Virtual is the new trend in film making technology, and two companies in the space, namely Lytro and GoPro, are looking to take advantage of its popularity through its virtual reality cameras.
Lytro is the company that developed the first-ever light-field camera, which allowed photographers to take images of all the things within the camera finder's range and then later on decide which part of the image to focus on.
Lytro is now making the jump into the virtual reality market with the announcement of Immerge, which is a video camera that utilizes the same light-field system to take immersive videos and images. Immerge, however, is more than simply a virtual reality camera, as it is actually a complete system that includes software to transform the taken videos to be used for virtual reality headsets.
The Lytro Immerge is actually an entire ring of cameras which captures spheres of videos that could provide users with the six degrees of freedom to be able to move and interact with the taken snapshot of the world.
Compared to 360-degree videos currently being filmed that are simply flat planes being wrapped around the spherical world of virtual reality headsets, the Lytro Immerge aims to recreate the scenes being shot by the camera by doing things such as capturing every ray of light and their directions, resulting in an immersive viewing experience.
The Lytro Immerge will have its first prototype ready by next year's first quarter. However, it will mostly be used by corporate users as it might cost hundreds thousands of dollars, though Lytro will be offering a subscription rental program for the camera that will charge renters per day of use.
The GoPro Odyssey, on the other hand, is already out on the market. It costs significantly less than the Lytro Immerge, but still very much expensive at $15,000. In addition, only professional content creators and producers are allowed to purchase the device, and they will have to go through an application process.
The GoPro Odyssey system includes 16 GoPro Hero 4 Black, the company's top-of-the-line action camera, along with a microphone, the circular rig, required cables, a carrying case for all the components and support from GoPro. It is the first rig built especially for the Jump platform of Google, which is a virtual reality ecosystem that is looking to make it simpler to both create and access virtual reality content.
Unlike the Lytro Immerge, the GoPro's Odyssey does not use light-field technology, but it utilizes the open plans that Google created to build the 16-camera structure. Eventually, Jump virtual reality videos will be hosted on YouTube.
Comparing the Lytro Immerge and the GoPro Odyssey, it is obvious that these virtual reality cameras are not for the average consumer. The Immerge stands out as more capable compared to the Odyssey, but GoPro's virtual reality camera is a better option for startups that are now looking to enter the virtual reality content space.
