Jaunt, which was founded in 2013 and specializes in VR cinematography, just outed information on its new "NEO" series of cameras (is there a movie reference here?). These cameras are engineered to solve the VR video capture problem, and they implement a handful of very interesting technologies to facilitate 360-degree 3D VR video capture.
This is not the company's first attempt at such a camera system. NEO is the company's fifth generation VR camera, and the company said it is the most comprehensive solution for professional applications to date. Google's Jump appears to be a similar solution, although we don't see Google Jump being used for professional cinematic purposes.
NEO was built using multiple cameras that work in tandem with software to stitch all the images together. Some of the key features that Jaunt listed in its press release include a camera capable of high-quality, high-res, full 360-degree capture that has custom optics for 3D light-field capture. The cameras have large sensors for low-light performance and feature support for HDR imaging, time-lapsing and high-frame-rate capture. Additionally, there is a feature that Jaunt calls "Fully synchronized global shutter sensor array," which basically ensures that all of the cameras on the NEO take their images at the same time, rather than dealing with the artifacts created by stitching out-of-sync images together.
"With NEO we have overcome many of the technical hurdles of producing high quality cinematic VR experiences," said Arthur van Hoff, co-founder and CTO of Jaunt. "NEO is the culmination of several years of research, [and] its image quality and ease-of-use will allow creatives to focus on producing awesome content without the complexity of cameras built from off-the-shelf components not designed for VR."
Additionally, in order to actually be able to do something with the video content, Jaunt is working with its partners to ensure that you can edit the VR content in programs such as Final Cut Pro X, Nuke, RV, Shotgun, Maya, 3Ds Max, After Effects, DaVinci Resolve, Assimilate's Scratch, Lustre, and Avid.
The first NEOs will be available to Jaunt's partners in August.
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