Finland Times

 

A handout photo of OZO virtual camera given by Nokia. Photo Lehtikuva.

Nokia on Tuesday announced OZO, the first commercially available virtual reality (VR) camera designed and built for professional content creators, said a press release.

 

Conceived at the company's Recherché and Development facilities in Tampere, OZO made its first appearance at an industry event in Los Angeles attended by representatives from major studios, production houses and media and technology companies. 

 

Nokia will conduct final testing and refinements to OZO in partnership with industry professionals, in advance of the product's commercial release. 

 

Final pricing and full technical specifications will be announced at a future date, with shipments anticipated in the fourth quarter of 2015. OZO will be manufactured in Finland.

 

OZO captures stereoscopic 3D video through eight synchronized global shutter sensors and spatial audio through eight integrated microphones. Software built for OZO enables real-time 3D viewing, with an innovative playback solution that removes the need to pre-assemble a panoramic image ¬¬- a time-consuming process with solutions currently in the marketplace.

 

"We're thrilled to introduce OZO to the content creation world, and to define a completely new category of virtual reality capture and playback solutions," said Ramzi Haidamus, president of Nokia Technologies.

 

"OZO aims to advance the next wave of innovation in VR by putting powerful tools in the hands of professionals who will create amazing experiences for people around the world. We expect that virtual reality experiences will soon radically enhance the way people communicate and connect to stories, entertainment, world events and each other. With OZO, we plan to be at the heart of this new world," Haidamus added.