360 S3D camera for the OculusRift

It will be interesting to hear about the 250 degree fisheye! I asked about it too and the lack of an IR-cut filter (and the $400 price tag) was enough for me to think twice about getting one to test -- I think it would be very good though

mediavr,
Your test shot with GoPro cameras is very nice! I like your idea of putting the camera rig upside down and very high, a bit like an S3D security camera...Did you use any device to synchronize the cameras together?

If you don't mind giving me a link to download the 3 captured videos, I can try to stitch them together using my software and see if the result compares to your PtGui solution. Let me know.
Cheers.
-Vincent

I like your idea of putting the camera rig upside down and very high, a bit like an S3D security camera...Did you use any device to synchronize the cameras together?

If you don't mind giving me a link to download the 3 captured videos, I can try to stitch them together using my software and see if the result compares to your PtGui solution. Let me know

.

Vincent
I did not use any sync device but I shot at 48fps so I would have a better chance of getting ok sync than at lower fps. I used the Gopro Wifi remote to start and stop them but that gives you a few frames error generally and I improve on that by looking at sound spikes in the sound tracks and dragging the videos into alignment on the timeline. In fact, going on those the sync was ok for two cameras (maybe 2msec missync) and not ok really for the other one (about 10msec missync).

With my Gopro Dual Hero System 3d sync backs I could have got excellent sync with two cameras. Folks are beginning to look at how to sync more than two Gopros with hacks of the Dual Hero System
http://goprouser.freeforums.org/gopro-dual-hero-cable-reverse-engineer-t19093.html
but I am not very optimistic.

The Blackmagic Personal Cinema Camera is getting attention from 3d film makers lately -- sync wise -- I think that might be a better chance. These would be nice cameras for fisheye video (raw video, high dynamic range, cheap, compact)
http://personal-view.com/talks/discussion/10902/bmd-pocket-cinema-camera-stereoscopic-collaboration.

Here is a zip of the three movies (I send the roughly cropped and aligned sequences rather than the much longer raw videos)
https://www.dropbox.com/s/pflv2ypapsmxueh/hemi.zip

My stitching in my final output is a bit rough near the nadir -- I was very quick and approximate with my blending mask making.

Btw
I looked at your original samples in Whirligig and they work well in that in the DK2 -- Whirligig has a "Stereo Dome" mode. I would like Whirligig better if you could change the viewing fov like in VR Player .. but the scrolling does seem smoother.

mediavr,
I stitched your sequence last night. The result is probably a little better near the nadir, but this is understandable as my software was specifically designed for this camera setup. Or maybe PtGui could achieve the same result with more work, as you say. Anyways, here you go:
http://nasv3d.iro.umontreal.ca/chapdelv/mediavr/qvboverunder-2.mp4

I'm still amazed at how little your 6m pole moved! Did you just hold it tightly against yourself?

Yes, I know about Blackmagic cameras. They seem to be great little cameras. When I designed my camera setup, my final choice was between these and the Mako G-419 cameras. I finally chose the latter so I could easily do some live capture+stitching+display with a standard computer and an OculusRift.

Cheers.
-V.

http://nasv3d.iro.umontreal.ca/chapdelv/mediavr/qvboverunder-2.mp4

That looks very nice stitching-wise! I will have to be more careful with my masks.

I'm still amazed at how little your 6m pole moved! Did you just hold it tightly against yourself?

I use poles a lot for regular panoramas -- so I have developed gear for it -- eg. this base I used for this shot

... a hacked old tripod with a giant leveling ball and a clamping arrangement
http://www.mediavr.com/levellingbase.jpg
now I use a Nodal Ninja pole with that base
http://shop.nodalninja.com/carbon-fiber-poles-all-1/

re camera configurations -- I have worked out a way of having a triangle of Gopros with a lens separation of 50mm with two of the cameras linked by the Dual Hero System for sync (and with all three cameras oriented correctly for identical rolling shutter ) -- two cameras synced means perfect sync at least for 120 degrees, 60 degrees front and back, say.

Also there is a possible configuration, with the lenses touching, for minimal lens separation with the Gopros/Alaud Optical 1.41mm, viz. 30mm but with varying rolling shutter.

I have made rigs for these layouts and will test them soon.

How much VFoV would 3 standard GoGpo cameras and lenses cover? Would it be enough to achieve 3D in the zenith? What about 4 cameras?
If this was done to cover the zenith, then 4 pairs in landscape could cover the horizon.
Another 3 or 4 to cover the nadir.
This would be an extension of EleVR setup. http://elevr.com/tutorial-3d-spherical-camera-head/

I made a post about a 50mm interaxial Gopro rig, with some pictures and a video download (side by side, 180 fisheye), on the Oculus subreddit

http://www.reddit.com/r/oculus/comments/2e1u6e/a_compact_gopro_rig_for_hemispheric_stereoscopic/

Im curious about your lenses, where did you acquire them, and for how much, and finally hows the performance of the lens?

Yeah, my lenses are only 170-degree (for my current image sensor chip dimensions). :cry: Where do I get these "more better" lenses?