Today I would like to share with you my Fujifilm FinePix Real 3D W3 Digital Camera, a bit of a relic from a previous decade, but still the best 3D point and shoot you can get.
Description
It’s a small, handheld, black digital camera with a sliding lens cover that doubles as an on-off switch. It has various buttons and knobs for your standard (and nonstandard) camera functions including mode selection, settings, shutter, zoom, etc. It has a compartment on the bottom for a rechargeable battery and an SD card slot, and you can mount it on a standard tripod screw. It has a built-in flash.
Narrative
I did not purchase this when it was new. I purchased it last year when I wanted to take stereoscopic images so I could see them in 3D in my VR headset. I looked around for the latest 3D camera. I thought 3D was still a thing. It was not.
This was the best camera I could find. It’s a bit of a throwback and I get a little nostalgic when I use it. It takes decent enough photos, but the fun part is the 3D part. You can actually view images in 3D on the camera display. It uses a lenticular display on the back to send some pixels to your left eye and some other pixels to your right eye. So, assuming you have two functioning eyes, you can see a 3D image from a 2D display. Very cool.
Sometimes I have a problem with how I hold it: my right hand occasionally covers the right lens and then renders (no pun intended) the 3D part useless. I’m working on my technique.
It’s getting a bit long in the tooth technology-wise but it takes some pretty fun 3D pictures and videos. My grandfather took stereoscopic (film) photos of his family back in the ’50s and ’60s (I sincerely hope you know which century/millennium I’m referring to). It’s fun to use an old stereo viewer to see my grandpa, grandma, mom, and her siblings when they were little. It adds a whole new dimension (gah) to photo viewing. I hope to someday share my 3D pictures with my children.
Note: it has a companion product that is a digital photo frame with a built-in lenticular display so you don’t need special 3D glasses. I tried one from eBay. It was pretty bad, so I sold it.
Functionality
It’s your standard point-and-shoot camera from the 2010s, except it has two lenses, so watch how you hold it. It has a mode selection button that lets you take different kinds of 2D and 3D still and video images. I will not get into a detailed review of how all the different functions work, but suffice it to say that it has a pretty standard user interface from that era, replete with menus and sub-menus and settings for most functions.
It saves 3D still images in .MPO format, which is basically multiple JPG images in one file. Mac OS has no problems viewing them as 2D images; I forget which side it shows you.
Quality
Compared to any modern smartphone or camera, the pictures aren’t the sharpest and they can be a bit noisy in low light. But modern cameras can’t take 3D photos now, can they? The photos are a bit grainy in low light but you do get two of them.
Reliability
It has not glitched out on me or failed to take photos, provided I can remember to keep the battery charged. The mode selection wheel seems to be getting a bit finicky lately.
Durability
I keep it in this padded case (which fits it and the charger perfectly) and only take it out on special occasions. I don’t have it with me all the time so it doesn’t get a lot of use. When I do use it I make sure to treat it like a sensitive piece of electronic equipment and not a piece of sports equipment. I cannot vouch for how well it will hold up to an impact or a drop from any appreciable height.
Conclusion
It’s a nifty neat niche camera and I’m glad to have it in my collection. If I could only have one camera, this wouldn’t be it, but since I want to take 3D pictures occasionally, I’m definitely glad that I have it, and I would buy it again unless by some miracle 3D comes back and there’s a better option.