Canon RF-S 7.8mm review: The 3D close-up lens for specialists
Exclusive to the Canon EOS R7: Canon's dedicated RF-S 7.8 mm lens for 3D close-ups, reviewed by our expert.
An article by Daniel Pohl
Recently, there has been a lot of activity in the area of 3D content creation for virtual reality. Apple's iPhone can create 3D photos and videos, XREAL Beam Pro is proving to be one of the best and most affordable 3D cameras in the smartphone form factor, and Acer is entering the market with a very good 3D camera, the Acer SpatialLabs Camera Eyes (ASEC-1).
All of these cameras produce "regular 3D" as we know it from 3D movies. Canon, on the other hand, has so far focused on the even more immersive 180° 3D range, e.g. with the Canon 5.2mm Dual Fisheye and the recently released 144° 3D lens. Now, Canon is also releasing a lens for shorter-angle 3D creation with a specialty that I will look at in more detail in this article: a 3D lens for close-ups.
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The Canon RF-S 7.8mm F4 STM Dual Lens in a nutshell
With the Canon RF-S 7.8mm lens, Canon is expanding its 3D portfolio and entering a currently almost unoccupied area: 3D close-ups. This enables unique shots, but due to the specific application, it is not the right lens for everyone.
The Canon RF-S 7.8mm lens is suitable for you if ...
- you are interested in creating high-quality photos and videos at close range in 3D
- you would like to produce creative and artistic media
The Canon RF-S 7.8mm lens is suitable for you if ...
- You want to create hemispherical (180° 3D) media
- If you are looking for a 3D camera for everyday use
The Canon 7.8mm lens with the Canon EOS R7 camera body in use. | Image: Canon
Background 3D close-ups
When shooting 3D media, the distance between the stereo lenses is important. With the hemispherical VR180-3D, you are often close to the average human pupil distance of 63 mm (occasionally 60-65 mm). This means that when viewing media, the proportions are roughly the same as in the real world. In the realm of regular 3D photography, where you are creating media for a screen similar to a 3D movie theater, you have a little more leeway.
In most VR media viewers, you can simply move the screen back and forth, which also affects the perception of object size. Acer uses a distance of 63 mm between the lenses in its 3D camera. Xreal Beam Pro uses a distance of 50 mm. If you didn't know, the difference between 63 mm and 50 mm would hardly be noticeable in regular 3D. The newer iPhones use a distance of only 19 mm between the lenses. It is possible that changes are automatically made in post-production to make the distance appear larger. With the Canon RF-S 7.8 mm lens, we only have a small distance of 11.8 mm.
This very small distance means that you have to be very close to the object you want to capture in order to get a relevant difference between the image for the left eye and the image for the right eye. This is what creates the 3D effect in human perception. This is exactly what Canon does with the new RF-S 7.8 mm lens, where the recommended object distance is 0.15-0.5 meters.
Data Canon RF-S 7.8 mm lens (previously exclusively for Canon EOS R7)
| Canon RF-S 7.8 mm for Canon R7 camera body | |
| Format | Regular 3D (close-ups only) |
| Field of view | 63° |
| Sensor size | APS-C (22.3 × 14.9 mm) |
| Photo resolution (per eye) | 3480×4640 (original)
1920×2160 (8:9 crop export) 1920×1080 (16:9 crop export) |
| Video resolution (per eye) | 1920×2160 @ 60 fps |
| Aperture opening | F/4.0 - F/16 |
| Lens distance | 11.8 mm |
| Lens price | Lens: $449
Canon R7 camera body: $1.299 |
Media processing
As with other Canon 3D lenses, the left and right images are bundled through the lens and projected onto the same sensor. The advantage of this is that the two images are always synchronized and there are no color differences due to two differently calibrated sensors.
This is how the stereo image of the Canon 7.8mm lens ends up on the sensor. | Picture: Peter Wehrli
The direct recording on the sensor is not yet optimized for ideal viewing. Canon has the EOS VR Utility tool for this. This is free for photos. However, when editing videos longer than two minutes, a subscription for around $50 per year is required. The current version 1.5.10 has some new options for this lens. You can select the following settings for exporting the image data:
- 3D Theater, crop format 8:9
- 3D Theater, crop format 16:9
- 3D 180°, semi-spherical format, areas outside the image are black. A target size of 8192x4096 should be selected here.
This is what it looks like in the pictures:
Image: Peter Wehrli
Picture: Peter Wehrli
The different formats of the stereo image exported from EOS VR Utility. From top to bottom: 3D Theater 8:9, 3D Theater 16:9, 3D 180°. | Picture: Peter Wehrli
Our original image with 6960×4640 pixels was changed to 3840×2160 (8:9 crop) or 3840×1080 (16:9 crop) when exporting with the corresponding rectangular section. For the equirectangular 180° image, we have a resolution of 8192×4096 with the black filled pixels on the outside.
Unfortunately, Canon has sacrificed some quality here. As a comparison of a detail of another photo of the flower shows, details are unnecessarily lost at the maximum equirectangular resolution of 8Kx4K. Offering an export option at 16384×8192 pixels would be the right move here, especially with future higher-resolution VR headsets in mind. Content creators should definitely keep the original files.
