Panasonic Announces Camcorders With 3D Conversion Lens

Jul 30, 2010 10:40 Hideyoshi Kume, Nikkei Electronics

Panasonic Corp announced consumer camcorders capable of shooting 3D movies July 28, 2010.

The camcorders, "HDC-TM750" and "HDC-TM650," can shoot 3D movies when they are equipped with the VW-CLT1, a separately sold conversion lens unit. Though there are no manufacturer's suggested retail prices, the expected retail prices of the HDC-TM750, HDC-TM650 and VW-CLT1 are ¥160,000 (approx US$1,847), ¥130,000 and ¥38,000, respectively. They will be released late in August 2010.

Panasonic employed the "side-by-side" method for shooting 3D movies. The camcorders shoot movies for the right and left eyes by using the two lenses of the VW-CLT1. Then, they combine two frames of images (one for the right eye and the other for the left eye) in the horizontal direction and record them as one image.

Therefore, the resolution of a 3D movie that can be recorded and played is less than 1,920 x 1,080 pixels (about 2.07 Mpixels). When a recorded movie is viewed on a 3D TV, images for the right and left eyes are alternately displayed.

3D movies taken by the new camcorders can also be viewed by using other companies' 3D TVs and recorders that support the side-by-side method. The recording method is compatible with the AVCHD format.

3 MOS sensors used to take 3D video

The new camcorders come with three 1/4.1-inch MOS sensors with a pixel count of 3.05 million (total pixel count: 9.15 Mpixels). Light's three primary colors are respectively processed by the three sensors.

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