Fujifilm has officially discontinued the Fujifilm 3D W3 still camera. This is the last of their 3D cameras. (See http://3d.coldstreams.com/?p=2264) The W3 continues to be available as they ship from inventory; the Amazon new price has fallen to about $160. Panasonic has also discontinued sales of the Lumix 3D1 except for a large quantity of Japanese language-only versions being sold through numerous electronics distributors in Japan and on EBay and Amazon. I own one of the Japanese language versions and its easiest enough to use without speaking Japanese as most of the menus are icon based.
The are no more integrated 3D still cameras being made, except for 3D still capability on some video cameras, some toy cameras, and the paired GoPro Hero2 with the 3D sync cable. Alternatives are to use two older Canon cameras with the StereoData Maker version of the CHDK hacking software and a simple USB synchronization cable.
3D still photography is much simpler than 3D video photography. But 3D stills suffer from the same hurdles as 3D video – the viewer needs special glasses or 3D displays with special glasses. While the BBC is postponing most of their 3D production work now, for 3 years, Sky 3D says they are continuing at full speed ahead on 3D work.
Dolby and Phillips say they expect to announce shipments of their first glasses free 3D displays early next year. However, glasses free 3D is probably not going to be common until the 4K push is thoroughly in gear. That’s because 2K is sort of half resolution HD (one way or another) and 4K provides super detail for 3D. I have seen glasses free 3D 4K displays at CES and they are amazing. But the technology is not yet ready for mass manufacturing at moderate price points. In 2 to 4 years, the 3D 4K glasses free technology should become available at moderate prices. We hope.
Related articles
