The Fujifilm FinePix REAL 3D W1 is one ugly camera with looks resembling a cross-eyed fat chick wearing oversized D&G sunglasses. It’s also heavy enough (weighing 9.2 ounces) to require a Ford F150 to transport it. However, all that ugliness and weight is required at this stage of the game for the groundbreaking technology behind it. As you might have guessed by its name, the FinePix REAL 3D W1 is capable of snapping 3-D images. However, at this point, 3-D images and video are only available on the camera’s LCD or the eight-inch V1 frame, which makes sharing your 3-D works of art impossible unless your friend is standing on top of you. Fujifilm also plans on making prints available, but they’ll make them and send them out to you when the images are ready.
How does the FinePix REAL 3D W1 capture 3-D images? Through a combination of dual Fujinon lenses, two CCDs, an aluminum die-cast frame that provides the solid structure for precision alignment, the RP (Real Photo) Processor 3D, a lenticular-glass sheet, and an LCD that uses the Fujifilm-unique Light Direction Control System.
According to Fujifilm the RP Processor 3D is “a newly developed processor that evaluates all photographic factors from focus and brightness to color tonality, and then merges the left and right images in a single 3D image.” Also, Fuji states that the Light Direction Control System and “the 3D digital viewer adopts a ‘Parallax Barrier System’ to precisely direct light to the right and left eyes in a way that simulates parallax.” This is also aided by the fact that the two lenses are spaced at approximately the same distance as an average set of eyes.
While all that 3-D goodness is fantastic, the FinePix REAL 3D W1 also has some pretty cool 2-D features. These capabilities incorporate the two lenses, enabling you to independently zoom, set color and light sensitivities, and take two photos at the same time. Perhaps the coolest 2-D shooting mode is Tele/Wide Simultaneous Shooting, which allows you to zoom in on your subject with the left lens while the right lens is fixed on a wide angle, so when you zoom in on someone you’re not left with a headshot.
The function buttons on the camera are backlit and there’s a dedicated one-touch 2D/3D button. And as with anything worth its weight today, the FinePix REAL 3D W1 offers wireless transfer.
Undressing the FinePix REAL 3D W1
Getting down to the nuts and bolts, the FinePix REAL 3D W1 has 10 megapixels, 42MB of onboard memory (and expandable memory of up to 2GB on an SD memory card and up to 16GB on and SDHC memory card), 3x optical zoom on both Fujinon lenses, a 2.8-inch LCD with approximately 230,000 dots of color, USB 2.0 digital interface, a max sensitivity of 1,600, and stereo video recording at 640 x 480 pixels or 320 x 240 pixels at 30 frames per second.
All this and more is available in the 4.9” x 2.7” x 1.0” FinePix REAL 3D W1 in September (just in time for Christmas) and is expected to fetch $600. Whether or not this technology is going to take off remains to be seen, but it’s certainly going to be more fun than a cross-eyed chubby.
