adobe and Foundry, though one can control the camera array from a regular web browser from any device. There’s also a developer kit to allow support for third-party processing tools. However, the companies are still making strides towards commercial availability.