Apple wants to change the future of filmmaking, and has introduced its first 8K 3D cinema camera developed to make movies for the Vision Pro. The camera can shoot 180-degree in high resolution, and record spatial audio for cinematic immersive content. All known details are below.
Based on the patent application from 2021
YMCinema was the first to report about Apple patent from 2021 titled “Camera apparatus and method”. The patent describes a double sensor camera that is dedicated to capture spatial content for the Vision Pro. The camera has high-resolution capabilities (8K) and is armed with two large sensors. As stated by our article: “It’s important to mention that although the sensor units are presented multiple times in the application, a size specification is not defined. However (!), by examining the dimensions described in the applications, we can conclude that it’s a big sensor since the dimensions of the filters are about 5 centimeters. So we assume these are two sensors of Micro-Four-Thirds so Super 35 each! That would be considered large sensors, especially for a stereoscopic camera”. Yesterday, Apple has introduced the camera to the public.
Apple 8K 3D cinema camera
Apple has teamed up with Academy Award-winning filmmaker Edward Berger to make their first short film, Submerged, using their brand new immersive camera, which could change the way people watch things at home forever. The camera allows filmmakers to utilize the near-limitless possibilities of Apple Immersive Video, a brand-new storytelling format that lets its users create 3D video in 8K with a 180-degree view. Basically, it’s a very new camera that sees 180 degrees, specially developed by Apple. It’s a specially designed stereoscopic camera with microphones that are also, in a way, multidirectional in order to record spatial audio. When shooting with the camera, everything is in focus. Apple has not released any specs yet, nor availability and price. Nevertheless, from analyzing the BTS, we see that the base structure is indeed, very similar to the patent application explained above.
The camera is not available to the public, yet
As said, there’s no info regarding pricing and availability. It’s a high resolution camera, reminds us IMAX, Blackmagic URSA Cine Immersive 8K 3D, Sphere’s Big Sky, and the ACHTEL 9X7 . It’s for filmmakers who want to produce content dedicated to the Vision Pro, as opposed to the IMAX, Big Sky and ACHTEL 9X7 that focus on dome screening and huge canvases. It appears that Apple is not going to release it to the public. Anyway, if you’d want to make movies for the Vision Pro, you can shoot with the “The World’s First Commercial Camera System for Apple Immersive Video” which is the Blackmagic URSA Cine Immersive 8K 3D. The truth is that we just don’t like the fact seeing a movie with the Vision Pro stuck on our head, and isolates us from the environment since watching a movie is a social experience. So we don’t like it at all. Technology wise – it’s an achievement for sure. But it does’t contribute to the future of filmmaking.
Dear Yossy, what a strange comment about the fact that ‘We don’t like the fact of seeing a movie with a vision pro… etc’.
Sure, there are ‘things to be said’ about watching a movie or an experience in VR ‘today’, but this tech is the future for sure.. it’s like saying in the SD times, 4K is sure a nice tech but seeing all the details in a face is not what ‘we’ like.
The development of a VR experience for content is absolutely where both docu and movies will go and for a good reason. the experience is nothing but mind blowing and total immersive ‘When done right’. That the tech is still in its infancy that is a fact, but give it its time and immersive viewing will be a major element in entertainment etc… If you see the way things are developing and going it is the way things will go. It is up to us, the tech lovers and storytellers to use it to its full potential.
Well said and right on the nose.
That little “addendum” is just absolutely superfluous and sounds like my grandpa chasing you off his lawn. Just embarrassingly silly. Who is this “we” anyway??
And yeah, why don’t we just ignore that you CAN, in fact, watch movies with several people on the Apple Vision Pro! 🙄🤦🏼♂️ Whether they are in the same room or even on the other side of the globe! So maybe just stick to forming an opinion on things that you actually understand/know something about?
Don’t like it? Pro tip: Then don’t watch it?! But IMHO, it’s going to be a big part of the future of film, the “next big thing,” if you will, and will be/is the first viable and watchable 3D ever. Once there are more and better cameras and of course even better and more affordable Vision Pros it’s sure to take off. Whether you’re a grumpy Luddite and like it or not.
Although you’re probably right that the Vision Pro represents the future of film display (or at least a part of it), I’d hesitate to bet everything on 3D yet again.