In addition to Facebook’s two new volumetric video cameras, there was another important camera unveiling at F8 today: the Obsidian VR camera.
The camera, by KanDao Technology Co., is a stereoscopic 360 VR camera that was launched last year and won the CES Best of Innovation award in Digital Imaging. What’s new is that Kandao is currently accepting applications for 100 creators to purchase its Pioneer Edition for $4,999, a $3,000 discount.
At F8 last year, Facebook announced the Surround360 Open Edition VR camera, the basis for its two new volumetric video cameras.
At today’s F8 event, Facebook Engineering Director Brian Cabral pointed out three cameras, including Obsidian, that are based on the Surround360 Open Edition camera’s open source technology.
“One of the goals with [Open Edition] being open source was to encourage others to go off and build their own cameras and help build the ecosystem,” said Facebook Surround360’s Engineering Director Brian Cabral. Obsidian, along with the Z Cam V1 Pro and Onsemi CKT 360 Endeavor, was one of those cameras. “I was hoping for one and we got many more.”
Below is a 4K sample video from an earlier version of the Obsidian.
Key features of KanDao Technology’s Obsidian VR camera
The palm-sized camera has six synced fisheye lenses that output 8K stereoscopic video. KanDao also recently revealed the Obsidian S, which captures 4K video at 120 fps and 6K at 60 fps.
The Pioneer Edition of the Obsidian VR camera, shown here, has a slightly different appearance than the final camera design, shown above.
Both cameras can be controlled remotely and previewed via Ethernet cable or iOS and Android apps. Users can adjust exposure, ISO and shutter speed of one or multiple lenses, as well as change shooting modes, when connected by WiFi or Bluetooth.
Kandao Studio, Obsidian’s companion software, offers one-click processing, ambisonic surround sound support, and GPU acceleration to speed up workflow.
Obsidian also comes with its own stitching software, KanDao Studio, that KanDao claims cuts post-production time in half. Its automatic stitching also makes it possible to live stream monoscopic or stereoscopic 4K video in cubemap projection format.
KanDao Obsidian VR camera specs
Here are some additional specs for the Obsidian S and R:
- 5.7 inches in diameter (S), 3.65 inches in diameter (R)
- 2.4 pounds
- Aluminum magnesium alloy housing
- Maximum power consumption of 26W
- Power supply via battery, external 12V, or ethernet
- 6 cameras
- Fish eye f/2.2 (S) and f/2.8 (R)
- Sony 12M back-illuminated CMOS image sensor
- Video format: monoscopic or stereoscopic; equirectangular or cubemap projection
- Stitched output resolution of 5760 x 5760 (S) and 7680 x 7680 (R)
- ISO 50-6400
- Dynamic range 10 stops (video and 12 stops (photo)
- Supported frame rates 80/120 fps at 4K, 30/60 fps at 6K (S); 60 fps at 4K, 30 fps at 8K
- Camera IO: 1 Gbps ethernet
- Audio: internal 6-channel, external stereo in line, spatial audio support with Zoom H2n synchronization
- Output compression H.264/H.265
Obsidian will be available in Q2 of 2017 for $7,999. For more information, visit the KanDao website.
