Image: Lytro
Camera company Lytro has developed possibly the most advanced virtual reality camera yet, but it'll cost you.With the Lytro Immerge, rings of high-definition video cameras sit atop one another to create a camera sphere shaped not unlike a human head, that can capture color, intensity and depth in 360 degrees. The resulting footage will be compatible with any VR headset, like Samsung VR or the Oculus Rift.Most cameras are unable to capture the direction in which light is reflecting off of objects. This has been Lytro's selling point from its inception, and one it used in earlier still-photography cameras—by capturing directional qualities of light, the cameras could produce 3D images. It's called "light field image sensing."
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The new Immerge takes that to its logical conclusion, creating a way of capturing VR footage that will almost certainly be more advanced than anything we've seen yet. (No footage shot with the Immerge has been made publicly available so far.) It's not perfect, though: it can only store an hour of footage, so users will need to keep backing stuff up as they shoot. And it needs a strong power source, so shooting in remote locations will prove difficult.Unlike Lytro's earlier products, the Immerge is primarily for professionals. Adam Denison from Lytro's PR team contacted me to clarify: "Most studios rent cameras and it's expected that this will be the case for Immerge too. There has been no official announcement on pricing." Bloomberg reports a possible price tag of $250,000-$500,000, but daily rentals will be much more affordable for studios.