Canon is showing off its mixed and virtual reality products this year at CP+ and making that a forefront of the show.
DCWatch was able to talk to Tsuyoshi Tokura, the senior managing director of Canon's imaging group, and asked him about Canon's booth this year. Mr Tokura stated that he would like people to experience the world beyond 2D at this Canon booth.
Canon displayed a mockup of APS-C stereoscopic lenses and a 3D 360 / 180-degree camera that appears to be more action camera-related. This was the same as they showed at CES 2024, so no surprises there. Canon seems to be hedging between a stereoscopic lens similar to the Canon RF 5.2mm Dual Fisheye and a much more compact lens with I suspect a much smaller field of view. In all honestly I could see both lenses having a good use case to be released. I am surprised that the concept 002 model does not come out first for full-frame.
Canon had a special booth area set aside for a Shin Virtual Performance experience which combined Canon's MREAL (mixed reality system) with JVC/Kenwood's 3D sound technology EXOFIELD. As you would observe through the stereoscopic goggles, the number of music performers would increase, and after they are all present the viewer gets to enjoy a virtual orchestra performance as if they are right in front of the stage. I don't know about you, but this sounds awesome for sports.
Canon also showed off new software that allows data from DPAF sensors that combine the 3D depth mapping and the sensor images to turn all that into 3D stereoscopic images. This seems to be something that Canon is going to release. Most likely as part of their subscription-based service for Canon VR software. The cool part of that is that it can be performed from one image, whereas 3D photogrammetry can require multiple images from various angles. For the sake of coolness, I included a machine-translated version of the booth display.
Canon also had the usual suspects at the conference including my personal favorite the chance to play with all their big whites. I think just about every show has had this for as long as I can remember, and for as long as there remain photography shows that Canon shows up at, I do hope it continues.
Since Canon is pretty quiet so far this year with no announcements before CP+, unless something happens during the show which runs until the 25th of February, we are bound to have a quieter show than in years past. But Canon, as usual also had a very photography-related booth with workshops for learning photography techniques, video production, and also for printing as well.
As one of the largest booths at CP+, it's hardly a shock that Canon would show off its latest products and flex its product portfolio. We can only hope that the time between now and CP+ 2025 is filled with as many new and exciting Canon products as possible.
All images via DCWatch