Lenovo Mirage Camera, the company’s 4K 180-degree stereoscopic VR camera, is now available in pre-order for $300, and is slated to launch May 4th.

You can now pre-order Lenovo Mirage Camera on Amazon, although retailer release dates may vary. Lenovo has told Road to VR that it will launch officially on May 4th despite Amazon’s advertised May 6th release.

 

image courtesy Lenovo

The compact camera, which was created in partnership with Google and supports the company’s new VR180 video format, is meant to be a more pocketable point-and-shoot solution than 360 cameras, which record to a format best viewed in VR headsets. The VR180 video format (example seen below) is also capable of presenting a more flatscreen-native view for traditional monitors while serving it higher resolution 3D video to VR headsets.

Lenovo Mirage Camera boasts dual 13 MP sensors with fisheye lenses that shoot in 4K. This, is effect, creates a visual clarity two-times higher than contemporary 4K 360 cameras. Lenovo’s 180 camera also lets you stream videos directly to YouTube Live or upload to Google Photos.

Lenovo is first out the door with its VR180 camera, although a similar offering from YI Technology is coming soon. Google has previous stated it’s working with Z Cam to include their K1 Pro into the VR180 platform, and with Panasonic to include support in their GH5 cameras.

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Lenovo Mirage Camera Specs

  • Processor: Qualcomm Snapdragon 626 Platform1
  • Audio: Dual Microphones with Single Speaker
  • Memory: RAM : 2 GB
  • ROM: 16 GB eMMC2
  • Card Slot: microSD Card; Up to 128 GB
  • Battery Removable : Yes
  • Front: Dual 13 MP
  • Aperture : F/2.1
  • FOV : 180° x 180°
  • Video : 4K/1440P/1080P @ 30 F
  • Type : Li-ion Polymer, 2200 mAh
  • General Usage : Up to 2 Hours
  • Charger : USB Type-C
  • Travel Charger: 5V / 1A
  • WLAN : WiFi 802.11 b/g/n/ac
  • WiFi Direct : Yes
  • Bluetooth: Bluetooth 4.2 + BLE
  • LTE Bands3 – UMTS : B1/2/5/8 – FDD LTE : B1/2/3/4/5/7/8/20 – TDD LTE : B38/40
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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 4,000 articles on the topic. Scott brings that seasoned insight to his reporting from major industry events across the globe.
  • Luke

    why no 4K 60fps? shouldnt be the standard?

    • MasterElwood

      THIS!

    • gothicvillas

      That would eat into profit margins

      • Robert Morris

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      • Luke

        but they will not eat with my money this year! XD

        • MasterElwood

          Same here.

    • You don’t know how huge is to encode 4k60fps, even some of newer high end phones still not capable. And this device is using 2 cameras wich have to be perfectly synced (more power processing) for an AFFORDABLE PRICE, you’re asking too much.

  • Doctor Bambi

    While I won’t be pre-ordering this camera (want to hear some hands-on impressions) I’m super pumped about its potential. I’ve developed a weird obsession with taking 360 photos with the Cardboard Camera app. I even bought the 360Nano to make it an easier ordeal, but it introduced more frustrations than it was worth. Namely having to account for me being in the picture. Being a 180 camera solves this, and also allows for a higher quality, stereo image.

    I’ll be curious to see if any VR streamers out there pick one up and figure out ways to integrate it into their workflow. It could potentially be really nice to be able to watch, say a headset unboxing, as if I were sitting right there with them and get a better sense of the size of the headset and controllers. And I wonder what would happen if you put the lenses of the headset up to each camera lens, if it would allow users to see inside the headset as if they were wearing it.

    • 4K on 180 is still not enough. 360 4K cameras are so blurry that are useless for VR. 4K 180 is the minimum, and being so affordable is ok, but only because for being stereoscopic, cause you notice less how blurry is.

  • $300 is an affordable price. It’s a great gadget for VR hobbist

  • Fatman

    Waiting for the better product just a tiny bit longer…

    Yi Horizon VR180 3D, — around $400 available in May-June 2018…” 2.2 inch, 640×360 retina touch screen with flip design for selfies” “Live Stream in 4K”
    video and photo res: 5760 x 2880 30fps FIXED (2880 x 2880 per eye) or 3840 x 1920 30fps monoscopic video.
    two Sony 4K sensors
    ” four internal microphones”
    “It uses the same sensors as the Yi 360 VR, which has one of the highest video quality among consumer 360 cameras. ”
    compare to: Kandao Qoocam
    ” A 4K 360 video looks theoretically as detailed as a conventional 720p video. ”
    “5.7k should be the horizontal resolution of the stitched stereopair – not much at all, and it is not per eye. Means 2.85k per eye before cropping by the goggles from 180 degree to goggles’ angle of view. If goggle has 90 degrees angle of view, the result will be 1425 horizontal pixels per eye. Really little.”
    “4K at 60p, 5.7K at 30p.”
    ” instant stitching and live streaming capability. It has a 2.2″ LCD touchscreen, Type-C USB port, and 4 microphones with noise reduction.”
    “About 360 video resolution. I would say 4K 360 video looks like 480p when you watch it in GearVR . I hope 5.7K from YI 360 VR will look close to 720p.” (need higher screen res – a standalone VR headset..)
    “Twin lens VT 180 cameras only record in full 3D what is in front of them – not over 180 degrees. That’s because the parallax of subjects at the sides is progressively reduced to zero. This means that when you look at a VR 180 image in a headset, it recreates a natural view only when you are looking straight ahead. if you look left and right, then you see what would be picked up by your eyes when you are looking ahead – not what you would see if you would turn your head in real life. Only a 3D 360 camera records full 3D and allows you to look around while maintaining full 3D effect.”
    “Yes 3D effect diminishes as you move to the sides but to the target market of VR180, that doesn’t matter.”
    VR180 is the best compromise for mere humans – not video editing creative geniuses WITH infinite time on their hands…
    [straight from my braindump file]