It has been awhile since we announced a stereoscopic lens (and, yes, of course we sell them!), but this new Canon RF 5.2mm f/2.8 L Dual Fisheye Lens will have Canon-toting creatives excited for the prospects of capturing 180° 3D imagery for virtual reality (VR) applications. This is Canon’s first product dedicated to VR capture and, according to Canon, “the world’s first interchangeable lens capable of enabling stereoscopic 3D 180° VR shooting to a single image sensor.”
The dual lens is the cornerstone of what Canon refers to as its EOS VR System and it is designed to work on the Canon EOS R5 armed with firmware 1.5.0 or higher and accompanying Canon VR software solutions. The finished product can be viewed on compatible head mount displays including the Oculus Quest 2 and others.
The device creates a dual fisheye image at 8K DCI 30p or 4K DCI 60p on the single full-frame image sensor.
The compact manual focus dual lens captures 190° field of view (watch your feet) and the lenses sit 60mm apart (similar to our Mk 1 Mod 0 eyeballs) to give your R5 the look of an animated robotic garbage-collecting superhero from the past. Did you miss the “L” in the title? These are premium L-badged Canon fisheye lenses, designed to manage flare in backlit situations using Subwavelength Structure Coating (SWC). The 12 elements in 10 groups give a magnification of 0.03x and the close-focusing distance of 0.66'. The dual lens also is dust- and water-resistant with a fluorine coating. Filter use is like other Canon ultra-wide lenses because the dual fisheye has a gelatin filter holder at the rear of the lens.
Is Canon’s new VR lens a precursor for more camera manufacturers to follow suit and enter the VR world? Have you been waiting for a lens like this for your camera? Let us know!
2 Comments
Can the finished image be created as an old-fashioned stereoview, with two images printed side by side for use with a traditional optical viewer?
Hey Michael,
That is a great question and I do not know the answer. It seems like the design is focused on VR applications, but it would be interesting to see if it is more versatile. Thinking further, the lenses might be a bit too wide-angle for stereoview applications as they are fisheyes.
Best,
Todd