Sony to Bow Cameras Upgradable For 3D Still Images Through Firmware Update
Sony wants to expand the realm of 3D content to include 3D still images by offering consumers a do-it-yourself option for populating their 3D content libraries. Executives from Sony’s digital imaging products group told reporters in a briefing last week that the company plans to release a firmware upgrade for an upcoming line of 3D-ready hybrid cameras that enables users to create their own 3D digital still content using a panoramic feature on the cameras.
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When consumers select the “3D Sweep Panorama” shooting mode, the camera creates left- and right-eye images from the frames captured during the 3D Sweep Panorama function, according to Mark Weir, senior manager of technology at Sony. Weir would not comment on precisely what technology Sony will use to process the left- and right-eye images.
The 3D images record to Multi Picture Format (MPF), a codec used for storing multiple associated images in a simple image file. MPF has been standardized by the Camera and Imaging Products Association (CIPA) and is assigned the file extension “.mpo.” Weir said the company will provide the picture file resolutions in a specification update. Weir wouldn’t comment when we asked if other Sony cameras would be 3D-compatible via the firmware upgrade.
Weir said the 3D images will be viewable on Sony Bravia 3D LCD TVs through the same active-shutter glasses used to view Blu-ray 3D movies. But again Weir wouldn’t comment when we asked whether 3D images shot with the Sony cameras will be playable on other manufacturers’ 3D TVs. “Although MPF is an industry-standardized format, we cannot comment on the compatibility of other manufacturers’ products,” Weir said. “We recommend that the 3D image data be played back from the camera connected by HDMI cable.” He said the outputs of both cameras are HDMI 1.4-compatible.
Sony’s new “NEX” (for next-generation interchangeable lens system) cameras will ship in early July at prices ranging from $500-$700 depending on the bundled lens kit. The cameras are part of a Sony effort to bridge the gap between compact point-and-shoot digital cameras and larger, higher quality digital SLR cameras. Responding to our question about possible cross-marketing plans between Sony’s TV and camera groups to promote their common 3D feature, Weir said he couldn’t comment on plans of the TV business unit.
Sony said it designed the NEX line with a “clean sheet,” though it’s built around the Exmor APS HD CMOS sensor that Sony showed at the PMA show earlier this year. At 23.4x15.6mm, the Exmor sensor is 60 percent larger than the Four Thirds system used in interchangeable lens cameras from Panasonic and Olympus, said Ernesto Bravo, Sony senior business manager. That allows for higher quality (14.1 megapixels versus 12.3) and other attributes than Four Thirds sensors deliver, he said. Bravo said NEX cameras combine the best of both point-and-shoot and DSLR worlds with their compact size, interchangeable lenses, high-quality sensors and the ability to “de-focus” the background for photographic effect in still and video modes.
Sony says one model in the line, the NEX-5, is the first digital camera to offer Full HD 1080p recording in the AVCHD format, which allows users to transfer their content onto Blu-ray discs for playback on their TVs. The cameras have no 3D full-motion video function, however. At 0.84 pounds, Sony also is billing the NEX-5 is the world’s smallest and lightest interchangeable lens camera when outfitted with a wide-angle lens. The camera with lens attached measures only 4.3x2.8x1.5 inches, it said.