Canon has a thing for intricate-yet-functional glass of the expensive sort, and the newest bit of this is a new dual 5.2mm f/2.8 fisheye lens that’s intended for use on its EOS R cameras. Well, one EOS R camera.
See, the only camera so far confirmed to use Canon’s new dual fisheye arrangement is the EOS R5, a mirrorless body that’ll set you back at least R65,000. That’s… reasonable, as high-end cameras go. But what’s the point of the thing that’s got poor Wall-E looking so worried?
No longer just headCanon
The Japanese camera giant calls its new 5.2mm lens “…the world’s first digital interchangeable lens that can capture stereoscopic 3D 180° VR imagery to a single image sensor.” That’s a wholly believable claim since we’ve never seen anything like this when it comes to mirrorless camera sensors.
And the point? Well, it’s designed for use shooting stereoscopic 3D, for playback or viewing on something like the Oculus Quest 2 (when the blasted thing is working). It does call for a little updating, to a new 1.5.0 firmware version on the Canon EOS R5, as well as some custom software, like a new Premiere Pro plug-in and an EOS VR Utility file conversion app. The plug-in and software are what Canon calls its EOS VR System, and access to that from the company will be on a monthly subscription basis.
Local pricing for budding VR videographers isn’t around just yet but it’ll sit somewhere in the region of R30,000 (or more) — which is the current conversion of the dual 5.2mm f/2.8 fisheye lens’ $2,000 launch pricing in the States. You still have some time to save: the lens and hardware are set to hit the market in December this year. As well as we have local availability, we’ll update this post.
Source: The Verge
