After several days of VR180 music video shooting with the Canon RF5.2mm F2.8 L
Dual Fisheye lens using the Canon R5 body, in both a studio-controlled environment and
out in nature in front of a waterfall, I learned so much of this VR180 setup
in a practical, hands-on kind of way. And I have so much information I want to share with you.
So don't hit the buy button just yet until you watch this in-depth review all the way tho
and understand what you are getting yourself into. If you already ordered this Canon VR180 lens,
the second part of this tutorial series is an in-depth shooting
guide from an award-winning VR filmmaker, to show you how to shoot, how to edit,
and how to release your VR180 video onto YouTube VR or Oculus TV inside a VR headset.
We will even cover ways to solve the overheating issue, and ways to move your VR180 camera without
causing motion sickness in VR - like what you see here, using the MOZA Slypod.
This review and tutorial are based on TWO VR180 music videos I shot,
links right here. I will highly recommand watching them first with your Oculus Quest 2 VR headset
to get an idea of what you can get from the Canon VR180 camera setup.
If you are back from the Metaverse and ready for the review, let's go!
Hey, what's up, everybody. Your Boy Hugh is here back for another VR camera review in 2022. I
hope you have a great New Year celebration and a relaxing holiday break. If you have not already,
please consider subscribing to this channel and give this video a thumb up to support your boy
as well! It does not cost you anything, but it means so much to me. Thank you!
So from a design standpoint, why the Canon VR180 system is better than Z Cam K2Pro, FM DUO,
Insta360 EVO, or any system that comes before it? Because this dual fisheye lens allows
a single big full-frame sensor to capture both left and right eyes - so the images
are perfectly genlocked with exact exposure, white balance, and color.
Another reason is potentially upgradeable. So your investment holds its value. This is just a lens,
like another lens, you can put on to a different camera body. Right now, this dual fisheye lens
only works with Canon R5. But it is safe to guess that it will also work with Canon R5C, which
will be released by the time you watch this video. I tested it on my Canon C70,
which is a super 35 sensor cinema camera, it works. You see the dual fisheye image.
But it is cropped. If you have a full-frame sensor, like the Canon R3, the upcoming R1,
or better, the NEW RED Cinema camera - V-Raptor, it will potentially work - thanks to the lens
full manual focus feature. If you have a Canon R3, let me know if that works for you.
Using an unsupported camera means you will not be able to stitch using the official Canon VR Utility
App or the official EOS VR Plug-in for Adobe Premiere Pro. But in the upcoming tutorials,
I will teach you how to stitch it with the Mistika VR solution, or better, with Davinci
Resolve Fusion using the free Karta VR plugin. So essentially, you are only spending $2000
more to have a VR180 feature. Not a bad deal - for the professional content creator at least.
Right here, it is a good time to make a disclaimer. This video and none of
my Canon Videos are not sponsored or supported by Canon. All opinion in this video is my own,
based on my knowledge, independent research, testing, and filming experience. Canon,
at the time of recording, stated that the Dual fisheye lens ONLY works with Canon R5.
My job, is to figure out how to make it work with other cameras, in the upcoming tutorials.
The Dual Fisheye lens is built on Canon R5, which has a total 8192 by 4096 resolution. It is higher
than Z Cam K2 Pro, Insta360 EVO, and Vuze XR. It is not higher than FM DUO tho - which is 12K.
From a usability standpoint, this lens is very easy to use. There is one giant focus
ring in the middle to focus both left and right lenses together. It is manual focus,
like any other cinema lens. But it is very easy to focus, as I will show you
how on the tutorial part. There is a trick to it to help you nail focus every time you shoot.
You do need to use an included Hex Key to make sure the left and right eyes are in the
exact same focus. Especially when you first received the lens. People worry the left and
right lenses will drift focus easily. This is not the case. After adjusting the focus once,
I brought this bad boy with me hiking to a remote filming location near a river and climbed up
in front of a massive waterfall. Then the next day, I took an 8-hour fly back to Los Angeles,
went directly to a nightclub to film another VR music video all day. And in here, Kimchi actually
bumps into the lens when I am filming a test the next day. It is still perfectly focused,
no problem. Yes, it is recommand to check your left and right focus
every time you shoot. But you rarely need to adjust them.
Talking about a waterfall, this is the only weather seal and splashproof VR180 setup
in the market. If you are an outdoor videographer like me,
love to push the limit, this is a great outdoor VR180 camera, just like the Insta360 EVO. BTW,
I highly recommand check out the final result of this music video. It looks so cool when the
water was flying into your eyes in 3D 180 in a slow push-in shot using the Moza Slypod.
