Do you remember the ViewMaster? A favorite childhood toy. That read circular reels through a bright red stereoscopic viewfinder, rendering images from those reels in vivid, 3D detail. The color of Kandao’s new QooCam EGO gives you ViewMaster memories. But instead of pre-photographed reels that you purchase from the company, you can create your new own 3D stereoscopic images from the world around you. These images and videos can be viewed with the included stereo 3D viewer or on a VR headset or viewed in a non-3D view on your computer.
Build Quality
Like other Kandao products, QooCam EGO has a very premium feel. The camera comes in two parts. The camera itself and the included stereo viewer lets you shoot or view files in 3D when attached via clips and magnets to the main camera body. The camera body is very soft, rubberized feel, and comes in black and white colors.
QooCam EGO has a few buttons on the camera. Three buttons on the side control playback and two buttons up top operate power and the shutter. The other side has a removable battery. One USB-C port for charging, and a memory card slot for a micro SD card. Many controls are through the touch screen on the back, which is tiny (2.5”), but displays vibrant colors. The front features two lenses to create the stereoscopic view, and at the bottom, there’s a standard ¼” tripod mount.
Kandao says the camera is “water-resistant” but it's not waterproof. So it’s probably a bad idea to take the camera on a dive. You can take it on a hike with some nearby waterfalls. The droplets don’t hurt the camera. But don’t try much more than that. As well as the camera has a nice weight to it at about ⅓ of a pound.
How Does It Handle?
It’s sized like a point-and-shoot camera. It handles like one as well. The only file format available for photos is JPG.
The camera is very easy to use, and the automatic modes generally seemed to get exposure and color right. Automatic was fine for purposes, at least as far as the actual shooting went.
The camera is a little more than pokey in actual operation though, taking about 20 seconds to start up and 6 seconds to shut down. The camera is "asleep" rather than powered off, so it comes to life a bit faster. But the screen is on, and the battery drains at an alarming rate.
For all of the point-and-shoot ethos of the exposure and color controls on the camera, there’s one glaring omission that makes the camera quite a bit more difficult to work with, and that’s a lack of autofocus. There is none whatsoever.
The Viewer
The fun part is the camera even though the shooting experience without autofocus is maddening. Putting on the viewfinder and pushing the play button transported me into a high-res (24 MP) image that really felt like I was looking at something that I could reach out and grab. The video seemed that way too. It's making you feel like you were right on the scene of whatever you were shooting. The fact that it felt like you were looking at a modern-day ViewMaster hit all the nostalgia buttons.
The video quality is listed at up to 3,840 x 1,080 at 60 fps 3D video and 1,920 x 1,080 at 60 fps single lens video. In practice, the video looked crystal clear with good color and surprisingly good audio. You can really feel like you were in the scene.
Let's talk speed of the camera’s operation. The camera took a full 20 seconds to start up and get ready to shoot and 6 seconds to shut down. Menu taps took a second or two to register, and shot-to-shot time also was a couple of seconds. While slow shooting speeds are one thing, 20 seconds to start up means the moment was trying to capture was often over before the camera had a chance to capture it. Kandao says that an upcoming firmware update will fix this issue, but it was not available at press time.
What Do You Do With It?
While a QooCam owner looking through the viewfinder will appreciate the 3D images. Anyway sharing such photos and videos are exceedingly difficult. For those who don’t have this camera, there’s no easy way to share images and videos or view them in the intended stereoscopic way. It’s true of all cameras in this style, but this is intended to be a consumer-friendly product, and it’s in desperate need of a consumer-friendly way to share it.
For photos, Kandao reps did point to some sketchy software that isn’t fully in English to make photos for Facebook, but it’s a complicated process that the intended audience shouldn’t have to go through just to share a photo. Most won’t.
In that way, what you’re left with is posting the side of the stereoscopic image by side in the hopes that the end user will figure out what to do with them.
In two specific ways, this product feels like it's ahead of its time. The first is that there are still no universal standards to distribute this kind of immersive imagery and video, and so a vast majority of audiences won’t perceive the true benefit of the images and video from this camera.
The second way is a bit more of a knock on how Kandao handled the launch of the camera. The hardware seems willing, but the firmware and app support aren’t there yet. When I had the camera in hand for its early June release date, the camera was slow, with a somewhat confusing interface, no app support, and, crucially, no autofocus. More than a month later, the interface is still a bit confusing, with no labels on many of the icons or explanations for menu items, app support on the QooCam app offers the basics but not much more, and there’s still no autofocus.
Conclusion
Think when I look through something, I am impressed by the images that the camera can capture. But a wait time of just over 20 seconds to start up a camera that can’t even autofocus means that you are missing moments because you are waiting for the camera. As well as you are missing moments because the camera has no focusing aids or autofocus to help you nail the shot. This camera, a few months after its release. But still feels like a beta product.
If Kandao can iron out the speed issues and add autofocus, I certainly think content creators would appreciate the chance to capture photos in this new way, but until that happens, it’s impossible to recommend. Do you have any experience with this camera, please comment your opinion.
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