If you are in, or will be visiting, Osaka, Japan, remember to drop in and visit the Panasonic Center Osaka at Yubinbango530-0011 Kita-ku in the Grand Front Osaka South Building second floor. What they have there is their brand new 3D PHOTO Lab which opened to the public July 17.
Panasonic Center Osaka 3D PHOTO Lab
The 3D PHOTO Lab is a room impressively rigged with 120 Panasonic LUMIX cameras (their top of the line GH4s no less) from ceiling to floor and all around. The GH4s are synchronized to fire together within 1 millisecond of one another, with a fast shutter speed of 1/1000 s, fast enough to freeze action. This means, you don’t need to sit stock still while the cameras are taking a high definition 3D color picture of you — or of you and your child, or your significant other, or your favorite pet.
Panasonic is also launching a 3D Premium Figure service that will then take the 3D picture and print it out on a full-color 3D printer to create a plaster figurine 1/10 the size of the live model. So, for example, if you are 170 cm (5’7″) tall, the 3D figure will be 17 cm (7″) tall. Though it’s expensive at 55,000 yen (or around VAD $580/US $450), I can see people doing that for a wedding (the real couple as figurines on the wedding cake), graduation or special anniversary for older parents.
The detail is not that great as you can see in the photos above of the live model (on the left) and its 3D figurine (on the right), but as the photo below shows, they look OK from a distance.
Though you can walk in on certain days, online reservations are recommended. No cancellations. Not everything can be shot and 3D printed adequately, so read their FAQ as to what type of clothing to wear, the color, etc.