Look at this lens cap. This is the most sophisticated lens cap I have ever seen.
You can tell the attention to details Canon put into this lens. It is so easy to put on and take
off the lens cap - so you have no excuse not to protect your investment by putting
the lens cap back on when you are not filming, especially when you are under the Sun. This is
like magnifying glasses. If you don't want the Sun to damage your sensor, put your lens cap on!
So the dual fisheye lens is very nice in theory
and very easy to shoot with, but how is the actual image quality? Let's find out.
If you have not already, you should check this video in your Oculus Quest 2 VR headset.
The direct Oculus TV Link is in the top right concern here.
You won't be able to see 3D 180 unless you are watching this inside a VR headset.
From top to bottom, we have FM DUO in slog 12K downsample to 8K,
Canon in Clog 3, Z Cam K2Pro, and Insta360 EVO. We go ahead and zoom in 400 percent on Keeley
and the focus chart. You can tell the FM DUO has the best details b/c of its 12K resolution.
But Canon comes a close 2nd. K2 Pro breaks down on Keeley's face in that distance and
her lips are losing in detail. EVO is the worst. Keeley just looks like a Minecraft character.
Considering FM DUO is a $20,000 US dollars camera, the Canon is doing pretty good. Both
Canon and K2 Pro have visible digital noise tho. This is b/c we are shooting at Clog 3. It
is okay to have some noise in a cinema camera. We can easily remove that in post-production.
On the edge of the lens, FM DUO has Chromatic Abberation. Canon and K2
Pro does not have Chromatic Abberatin issue. But K2Pro is not as sharp as Canon on edge.
You can see this pixel pattern showing in the K2Pro around the green light tub.
So after multiple testings, and sent the footage to Mistika VR at Spain for further examination
and template generation, we both concluded that this fisheye lens is the most linear fisheye we
came across. There is virtually no fisheye distortion. On lens quality, there is no
double Canon is the best, just like their Canon EF 8-15mm f/4L Fisheye.
Let's go a little more technical to exam the raw fisheye inside Canon R5 body. There is a 60px
gap between the left and right image circles. A usable fisheye circle is about 4015 pixels.
This includes the lens. This means the final resolution of 8192 by 4096 output provided
by EOS VR Plug-in for Adobe Premiere Pro is slightly upscaled render. Basically,
the final height of the image, should be smaller than the height of the original image circle.
But here, 4096 is larger than 4015. So the Canon official render is an upscaled image.
This is a very normal practice for all manufacture, so it is totally okay.
You will see the right lens in your left image circle and vise versa.
Compared to FM DUO or Z Cam K2 Pro - the sticking out part of the lens is a lot smaller in Canon.
Because the edge of the lens in a VR180 SBS stereo setup has 0 parallaxes,
we can easily copy the right eye image to cover the left lens and left eye
image cover the right lens like so. So, in theory, and in practice, we can remove the lens
in post-production to get the full 180-degree FOV. I will show you in my next tutorial how.
This is a side-by-side stereo rig. If you turn your head to look to the left or right,
the stereo disparity is not the same as real-life - compared to a circlar 3D camera
rig like the Insta360 Titan or Kandao Obsidian Pro. You lose stereo and see vertical disparity
whenever you turn your head inside the VR headset. So in filming, you never want to put your talents
too far away from the center to minimize eye strain within VR. If you don't know what I am
talking about, watch my original explanation here on Demystifying VR180 - parallax issues,
the workflow and techniques. This is something you need to understand before buying this lens.
Be smarter than other consumers,
learn about the WHY before following the HYPE. Learn it here from this Professor.
You also see 1 to 2 pixels vertical misalignment here.
But it is totally okay. The lens communicates with your Canon R5 body and generates meta to
adjust this vertical misalignment to remove vertical parallax in the final render.
You can find this feature after importing the footage in Premiere, under Effect Controls,
on the Source tap. Right here, make sure the Parallax Correction is turned on.
If you do not use the official plugin, then you need to manually correct the Parallax
inside Mistika VR, PTGui, or Davinci Resolve Fusion. I will explain how
in great detail in my next VR180 with ANY CAMERA post-production tutorial.
So, in conclusion, the Canon RF5.2mm is a great lens to purchase if you know
what you are doing in VR180 filmmaking. It is more affordable than investing a full VR180
camera setup - like the $20,000 FM DUO. If you don't know what you are doing
in VR180 filmmaking or you don't know how to use the lens correctly, stay tuned for
the second part of the in-depth shooting tutorial coming up next. Link right here.
Don't forget to subscribe and give this video a big thumb up.
I will see you in the in-depth VR180 shooting tutorial.