I agree: 24: To 3D or not to 3D, no longer the question | Leitner’s Cinematography Corner.
Build your own 3D dual camera mounting rails
Ritwika Mitra shows how to build your own dual camera mount featuring an adjustable interaxial distance for 3d stereoscopic photography or video. Ritwika is a high school senior, by the way. Cool young woman! She and her sister are also the founders of the non-profit Rennow.org.
The details begin at about 2:30 into the video. I built this but I also use a fixed mounting bracket that is simpler and smaller. At some point, I will post photos of my set up for 3D.
Related articles
- Amazing – Create 3D video from old 2D videos (coldstreams.com)
- First 3D video attempt now online (coldstreams.com)
- 3D photos that do not need special glasses (coldstreams.com)
- Shot more 3D video today (coldstreams.com)
- Stereoscopic Cameras (lofiphotog.wordpress.com)
Amazing – Create 3D video from old 2D videos
This is an amazingly nice 3D video created by Dan Eckert as a conversion from 2D video.
How the heck does that work? As long as the camera is moving slowly left or right during the video shoot, you can create a fake 3D stereoscopic view by offsetting the 2D video by a few frames. Use the original video stream for one eye and the offset stream for the other eye – your brain sees this as three dimensional. The effect is amazing.
Youtube now provides a 2D to 3D conversion feature as well.
Related articles
- Shot more 3D video today (coldstreams.com)
- First 3D video attempt now online (coldstreams.com)
- China to launch 1st 3D TV channel in 2012 (coldstreams.com)
- YouTube turns boring 2D videos into 3D masterpieces (gadgetell.com)
- LG and National Geographic Team Up to Show Off 3D Photos & Videos Recorded Using a Smartphone (socialtimes.com)
- MAPP3D: Video Mapping Projection (ads2blog.com)
- Now, You Can Convert Your 2D Videos Into 3D @ Youtube (onlygizmos.com)
- Convert Your Videos To 3D On YouTube (rubbishcorp.com)
Shot more 3D video today
Shot using two Lumix GH-2 cameras. Edited in Magix Movie Edit MX Pro (version 18).
Here is the red/cyan anaglyph version. Requires red/cyan glasses and best to watch in 1080p.
Here is the Youtube multiple format version. Click on 3D in the viewer bar, at bottom right, to select your preferred viewing format. When I watched this, the red/cyan version seemed seriously misaligned versus my native red/cyan version, above.
The coming of age of 3D?
3D movies have been around for 40 to 50 years, but the genre has never taken off.
Shooting 3D in film was very complex and 3D was often used primarily as a gimmick to make the movie different, not to tell the story. Hence, few movies have been seen in 3D.
In the past decade, the big change has been digital technology that makes shooting, editing and fixing 3D video “footage” much easier. But Hollywood could not release many blockbuster 3D films because comparatively few theaters were equipped to project 3D. Today, at the end of 2011, half of the world’s theaters will have been upgraded to digital projection systems – which means they can all do 3D now. As this conversion takes hold on the remaining theaters, the market for 3D films will be much larger – that is, capable of being shown in most theaters. Did you know that many movies shot in recent years were actually shot in 3D but only released in 2D? Some of these may be re-released in the future as 3D movies or 3D TV releases. Let’s hope ticket prices are appropriate and not excessive, a problem that is hindering consumer enthusiasm for 3D at this point.
In December 2012, Peter Jackson‘s movie version of The Hobbit will see Part 1 released. Jackson is shooting The Hobbit in 3D at 48 fps in “5k” (an HD image is almost 2K) using paired RED EPIC cameras. I have a hunch that this movie will inspire a lot more interest in 3D.
Separately, at the 2011 Consumer Electronics Show, 3D LCD TV displays and projection TV systems were everywhere. Gradually, their prices will come down and more and more consumers will have 3D capable systems. In the interim, you can watch 3D using red/cyan or other colored glasses on a regular TV – this approach is not as good as true 3D but its okay and its cheap.
Camera companies demonstrated 3D consumer cameras at CES. However, shooting good 3D is complicated and I we are a long ways yet from a truly satisfactory point and shoot 3D system for all purposes. Editing 3D also requires about 2x the computer horsepower and hard disk storage – not something every home video enthusiast will have readily available.
At the 2012 Consumer Electronics Show, in just two weeks, we know that at least one company will be announcing a glasses free 3D TV. Technology like this has been shown in the past but has not yet entered the mass market.
3D is coming. Will it just be a gimmick?
People said color movies were a gimmick. People said talking movies were a gimmick. Some even thought original B&W movies were a gimmick – after all, they were just a silent, B&W version of stage plays!
As all the pieces come together – good stories, good story telling skills, 3D production equipment and 3D viewing equipment, 3D will become an important part of future entertainment. And my guess is that The Hobbit will change attitudes towards 3D – it is likely to be the right 3D movie at the right time.
Related articles
- LG preps lighter, more fashionable 3D TV glasses (electronista.com)
- 4 Reasons 3D Movies Aren’t Just a Fad (mashable.com)
- China to launch 1st 3D TV channel in 2012 (coldstreams.com)
- James Cameron defends 3D Titanic movie (telegraph.co.uk)
- What do I need to watch 3D movie at home? (semanticalley.com)
- In Defense of 3D (filmverse.wordpress.com)
- LG Reveals Swanky New 3D Glasses For CES 2012 (hothardware.com)
- Peter Jackson Has a LOT of Red Cameras [The Hobbit] (uberreview.com)
