New horizons: meet Canon’s virtual reality lens and the team of engineers behind its development

Fancy a hyper-real walk through the ice caves of Iceland? Want to watch a concert and feel as though you are really there? Virtual reality can provide that immersive three-dimensional experience. Yet for content creators, professional stereoscopic 180° VR can be an intimidating industry to enter, filled with complex camera rigs and painful post-production processes. That was, until now.

"I'm really excited about how simple Canon has made it to capture 180° VR content, opening up the doors for so many individuals and companies to create more," says Mark Fensome, Product Specialist at Canon Europe. "The Canon RF 5.2mm F2.8L Dual Fisheye lens simplifies everything from capture to post-production. It takes the fear and complexity out of VR content, which means more people are going to be able to create it."

The innovative technology has numerous advantages over existing alternatives across the entire 180° VR image-making process, from ease of use to image quality and workflow. We spoke to Mark Fensome and the team of engineers at Canon Inc. who masterminded the development of the EOS VR SYSTEM to find out more.

Before diving into the technology behind the EOS VR SYSTEM, we asked the team of engineers to share the motive behind, challenges faced and the future direction of VR for Canon.


Canon Europe: What excited you the most about designing the Canon RF 5.2mm F2.8L Dual Fisheye lens?

Canon Inc. : “Until now, the only way to create an 180° VR image has generally been to use a dedicated VR camera or to build a dedicated rig with multiple cameras. However, these shooting methods could not take advantage of the Canon EOS R System’s creative possibilities and use of interchangeable lenses. So, it was the development process itself, to design an interchangeable lens with an RF mount and the possibilities that brings, that excited us most.

“If you use a dedicated VR camera, then the creative options for that camera are limited to VR shooting alone, but the building of a dedicated rig, using multiple cameras, is not an easy solution either, limiting it to some professional users.

“As a result, we brought together the knowledge of engineers who have been involved in Canon’s optical products for many years and who strongly believe in the value of a 180° VR interchangeable RF mount lens, to work together to solve the large number of technical challenges and to realise the benefits of the Canon RF 5.2mm F2.8L Dual Fisheye lens.”

Canon Europe: What were the biggest challenges you faced when creating such a ground-breaking lens, and how did you overcome them?

Canon Inc. : “Overall, it was to develop a fisheye lens that achieves an optical performance that meets the requirements of an L-series lens, while ensuring a baseline length of just 60mm. The challenge was solved using various components such as a prism bending optical system that ensures the 60mm interpupillary distance required for 3D 180° VR shooting, an electric iris diaphragm "EMD", an optical adjustment mechanism that makes use of a large-diameter RF mount and a dust-proof and drip-proof structure. These are combined like a puzzle within the size constraints of RF lenses but resulted in the development of a high-performance L-series lens that our professional Canon users have become accustomed to.

“The next challenge, was the evaluation method of the stereo lens to ensure a correct stereoscopic image, made more challenging by the fact that the (interchangeable) lens and camera combination could cause errors between different cameras. By developing a new algorithm that analyses the captured images and reduces errors, then incorporating it into Canon’s EOS VR Utility software and the EOS VR Plugin for Adobe Premiere Pro¹, we were able to reliably create accurate VR imagery, even when using an interchangeable lenses on different cameras.”

Canon Europe: Why has Canon decided to release this lens now? Was design not a possibility in the past, or is the market trending in this direction?

Canon Inc. : “Technically speaking, under EF design rules this lens would not be practical because of the different design parameters having an impact on all aspects of the optics and size. The technical characteristics of the RF mount, having a shorter back focus distance in particular, made it possible to reduce the size of this lens, something that could not be achieved with the EF mount.

“Additionally, the features of the EOS R5 such as a single Full Frame 8K sensor that can record video as well as stills, means that a high quality and practical solution is now possible between the camera and the lens.

“This comes at a time when the market for VR is increasing, with higher quality head mounted displays becoming more accessible, but there are still certain barriers in terms of capture and workflow that means that content is hard to generate in more ‘traditional’ multi-camera/sensor solutions. Canon’s EOS VR SYSTEM aims to revolutionize this with a simpler and more efficient workflow that utilizes the benefit of a single sensor, single file system so that more VR content can more easily be made.

“Development of lenses such as the Canon RF 5.2mm F2.8L Dual Fisheye has been exciting as we need to respond to the ever-changing technical demands within the imaging industry, including diversification of sensors, development of image processing and changes in image viewing methods. The spread of head mounted displays has expanded the possibility of imaging, and if there continue to be further developments within the industry, we would like to consider an optical system that supports them too.

“As a Canon optical designer's mission, we are not just sticking to the EOS R System as a development consciousness, but we would like to develop optics that can provide new value in response to the wider demands of society.”

