David Attenborough explores the world of macroscopic 3D

3D Streaming – STEREOSCOPY – Topic: Micro Monsters with David Attenborough on Sky3D (1/1).

We normally cannot see very close subjects in 3D because, when very close to our face, we can only see subjects with one eye. I like shooting macro 3D for this very reason – macro 3D reveals a world that we cannot see.

Red/cyan 3D anaglyph. Requires red/cyan glasses to see in 3D. Mushroom cap is about 1/4″ or 6mm across. Ch1-Mushroom-RC-IMG_5044

2015 CES will be all about HDR – high dynamic range – TV

This year’s CES is all about 4k TV – a technology that does not deliver a lot of benefits to typical home consumers with modest size TVs (most cannot tell the difference between 2K HDTV and 4K Ultra TV on a typical home sized screen):

“Any new 3D technology has to be sufficiently different, and I believe that this means High Dynamic Range HDR Ultra HD. I saw HDR video from Dolby, and it blew me away.”

via CES: 3D TV Needs Glasses-Free, High Dynamic Range Reboot.

HDR video is coming and can deliver eye catching value when it gets here. But consumers do not upgrade TVs every few years. That’s the problem that hit 3D and will impact 4K and HDR too. Everyone just upgraded to digital HDTV and most do not have disposable income to run out and buy a new technology gizmo – and certainly in the midst of the recent economic downturn.

3D’s problem was not 3D glasses but lack of content. No one wanted to watch old re-plays of sports on ESPN 3D, shot with just a few cameras. There are only so many odd cartoons and documentaries people will watch in 3D. Netflix’s 3D pickings were slim. And not everyone wants to buy Blu-ray 3D discs. The problem is lack of content.

User created 3D content via Youtube and the growing 3D production capacity of China may change this. I expect it will.

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Vizio gives up on 3D glasses but not giving up on 3D

Expects to ship 4k glasses free 3D TVs in 2016: Actually, Vizio hasn’t given up on 3D TVs, but on 3D glasses — Tech News and Analysis.

But wants to get it right, first. Truth is, most of the autostereoscopic displays (that’s Latin or maybe Greek for glasses-free) are not as good as today’s polarized passive displays.  4k may give them sufficient resolution to do implement multiple viewing angles that actually look good. But we are not quite there yet, except maybe with Stream TV.

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Camera sales, in charts

Vitaliy has posted some great charts on camera sales over on his web site: Camera sales, including Novemer 2013 reports – Personal View 

You can readily see the drop off in  camera sales from year to year. I think the December data point is bogus as the caption says through November 2013.

Second charts shows that DSLR unit sales are down slightly but mirrorless sales are up quite a bit.

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Stream TV demos 2k to 4k upscale and 2D to 3D conversion

CES 2014: Stream TV presents 4KTVs with glasses-free 3D | Rapid TV News.

Due to the lack of 4k and 3D content, Stream TV networks provides an intelligent upscale conversion from 2k to 4k and a real-time 2D to 3D conversion.

Having seen similar technologies this past year, both can work surprisingly well – they exceeded my expectation.

Upconverting 2k to 4k and converting 2D to 3D in real-time provides useful content for early consumers of the new technologies.

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Guide to 3D and Drones

Coldstreams 3D and Drones