The OZO Introduction: Training With Nokia
At the beginning of this year, the Happy Finish VR team and I were excited to be introduced to the newly-released Nokia OZO 360 camera. After partaking in a training course from Nokia’s USA and Finnish team, we were eager to get an OZO back to our UK office to road test it and really see what made it tick. With new 360 shooting options arising every week, it’s necessary to test out every new set-up as hard as possible before trusting it on a commercial shoot, OZO being no exception. Upon arrival back to London, we were all set with an OZO of our own to see exactly what it was capable of.
The premise behind the Nokia OZO has been extremely ambitious, focusing on an all-encompassing solution for stereo 360° video and audio, an effect that has long required custom rigs for success. The camera consists of eight built-in lenses, a rechargeable lithium ion battery and a 500GB removable memory module, all built into the 4.2kg/9.3lb unit. With a retail cost of $45,000 (not including a few specific post production programs needed to run it), we’ve concluded that even though it is very much in its earliest incarnation, OZO really is an excellent camera.
From Benchmark to Integration
When taking the right approach with this camera, the stereo is excellent and provides an exciting new depth to 360 video with its 3D capabilities. Even when shooting in Mono, OZO can be a great option.
While many early 360° content pieces struggled with blurred edges and disjointed objects, OZO provides fantastic results when subjects come in close and move between cameras in comparison to the vast majority of previous 360 video rigs. This is due to its uniquely detailed computational stitching that, while very time consuming, is very effective. Though this is an area that Nokia are continuing to improve on, we have developed temporary solutions to make this process even faster in the meantime.
After getting to know its strengths and weaknesses in our various benchmark tests, we have built on our current VR workflows with our in-house technicians to create a very fast, high-end pipeline for using this camera. Since its launch, we’ve taken OZO to over 20 commercial VR shoots to date (as well as a countless amount of tests) in three different continents all the while working closely with Nokia as they continue to enhance their ever-evolving software.
Csilla Kozma Andersen, Head of Content Relations at Nokia Technologies commented on the working partnership saying,
“Happy Finish has been instrumental in our successful European launch of OZO. They have delivered best-in-class OZO VR productions for the fashion and entertainment worlds, and have been a superb partner in meeting the needs of Nokia’s customers throughout Europe.”
Progressing Potential
With VR technology moving at breakneck speed, we are always on the lookout for what's next and how we can improve any of our current set-ups and techniques. It’s important for us at Happy Finish to test and dissect any 360 camera or array we can get our hands on, from the fully integrated units such as OZO to our own custom-built rigs. OZO is truly fantastic when chosen for the right battles, and we are really excited to be production partners and to work alongside Nokia to push this piece of technology to its full potential.