Another weakness, which will hopefully be fixed in a software update, is that the Canon EOS VR Utility makes a hard cut at the circles for 180° 3D with pixel precision, but not subpixel precision. When viewing in VR, you can see the steps at the edge of the circle, which reduces immersion. It would be nice if Canon could create a smooth cut with appropriate antialiasing.
Compared to the original image file, the 8K export to equirectangular format loses some details. An option for 16K export is unfortunately still missing in Canon EOS VR Utility. | Image: Original: Peter Wehrli. Detail: Daniel Pohl
Viewing in virtual reality
For Virtual Reality, you now have the choice of viewing these images on a rectangular movie screen or in the equirectangular, hemispherical VR180 format. From my own experience viewing the images in Quest 3, the photos look best and most immersive in the equirectangular format. Although some detail is lost due to the resolution, the size representation is very good to convey the gigantic impression of close-ups. I also find the round presentation of the content more natural than the rectangular movie screen.
Nevertheless, some of the images are difficult to view and lead to unusual perception and eye strain. The following image of the flower, which has already been exported via EOS VR Utility, serves as an example:
Exported image of a flower. The upper left petal is not equally visible in both eyes. | Image: Peter Wehrli
When looking at the image, if the eyes move to the upper left edge of the flower, the left eye will still see the upper left petal, while the right eye will only see that petal cut off. Of course, you can try to place the objects you want to image more centrally, but in some images the horizontal alignment between left and right is still incorrect. In some images, you can also see double circle edges.
This shows one of the great strengths of the VR180-3D, which is rarely mentioned: Because the entire hemisphere is captured in front of you, there are many areas where such a conflict of objects visible to only one eye does not even occur. The smaller the overall field of view, the more likely this problem is to occur.
This is certainly the case with other 3D cameras, such as the XREAL Beam Pro and Acer's 3D camera. However, due to the wide field of view of a cylindrically curved 3D cinema screen, these areas are only very peripherally visible when looking straight at the image and are therefore less disturbing.
The usual solution is to improve the horizontal alignment, i.e. to cut out the areas that are not visible to both eyes. The free Stereo Photo Maker Pro tool usually works very well with the "Auto Alignment" function. However, in tests with Canon 7.8mm images, it sometimes proved difficult and left content that was not visible to both eyes. The "Easy Alignment" function of the Stereo Photo Maker, which allows you to move the images in relation to each other with visual support, can help under certain circumstances. However, depending on how the scene was displayed, quite a few image elements were removed.
While many other 3D cameras allow you to do an approximate point-and-shoot, you have to be more careful here. Over time, however, you will certainly gain experience as to which perspectives work well and which work less well.
The strengths of the Canon RF-S 7.8 mm lens
- Apart from self-built 3D camera rigs, the Canon lens is the only reasonable convenient way to get into the area of high-quality 3D close-ups.
- The images show a lot of detail and convey the experience of close objects in 3D very well.
- Thanks to the large APS-C sensor of the EOS R7, the image quality is very high and, depending on the setting and lighting, there is little or no noticeable image noise.
- The images are much sharper than those of Canon's higher-priced EOS R5 (Mark II) setup with the 5.2mm VR180 lens, as relatively more pixels are available for a smaller viewing angle.
- Wide range of functions thanks to the EOS R7 camera body, such as long exposure shots, autofocus, HDR, and a wide range of professional settings
- Relatively cheap price if you already own the EOS R7
The weaknesses of the Canon RF-S 7.8 mm lens
- Less immersion than with 180° 3D shots
- More difficult to achieve good results than with other 3D cameras
- Only for close-up shots of 0.15 to 0.5 meters — not for everyday use
Sample photos Canon RF-S 7.8 mm lens
To get a better impression of the 3D photos, I have created a fantastic gallery of the shots taken with the Canon RF-S 7.8mm lens with almost 20 images from Peter Wehrli, each of which was exported in the three formats 3D 180°, Theater 8:9 and Theater 16:9. You can download these directly in both the immerGallery full version and the free immerGallery Demo. To do this, go to Download, Custom URL in the app, change the dropdown to immervr:// and type 78mm into the address field. Then “Enter” and "Go!".
My verdict on the Canon RF-S 7.8 mm lens
Canon's new RF-S 7.8 mm lens is a close-up specialist that adds to the range of options for shooting 3D content. The image quality is very good and sharp, as a relatively high number of pixels are used in relation to the angle of view. However, the limitation to 0.15 to 0.5 meters limits the daily use.
Therefore, my recommendation for those interested in 3D content creation is to first get a 3D camera for everyday use (e.g. Xreal Beam Pro, Acer's ASEC-1 or, with a higher budget, the Canon EOS R5 with 5.2mm VR180 lens). Only when you have covered and exhausted the everyday cases and then want to let your creativity run wild with special shots, I would advise you to get the new Canon 3D lens as additional camera equipment if you are interested in close-ups.
The results of solving problems with areas that are not visible to both eyes are certainly very impressive, and you can create content that is attention-grabbing and different from much else in the 3D space.
The author, Daniel Pohl, is CEO and founder of immerVR GmbH. There, Daniel works daily on innovations in the field of immersive media, mostly in the area of VR180 stereo photography and videography. With his app immerGallery (Meta Horizon Store, Steam Store), you can experience immersive photo galleries with voice-overs and background music in various VR formats on Meta Quest headsets – also together with friends in multiplayer. The app also supports video playback for common 2D / 3D, 180° and 360° formats.
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