3-D Made Available Throughout Wide Range of Canon's HD Lens Lineup
Canon U.S.A. will showcase a variety of 3-D related lens features currently available in the Company’s HDTV lens systems. Canon R&D efforts have been focused on facilitating, at minimum cost, the deployment of standard lenses for stereoscopic shooting as well as normal 2-D high-definition imaging. The 16-bit precision digital servos for zoom, iris, and focus that are standard to a wide range of Canon lenses are proving invaluable to stereoscopic lens-camera systems.
A new separation box, the Canon SPB-10, allows one zoom controller and one focus controller to simultaneously control a stereoscopic lens pair with high tracking precision – and is expected to be released later this month. On display during the 2010 NAB Show and expected to be introduced at the end of this month will be a new zoom demand controller from Canon – the ZDJ-P01P – for high-precision, simultaneous control of two lenses.
New software is under development to make stereoscopic tracking (lens zoom and focus) even more precise and allow differential offsets to be made – through the Digital Drive unit’s display – to compensate for minor zoom and focus tracking differences between any two lens pairs. Also under development is another separation box, which will allow Canon’s ENG controllers ZSD-300D/FPD-400D to be used for controlling zoom and focus in 3-D lens pairs.
A pioneer in the development of Digital Drive units for its portable lenses, Canon’s upcoming control systems for 3-D lens/camera-pairs capitalizes on the precision of these Digital Drive units, allowing for one zoom controller and one focus controller to simultaneously operate both lenses. The Company’s ergonomic Digital Drive unit – introduced at NAB 2009 – incorporates Canon-developed, ultra-compact rotary encoders capable of 0.1um position detection. They employ Canon’s unique Micro Roofmirror Array (MRA) technology to produce 16-bit resolution of the positions of the zoom, iris, and focus controls. These provide a means by which camera operators can digitally program precise and repeatable settings into their lenses for speed, focus, and iris as well as zoom positions. An EL display built into the Digital Drive unit makes precise customization quick and convenient.
This year at Canon’s NAB booth, a pair of HJ18ex28B long-focal-length high definition lenses will be mounted in a side-by-side rig, to illustrate the intriguing potential of this lens for 3-D sports and event coverage. The lens is unique in its extended focal length (500mm) being available in a compact, lightweight lens package (5.6 lbs). The use of a side-by-side wide-interocular (the distance between the center of both lenses) configuration works well for long-focal-length imaging.
Also on the show floor will be a pair of KJ17ex7.7B HD lenses, mounted in a stereoscopic beamsplitter lens/camera rig that is intended for high-end 3-D production. When shooting a 3-D scene, the first decision is the framing of the image – requiring appropriate setting of the lens focal lengths. Depending upon the production team’s choice in setting the point of convergence (before or behind the screen plane) and the degree of depth sought around the principal subject within that scene shot – the interocular distance and the convergence controls on the rig are set accordingly. The 16-bit precision of the digital zoom and focus servos for both the HJ18 and KJ17 lenses ensure their precise tracking when controlled from one zoom and one focus controller.
Source: Canon U.S.A.