Photographers who use a compatible camera such as the Canon EOS R5² can simply add the compact lens to their kitbag and swap it in and out like any other lens, switching from shooting portraits to VR in an instant without the need for a dedicated VR camera. This also means they can offer clients 180° VR content within the same shoot as their standard images.

Canon's more versatile option is also much simpler, enabled by the RF mount system. "Setup is as simple as attaching the RF 5.2mm F2.8L Dual Fisheye lens to the camera and selecting your shooting parameters, with no specialist rigs, synchronisation of settings/image parameter or alignment needed," says Mark. Eliminating those otherwise time-consuming daily realities frees up VR creators to do what they want to do – create.

The effective angle of view of the dual fisheye lens is approximately 190°, meaning the camera operator can stand behind the camera and view the scene yet remain out of shot while recording. The same is also true for any on-set kit behind the camera, such as lighting. Composing, lighting and creating the shot is inherently easier and much more flexible than it is for 360° VR where everything in sight is in shot.

And while there is still a case for 360° VR, it is easier to keep the viewer locked into the action with 180° VR – where it is still possible to look up down, left and right via a compatible headset or viewing device – than it is for 360° VR, where turning around can mean missing the action happening in the other direction.

Like all Canon RF mount L-series lenses, the RF 5.2mm F2.8L Dual Fisheye lens boasts sharp detail with excellent edge-to-edge quality. This is all the more challenging in a fisheye lens where the circular image is converted to an equirectangular projection.

"It is critical to ensure a very high edge-to-edge performance to enable a high-quality conversion to an equirectangular projection, since there is a higher magnification of the image when viewed on a head-mounted display, when compared to conventional monitors,” explain Canon Inc.'s product engineers.

"By adopting a lens configuration that is optimal for short back focus and by effectively arranging two UD lenses in the final lens group, high image quality is achieved on the entire screen while achieving an angle of view of 190°.

“Additionally, lens coatings have been optimised to reduce ghosting across the image, by using SWC coatings on the R2 surface of the first lens, which has a higher antireflection effect than the conventional thin-film deposition film coating.”

Each left and right eye image is consequently projected in reverse onto the sensor and needs to be reversed back in post-production, a process automated using Canon's dedicated EOS VR Utility software and the EOS VR Plugin for Adobe Premiere Pro¹.

With the left and right eye images now simultaneously recorded onto the same image file, there are many benefits to the VR production workflow. The two images are aligned perfectly and at an identical time from the start, so there's no need for labour-intensive image alignment or to time-synchronise the recordings as you would have to with multi-sensor alternatives.

"Editors of stereoscopic VR will love the efficient one-step conversion of the original camera files to an equirectangular projection – there's no more pairing, syncing or stitching of files, saving huge amounts of time and effort in post-production," says Mark.

There's no risk of human error either, such as exposure settings not being matched on all cameras in a multi-cam setup. Working with multiple cameras introduces other complications, too. "In a system that captures the left and right images with different sensors, there will be colour and brightness differences between the left and right images due to individual differences in sensor characteristics, which will require correction in post-production," explain Canon Inc.'s product engineers. "By using a single sensor, it is not necessary to consider individual differences between sensors."

Essentially, the EOS VR SYSTEM – a compatible camera, the Canon RF 5.2mm F2.8L Dual Fisheye lens, EOS VR Utility and the EOS VR Plugin for Adobe Premiere Pro – simplifies the entire 180° VR image creation process.

“In 2018, we communicated that the introduction of the RF mount would allow us to create new types of lenses – higher quality, smaller size, higher functionality, and the RF 5.2mm F2.8L Dual Fisheye lens is an example of this.

"The lens is good value when you consider the system and what it can do and who it's really aimed at – professional VR creators – whether creating educational, corporate or even live event footage," says Mark. "I hope it makes their lives a lot easier, so they can be excited about creating content rather than worrying about how to create it."

Bringing together such a high-quality 180° VR three-dimensional image into a competitively priced and easy-to-use package opens up a seemingly technically daunting industry to a much wider audience of content creators. We've seen the drone market open up to more and more creators, so could this new lens have the same impact on the growing VR industry?

Hear more experiences from behind the lens in this episode of Canon's Shutter Stories podcast:

¹EOS VR Utility and the EOS VR Plug-in for Adobe Premiere Pro are required to perform the equirectangular switch of recorded 180° VR images from a compatible Canon camera. A paid-for subscription service may be required to convert video files longer than two minutes in length.

²Firmware update required in order for the Canon EOS R5 to support the Canon RF 5.2mm F2.8L Dual Fisheye lens.

*Adobe and Premiere are either registered trademarks or trademarks of Adobe in the United States and/or other countries.