From Nokia’s Ozo launch event in Los Angeles new info about the company’s VR camera has emerged. In addition to announcing a launch window and opening pre-orders, Nokia has also revealed Ozo’s full specifications which confirm two sore posts for the professional-focused device.

Amidst the list of full specs and new info released are answers to some questions we’ve had since the company announced Ozo back in July.

See Also: Nokia OZO 360 Camera Selling for $60,000 – Pre-orders Now Available

For one, the VR camera weighs 9.3 pounds—just a little more than a gallon of milk—which means the device falls very easily into the world of ‘handheld’ when it comes to professional cameras. Second, the ‘Media Module’ has a 500GB SSD which can record for around 45 minutes continuously. The Module can be swapped out of the camera in place of another to keep production moving along, and each module has a USB 3.0 port to transfer the captured data. Optionally, filmmakers can hook Ozo up to external storage devices for extended recording time.

But there are two specs that stick out as being potential sore spots for a VR camera, especially one with a $60,000 price tag.

30 Frames Per Second

nokia-ozo-full-specs

Sticking out like a sore-thumb is Ozo’s 30 FPS recording rate. It’s the opinion of many at this time that 60 FPS capture is the bare minimum for convincing immersion in VR. Granted, I would be willing to bet that the global shutter sync across all the cameras means that Ozo’s 30 FPS capture will stand up very well compared even to rigs shooting at 60 FPS without proper synchronization of the cameras (as we see with many GoPro-based VR camera rigs).

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Although Ozo only shoots at 30 FPS, actual headtracking during playback will remain at the native tracking rate of the headset (60 FPS on Gear VR, or 90 FPS on Rift/Vive, for instance), as the video framerate is independent of the device’s headtracking.

(Mostly) Stereoscopic

nokia-ozo-full-specifications-virtual-reality-camera

Another possible sore point from the specs confirms a previous suspicion; Ozo shoots 360 degree stereoscopic video, except in a portion of the scene in the ‘back’ of the camera (the tail end). The company writes in the Ozo FAQ that the “vast majority of the view is natively stereoscopic,” but notes that a “small area behind the camera is monoscopic.”

In practice, the monoscopic region blends in seamlessly with the rest of the shot, and you might not notice the lack of depth so long as there are no near-field objects emphasizing the missing parallax.

For filmed experiences where the viewer is intended to be seated, this shouldn’t pose much of a problem as viewers won’t spend extended periods of time looking directly behind them (unless they’ve got a swivel chair). However, filmakers may have to get creative about how they minimize use of that area if they plan an experience that makes use of the full 360 degree stage.

Nokia Ozo Full Specifications

Expand the sections below for a look at Ozo’s detailed specifications.

Sensor and Lens Details

Presence Capture Spherical and Stereoscopic Video capture with Spatial Audio Array
Video Sensor Type Progressive Scan with Global Shutter
Video Sensor Array Eight, synchronised, 2K x 2K sensors
Video Area Coverage Full-spherical, 360 x 180 degrees
Min Imaging Distance 0.5m / 20″ (spherical video coverage)
Stereoscopic Coverage Centerline +/- 130(h), +/- 65(v) degrees
Lens Interoptic Distance Effective max. 86 mm / 3.4″
Lens Angle of View 195 degrees per lens
Relative Aperture f/2.4
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Video and Audio

Video Dynamic Range 60 dB / 10 stops
Base Color Temperature 5,000 degrees Kelvin
Base Sensitivity ISO 400
Audio Sensor Type Omnidirectional, solid state
Audio Area Coverage Full-spherical, 360 x 360 degrees
Audio Dynamic Range 64dB S/N, 120dB max SPL

Capture and Output

Master File Format MOV wrapped OZO Virtual Reality with 8Ch raw Video and 8Ch PCM Audio
Video Compression Wavelet-based raw
Media Module 500GB, Solid State Media
Record Duration 45 min per Media Module
Program Output 3G-SDI SMPTE 242M, DIN connector
Capture Frame Rate 30.00 fps
Cooling System Passive (fanless) design
Battery Pack Rechargeable Lithium Ion
Power Consumption 12V DC, approx 30W in record mode

Control and Monitoring

OZO Remote Application Available for OSX® 10.10 Yosemite
Camera Control via 802.11 Wifi
Monitor Output HDMI, Stereoscopic Virtual Reality render

 

OZO Creator Application Available for OSX® 10.10 Yosemite
Audio Mix Preview Output MOV, monoscopic stitched panorama
Video Composition Output DPX, 8K x 4K, 10-bit, sRGB color space

