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Tour the space station in 3D, or from inside a water bubble (video)
Astronauts aboard the ISS have been sending back space videos for years, but now they've stepped up their game: they just beamed back a couple of 3D footage taken by a Panasonic camera. These video clips take us on a 3D tour of the space station and show the astronauts submerging a sealed GoPro into a water bubble floating around in zero-g. By the sound of NASA's press release, though, we'll see more 3D videos in the future, as the camera used to take them fares batter in space. See, the radiation out there affects ordinary cams, burning out hundreds to thousands of pixels -- enough for them to need replacing every 8 to 12 months. The astronauts noticed, however, that the first $21,000 3D camera brought aboard the station in 2011 remained largely the same through the years.
Panasonic's AG-3DA1 camera will shoot 3D video, Robonaut vlogs on the International Space Station
NASA's Robonaut 2 is something of a celebrity around these parts, owing to his dashing good looks and insatiable appetite for publicity, which can now be put to good use with a new toy the landlubbers are sending his way: a professional 3D camera. The human-aiding robot that presently calls the International Space Station home will soon be joined by Panasonic's AG-3DA1, a full 1080p 3D video recorder with twin lenses and dual 2 megapixel 3MOS sensors. Panasonic is also loading up the next Space Shuttle Atlantis flight to the ISS (scheduled for June 28th) with 25.5-inch 3D LCD monitors and rugged Toughbook laptops to help with documenting proceedings aboard the research vessel. The new shooter costs a whopping $21,000, and though it's not clear whether NASA paid for it or Panasonic just decided to be charitable, the space agency should have the cash to splash after deciding to shelve the James Cameron-approved project to slap a zoom-equipped 3D imager on its next Mars rover. We're just wondering if the human world is quite ready for 3D video blogs from its favorite robotic astronaut.
Panasonic gearing up to reveal consumer-level 3D camcorder?
You won't be coloring us shocked if this plays out exactly as rumored, but word on the street has it that Panasonic will be busting out a consumer-level 3D camcorder as early as next week. 'Course, this is a company that already has a built-to-order 3D camcorder available to those with just over 20 large in need of a new home, and with the 3D push happening at a breakneck pace, it was just a matter of time before one of the big boys came along and served up an option for the Average Joe / Jane. Specifics on the device -- which will be "shown at a Tokyo news conference scheduled for July 28" -- are few and far between, but we're hearing that it'll be "about the same size as a conventional consumer-use camcorder," will integrate a pair of lenses (like so) in the front and will ring up at "far less" than professional models.
Panasonic goes 3D crazy with AG-3DA1 camcorder and AG-HMX100 video mixer
Well, what do you know? The world's first pro quality, fully-integrated full HD 3D camcorder has a name -- and it's up for pre-order. The AG-3DA1 camera (available this fall) is equipped with dual lenses and two full 1920 x 1080 2.07 megapixel 3-MOS imagers for recording 1080/60i, 50i, 30p, 25p and 24p (native) and 720/60p and 50p in AVCHD. It can record for up to 180 minutes on dual 32GB SD cards in AVCHD PH mode, and sports dual HD-SDI out, HDMI (version 1.4), two XLR connectors, built-in stereo microphone and twin-lens camera remotes. This bad boy is listed at $21,000, and you can reserve yours for $1,000 down. That's nice of them, huh? But that ain't all! The newly announced AG-HMX100 video mixer (available this June) supports full 3D as well (we're sensing a theme here), as does the 25-inch BT-3DL2550 LCD monitor for field use (available this September). Just the thing for filming your Avatar fan films, huh? The latter two are priced at $5,600 and $9,900 respectively. PR after the break.
