The Apple Vision Pro's Killer App/Feature: 3D Memories aka Spacial Photos/Videos

[ZombiePhysicist]

People have been asking in several threads, what is "the killer app/feature" and it is this. 3D memories (I'm just going to call these AVP 3D spacial photos and particularly 3D spacial videos, 3D memories, because it feels right, it's kind of transformative and is more a stored memory than a stored photo/vidoe somehow).

These things are so intimate and profound, my heart breaks that I do not have one photo or video of my mom like this. The most simple moments shot in this format are transformingly intimate. It’s difficult to convey how intensely personal and transformative they are. You go back in time in a way that is so subtle and soft and simultaneously overwhelmingly personal and intimate.

If you have kids, you need this. This is a photography device more than anything else right now.

I hate to say this, but if you have older loved ones, you need to capture them in this. You need to take photos and video in this format. If you miss the chance to video those you love in this format, it will be an ache on your heart (it is for me just thinking about lost loved ones...I would pay crazy money right now for JUST ONE of these memories of them...).

Yes, you can take these 3D videos on the iPhone 15, and it's actually pretty good. But the AVP itself is better, my guess, because of the greater separation of the lenses?

Until you experience taking this shot of the most boring little thing with someone you know, and then play it back, you wont 'get it'.

I would capture any serious events with this thing too. Apple needs to add some zoom ability to this, because it will be quite annoying as you literally need to be there with the goggles on to get the best quality stuff for now (and the goggles dont have stabilization I dont think). At some point, I could see them releasing a model of goggles/glasses that is more tailored to photography and video work, perhaps.

Im a bit of an amateur photographer/video buff, but for any events with loved ones, this is the format I will be exploring moving forward. It's its own thing.


Honorable mention goes to 3D movies. Watching 3D movies, nothing compares to the AVP. Avatar 2 (the movie itself sucks IMO) but on a technical level, is beyond superb. No IMAX experience comes close. It is hands down, the best experience. And takes 3D from a gimmick to a 'good thing'. After watching it, when you watch a normal movie, it's a bit of a WTF let down.

Anyway, just my $0.02 take.

 

[Tdevilsg]

I agree with this. It is the killer app. I've owned the device since launch day and used it to record my baby playing via the iphone. It's like stepping back into a memory or a dream. It even adds this blurry immersion around the edges like a dream in full screen. Not perfect of course but far more impactful than a normal screen. Years from now, I will remember my baby so much clearly through that. If what you're saying is true that the VP recording quality is better, they need to get the next Iphone up to par because nobody would choose to record on that over an iPhone for convenience.

Does that justify spending 4k on the device? Tough to say and probably not now, but people should record in spatial video now even if they don't have the device for the future potential.

 

[ZombiePhysicist]

One other thing is making how to videos with this thing is going to be revolutionary. By working on and engine or something complicated like that, while wearing glasses and not needing any extra hands and tripods. And I think as an aid to working on things, watching a video like that while wearing the goggles is going to be pretty cool.

 

[tacoshell]

I just can’t believe I haven’t taken more panoramas.

 

[ZombiePhysicist]

So was using AVP in bed the other day, playing with videoing what I saw. I then played it back and it completely overlayed my field of view so perfectly, that I thought it was still the pass through. It was freaky because it completely fooled me and felt like I rewound reality. The TV was going back in time replaying what I just saw a minute ago.

The sticking over my own feet in the scene, it was truly a weird effect because I can feel my feet under the blanket and the movements happen to track.

So out of body, out of time bizarre.

But I could see an app that keeps recoding everything you see all day, and then you could rewind and repeat parts of the day that way. It could be hyper useful for memory recall etc.

 

[Rainerm]

I also wish I would have taken more panorama pictures.
It’s just amazing how the Vision Pro straightens out the curved lines.
Most panoramas I have are landscspe and everything is in a distance, so they look “normal” Well most of it
I got a “holy cow” moment when I was playing around at our local fishing pier next to a bridge.
The bridge is pretty close and therefore the panorama seems “out of whack” if opened on the phone or computer.
However, when viewed/opened in the AVP, the lines straighten out and it is exactly as experienced. That is freaking cool.

I just tried to attach the panorama I am talking about, but it is too big.

Take a panorama with something right in front of you and open it on the phone and the AVP and you see what I mean.

 

[Rainerm]

Here is a screenshot from the bridge.
That is not a panorama, just a screenshot.
You can see the bridge seems to “curve” because how close it is to the camera.
The bridge is of course straight and the AVP is showing it the right way.

 

[Roller]

I just can’t believe I haven’t taken more panoramas.

Me too. I have a few taken with my phones and others I shot with DSLRs and stitched, but I wish I had many more. Viewing them on the AVP isn't quite as good as a true immersive still or video, but it's amazingly good.

 

[Rainerm]

Yeah, I have plenty of panoramas that are stitched together from dslr cameras over the years.
It just seems that the AVP doesn’t “know” that they are panoramas and just stretches them around you when opened.
Just like a print that’s wrapped around you.
Curved lines due the proximity are still curved lines.
Like, take a photo (dslr or similar)of a straight wall standing maybe 3feed away.
Stitch maybe 3 photos together.
The result is an aspect ratio that would intricate a panorama but isn’t one.
When you open this in the AVP and look around it seems that the wall is build around you and not straight in front of you.
Or just take a single regular photo and crop it so the aspect ratio is like a panoramic photo. The AVP will list it as “panoramic” just because of the aspect ratio.

That changes dramatically when the panorama is taken with the iPhone. Or perhaps any other phone ?
I use a 14 max pro. Somehow the AVP knows that is shot with the the camera panning along. That is somehow stored with the picture. As a result, the AVP “knows” how to display the photo. It is exactly as shot. Straight lines and anything else. The wall now looks straight and you are standing in front of it instead of being surrounded by it. Huge difference.

I wish I could transform my dslr panoramic photos in real panoramic photos to display in the AVP.