Nokia Technologies today announced that it will be providing The Walt Disney Studios with OZO, the company’s 360 degree camera. Disney will use the camera to create ‘special VR content’ for upcoming films.

Disney recently used OZO to create two 360 videos for The Jungle Book (2016)—a 360 view of the film’s red carpet debut and an interview with the cast—both available through Facebook’s News Feed and Facebook 360 videos on Gear VR.

The news that Disney is going with Nokia for their 360 video solution comes as a surprising turn of events, as the mouse-themed entertainment giant lead a $65M investment in Jaunt, the ‘cinematic vr’ company that most recently produced their own 360 rig, Jaunt One. The agreement between Nokia and Disney, although not specified in length, is said to be for multiple years.

Nokia will be advising Disney marketers and film makers on how to use the supplied software and the 360 rig itself—and for a steep pre-order price of $60,000 per camera, they better do it smiling.

See Also: Hands-on: Nokia’s OZO VR Cam Impresses with Capture Quality, Unique Playback Solution Has Pros and Cons

While the initial price is pretty daunting, the platform itself is considered one of the more hassle-free 360 rigs out there, as it comes stock with a number of time-saving features like an integrated spatial audio array and global shutter—something that isn’t available on the home-grown amalgam of GoPros that film makers have been using up until now. Combined with real-time VR preview for OSX over integrated WiFi, the camera is touted as a way to “dramatically reduce post-production time, complexity and cost.” And when you’re producing 360 videos featuring some of the world’s biggest movie stars, saving time generally equates to saving money. Lots of money.

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You can check out the full specs of the OZO 360 camera here.

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Scott Hayden
Well before the first modern XR products hit the market, Scott recognized the potential of the technology and set out to understand and document its growth. He has been professionally reporting on the space for nearly a decade as Editor at Road to VR, authoring more than 3,500 articles on the topic. Scott brings that seasoned insight to his reporting from major industry events across the globe.

  • Saw the Ozo 360 at the Sundance Film Festival – it’s incredible from design to features. As one director said, it makes every other VR camera look like a DIY project from someone’s garage. It just has to come way down in price.

  • darkroasted

    I saw some example footage at the Kaleidoscope festival and was completely underwhelmed. To be fair I think a lot of that had to do with the way the videos were published, but still It was not great. I also find it strange that the Top of the line “VR” camera is not full 360 – It has a blind spot in the back. It also is not stereo all the way around – the 3D drops off on the sides. But on the plus I’m sure as stated the ease of use is comparatively very good and it may also have some classic Nokia ring tones…

    • MasterElwood

      and its 30fps only. This thing is a joke.

      • darkroasted

        I don’t think its a joke I just think its not, as it’s being hyped – the ‘Alexa of the “VR” world’ and although I’m sure its individual components are very good. The some of its parts are not the be all and end all, as it’s price would suggest.

        • MasterElwood

          I am sorry – but 30fps? There is no excuse for that in a professional VR-product.

          • darkroasted

            Yes, your right at this level you expect higher frame rates. But if I had to make a choice I would prefer proper 360 stereo @30fps over mono @60fps. Although they didn’t really do that either…

          • Albert Walzer

            SVP works a treat for stuff like that (you need ffdshow and some config work, but the result is awesome)

          • Tim Lucas

            While that frame-rate does seem a bit low. You would still be viewing it around 90fps. Its head tracking latency that VR really needs high frame rate for, so you would be still panning / looking around the video at 90FPS in a HMD, even though the subject matter of the video will only be playing at 30fps.

  • TaxPayer

    in one to two years from now people will say ” awww we have to watch this movie on a 4k flat screen, lame…. ) cant wait for that day.