The Apple Vision Pro VR headset can capture spatial 3D photos and videos, but it won’t be replacing my camera any time soon.
One of the most surprising use cases for Apple’s new Vision Pro VR/AR headset, which it unveiled at its WWDC 2023 event is that it can take spatial 3D photos and videos using its two forward-facing cameras, for immersive playback on its 23 million-pixel display.
We don’t have the detailed spec to indicate the kind of quality you can expect from those two cameras, but at the push of the shutter button on the top-left of the headset the cameras record photos or videos for an immersive 3D VR experience and 4K playback for each eye, complete with spatial audio for videos.
At $3,499 you’re obviously not buying the Vision Pro just as a camera – recording and reliving moments in 3D is a bonus feature of this dual-chip mixed-reality headset – but will you really want to use the camera in the first place?There’s a camera on your face
Take a moment to watch the Apple Vision Pro presentation above (starting at 1:36:00). It’s a strange image, isn’t it? And I don’t mean the scene being captured using the Vision Pro of the girls blowing bubbles, but rather the image of the smiling dad wearing the headset, which resembles a pair of ski goggles, to capture the moment.
It’s a terrifying vision of future family life. Using what Apple calls eyesight, you can see the dad’s eyes in the headset lenses, and then a flash of light as he takes the picture.
