Wednesday August 12
 
11:10
 
Fuji Finepix Real 3D W1 & V1 – Hands on

Last night I had a quick hands on with the Fuji Finepix Real 3D W1 and the Fuji Finepix Real 3D V1 photoframe. There’s only one word I can say: WOW.

The screen on the W1 is outstanding. 3d images jump out at you – or rather, they jump into the screen. Without any special glasses or straining the eyes, you don’t just get a feeling of depth – you can see depth. It truly is astounding.

The V1 photoframe is similarly excellent – and not just photos either, but video. The video demos completely blew me away. They reminded me of the photographs you see in Harry Potter where characters are moving. You get real depth – no different from watching any other 3D scene.

Video from the W1 will blow you away.

There are some caveats though. Firstly, the lenses on the camera are 77mm (35mm equiv – the actual lens is 6.3mm) – get too close to something and you start to get an overlapping effect, and at 77mm, that means you need to be further away that you’d usually hold a digital camera.

Secondly, you need to view the screen on the W1 and the V1 photoframe from the right angle – the camera especially, because the screen is smaller. View it slightly off center and you get an overlapping effect. In fact, it’s quite difficult for two people to see the camera screen in 3D – one person has to view it 3D and the other from the side – from the side you get a 2D image though, so the screen degrades well.

Thirdly, the only way to view video in 3D at the moment is with the photoframe. For photos, you’re limited to the photoframe or 3D printing – and there was a large sign in English which said “Photo printing is only available in Japan”.

So what happens if you view the W1 files on a PC? Well when you take a photo, the camera creates two files – a .JPG file and a .MPO file. The .JPG file is a standard 2D JPEG, around 5MB. The .MPO file is double the size – so presumably it’s two JPEGs in a single file which a 3D viewer can read.

Photo quality of the 2D JPEG images is disappointing with strong noise at ISO200. In fact the quality reminded me of my old Fujifilm MX-1700.

BUT I have to qualify this by saying I used the camera without changing the settings, leaving it on auto – it’s possible there are higher quality settings. Also, if you buy this camera, you’re buying it for the 3D and viewing images at sizes where you wont notice the grain – 3D viewing renders the noise unnoticeable.

I didn’t try higher ISO values so I can’t comment on them.

The lens has a max aperture of F3.25 (assuming the EXIF data is correct). Both these images are F3.7, ISO 200 – the first is 1/90sec, the second 1/105 sec. All exposure parameters chosen by the camera.

Original images are here.

Movies are a little different. A single AVI file is created. Open this in WM9 and you see a standard 2D movie – but actually there are two video streams in the file, WM9 is only showing one of them. Open the AVi file in VNC and two windows pop-up – showing both AVI streams.

Since the video can’t be shown in 3D I’m not going to upload the sample.

What do I think of the W1? The screen quality and the 3D are astounding. At 59,800 yen, it’s very tempting – but the camera is pretty bulky, and you need to photoframe also, which raises the price to 99,800 yen (though you get 10% back in point). The size puts me off a lot, and knowing that this is “first adopter” price and that sizes will reduce, I doubt I’ll be buying on anytime soon. (The screen isn’t available yet anyway to buy – and there’s little point buying the camera alone because buying them together saves money.)

But dammit, if this isn’t the coolest piece of technology ever. Real “Harry Potter” 3D photoframes with 3D video. I may just break and get one.