Lucid partners with Red to produce 4V camera

Consumer 3D camera maker Lucid is partnering with RED, a digital video camera maker for the Hollywood set, to make a camera capable of shooting 8K 3D video. The goal is produce 4V or 4-view, which lets people see behind objects and around them.

The camera is a boxy set-up that resembles other cameras in RED's line-up — devices that can run in the tens of thousands of dollars. The new camera had a debut on May 19 at a launch event at RED studios, even as Lucid has not released a name for the new camera, nor a price. Although Lucid says that plans are for the device to be available by the end of the year.

The new camera will also let people focus and zoom in 3D, using Lucid's technology. Buyers are likely not going to be weekend photographers, but filmmakers — indie to professional. It's a far cry from Lucid's point-and-shoot VR camera , called Lucid Cam, which launched on the consumer market for $499 in 2017. That camera could shoot 180-degree images which could be uploaded and shared on social media.

Lucid Cam required you hold both the camera and a smartphone at the same time — the only way to view what the camera was seeing. The new camera from Lucid and RED will operate similarly. Here, though, photographers will use RED's upcoming Hydrogen One phone as the viewfinder — which means as someone is shooting through the new camera, they can actually see the 3D, virtual reality and augmented reality without needing glasses or goggles.

"This partnership allows us for the first time to deliver the highest-quality 3D capture to our customers, and now they can view the content immediately in 3D/4V without headsets," said Han Jin, Lucid's CEO and co-founder in a statement. "At a time when two of the biggest challenges in the industry have been resolution and easy viewing of 3D content, we believe this is the solution everyone has been waiting for."