Weight, Dimensions, and Operating Parameters

Weight 4.2kg / 9.3lbs including Battery
Construction Milled Aluminium Alloy
Color Lava Grey
Dimensions – camera head only 264 x 170 x 160mm / 10.4 x 6.7 x 6.3″
Dimensions – with camera mount 264 x 170 x 238mm / 10.4 x 6.7 x 9.4″

 

Planned Certifications CE, FCC Part 15 Class A
Operating Temperature 0C to +25C (+32F to +77F)
Storage Temperature -40C to +50C (-4F to +122F)
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Ben Lang
Ben is the world's most senior professional analyst solely dedicated to the XR industry, having founded Road to VR in 2011—a year before the Oculus Kickstarter sparked a resurgence that led to the modern XR landscape. He has authored more than 3,000 articles chronicling the evolution of the XR industry over more than a decade. With that unique perspective, Ben has been consistently recognized as one of the most influential voices in XR, giving keynotes and joining panel and podcast discussions at key industry events. He is a self-described "journalist and analyst, not evangelist."
  • Devon Copley

    It’s worth noting that since you can position the camera in any way, the small field of view that’s in mono may be placed anywhere in the sphere of view — straight down, for example. This compares vary favorably to Google/GoPro’s Jump which has very significant nadir at both top and bottom of the sphere.

  • jacobpederson

    30fps is completely unacceptable for VR. It makes no difference if the rest of the environment is being rendered at a proper 75hz or 90hz for CV1. What you get with 30fps video is a blurry mess.

    • RoadToVR

      This is a good point Jacob. I’ve always maintained that 30FPS video would be OK as long as the virtual ‘environment’ updates as expected at the refresh of the headset. I think this would still be the case (way not optimal, but still workable). But only, as you point out, if artifacts from the video capture itself aren’t introduced as a result of that low optical capture rate.

      So, in theory you can capture video at 60FPS+ and downcovert to 30FPS, which would adress some of the shutter speed / framerate issues, but render at a lower framerate, de-coupled from the update of the virtual environment.

      Of course, with respect to the context of this argument, it makes no difference. But I wonder if the OZO camera’s shutter speed is higher than the actual data capture rate – i.e. that the optical portion of the camera is capable, but that the storage beneath is not.

      Interesting discussion though – we’ll try to get Nokia’s views on the matter if we can.

      • DennisonBertram

        I can’t imagine that with their SSD they can’t capture all that data. The thing that hit me was that a second SSD+Battery pack runs $5,000. I work with several hours of footage storage with me at a time. Just getting two backup batteries + SSD is going to cost you an extra 10 grand?

        • jacobpederson

          This was exactly my thought, and even if it is so poorly optimized to be hitting an SSD bandwidth issue, for 60k you’d better RAID up your SSD’s until you do have enough bandwidth.

  • John Burkhart

    Have to say I had high hopes for this camera, but once the specs and price were announced I was immediately out. Not sure if Nokia thought the positioning on this all the way through.

    I do work on movies (big ones that you see in the cinema), and they do use $60,000 cameras, but they are all rentals, and the production company certainly does not buy them. So the market for these is really rental houses. But what rental house would gamble $60,000 on a camera, where there is no demand from producers, because there is no VR infrastructure yet to monetize the investment? A rental house would look at that price and say I can buy a full RED camera kit or Arri Alexa and have it rented out every day instead.

    Besides at that price point, it simply needs to be the absolute best at its job. The 30FPS frame rate is a real problem. Mostly because of motion blur. The specs don’t say if you can adjust the shutter speed/angle on this, but at the standard 180 degree shutter, there will be a large amount of motion blur between frames (think a flying baseball looking like a blurry oval, rather than a sphere). Which is pleasant enough on film, but in VR can really make you sick.

    Also at that price you better be able to recoup your investment over several years. Does anyone think that two years from now, that the OZO in its current form will still be the best technology, that people will still want to use it on their productions?

    I’m totally giving Nokia props for making this camera, it was a bold move and I’d really be interested in seeing some footage from the OZO, but while I’m sure that $60,000 is what it cost to engineer, produce, and profit from, in my opinion its not nearly worth $60,000 to VR Producers.

  • When it comes to practicality this camera is just fine. Most of the companies paying money to produce VR content is for marketing. IE Advertising agencies…so movie promotions or commercials. Their targets are youtube vr, web/phone/tablets and gearvr which typically only delivers 30fps. No one wants to pay for super high quality stuff that will run only on PC with a dk2/vive which only .00001% of the people have. Cheap, fast and the most number of eyes on it. So while 30fps in the long run isn’t great, I see it fine for the current state of the market. Hopefully Nokia has a v2 in another 18 months with 48 or 60fps.

    Also 60k is nothing for a rental house. I see this as a winner for the market. We will see a bunch of these in LA starting in January and they will all be rented out back to back and hard to get.