Behind the One-of-a-Kind Camera Made for the Sphere | WSJ Tech Behind

The new Sphere in Las Vegas is a massive tech feat. Inside, the Sphere has the world’s largest screen at 160,000 square feet. But projecting images and shows in a spherical format at an ultra high resolution isn’t easy; new tech had to be developed to make it work.
WSJ explores how a new camera called the Big Sky was developed for the Sphere and what it takes to get from film to a massive screen.
Chapters:
0:00 Sphere
0:45 New camera system
3:46 The screen
5:19 Getting footage to the screen
6:23 What’s next?
Tech Behind
'The Tech Behind' explores the amazing engineering, computing, science and algorithms that power our favorite tech.
#Sphere #Tech #WSJ

[@thedofflin]

Wow that spacewalk film is something I'd actually go to see, what a beautiful idea

[@jonaskloster1562]

Totally agree

[@brandywell44]

Amazing that there was so much airspace between the LEDS yet it looks like a continuous image.

[@tecnologiaoficial]

Resolution is as much about distance as it is about density... That's why when you were a kid and got close to those big boxy CRT TVs you could see the tiny red/green/blue dots.

[@notKhalid]

scale

[@Sjalabais]

A 2.3 *billion* dollar venue. That's like a small country's GDP. Amazing that this kind of investment power and will to develop and create tech exists.

[@BibhatsuKuiri]

They will generate many fold more money, then this investment.

[@heyjohnsmith]

So was roughly OnlyFans gross income

[@ruggedtechie5867]

One person owns it. I'm a oversize truck driver and one of the construction workers at the sphere told me that when I delivered there during its build.

[@ho5zk]

@@ruggedtechie5867 It is owned by a company not a person. Construction workers aren’t the best source for this type of information.

[@bidyo1365]

@@ruggedtechie5867

[@nickazg]

Woah, love how they want to send this to space rather than just do it in CG! I would go to Vegas just to see that.

[@Very_Grumpy_Cat]

Ehh the space is cgi and so is the ISS

[@hellaocd]

CGI>Sending a camera to space

[@nickazg]

@@hellaocd Probably cheaper sending a camera to space than CGI these days.

[@chriswillb]

TL;DR - It's a 16k camera with a massive fisheye lens. They use VR to help simulate what it'll look like in production.

[@ELLPCg]

God forbid anyone can't pay attention for seven minutes straight. Good job encouraging those losers,

[@paolo11x11]

No, not 16k - 'To film imagery for the immersive display venue, the studio has developed Big Sky, a custom single-lens camera system with a 316-megapixel, 3-inch x 3-inch HDR image sensor that it says can capture 18K x 18K images up to 120 frames per second.' - source : The Hollywood Reporter, June 12, 2023.

[@chipwolf5325]

@@ELLPCg why did they say in the video they upscale to 16k from 4k

[@TwatMcGee]

@@chipwolf5325 IIRC they edit with 4k proxies because that 16k footage would be insanely taxing for any computer to deal with

[@HalianTheProtogen]

@@paolo11x11 they say in the video that the Sphere's screen is 16000x16000; you can see the screen-safe zone on the camera's preview monitors (green line).

I've been in such (much smaller) sphere cinema in Poland, where it was simply inflated hemisphere and the video was projected on it. Still it was impressive.

[@jacek3358]

where is it?

​@@jacek3358 It was temporary in amusement park in Wrocław, It's long gone.

[@sethl8905]

Seems like a simple and lucrative idea...

[@3nityC]

Using projector or LED?

@@3nityC they were using projector

[@Megabean]

This reminds me so much of the iMax Dome Theatre in Toronto Science Centre. Just 30 years more advanced and using LEDs instead of projectors. The Science Centres giant circular screen was one of the coolest theatres I've been to, this much be even crazier.

[@ThatZenkiS14]

we had a dome in little rock ar it was sooo cool they closed it and it had a clause that no one could ever used that property for that again.

[@infinitytec]

I love that fulldome content is getting the love it deserves.

[@jacobhauenstein]

This is incredible because it represents the beginning of new era. Can't wait to see it in person

[@CharlesVanNoland]

If Christopher Nolan isn't drooling at the thought of making a film for the Sphere...

[@vgmaster9]

Would love to see a premium theater devoted to this format.

[@JPumpkinKing]

Saw "Postcard.." last week. ABSOLUTELY AMAZING! Totally worth the price. Incredible technology and visually stunning.

[@bowlingguy7755]

May I ask what you paid for a ticket and how easy it was to buy/order one?

[@THE-X-Force]

How much was it? And do you think seating matters much? I mean .. center, right, left, forward, rear, etc.?

[@bidyo1365]

how muuchh!! we wanna know!!!

[@ezra_samayoa1]

@@THE-X-Force Live here in Vegas and have gone to go see it. I am lucky enough to be able to go whenever the tickets are at their lowest due to living here so I paid $50 dollars which was a great deal. The show itself is around 50 minutes to an hour in length so not a very long showing but still amazing for what it is. That being said, most tickets are around 150 when I was checking for good times and good days. We went on a Sunday night at 9:30pm and that is how we got the cheaper tickets. We sat in section 204. From what I hear, the 200s and the 300s are the best sections to be in. We sat toward the left side and did not feel like sitting in the middle would have been that much better. The screen is massive and you don’t really remember where you are sitting. Hope that helps

[@THE-X-Force]

​@@ezra_samayoa1 Wow .. that was very kind of you to write all of that up .. I Genuinely appreciate it! and I'm sure I'm not the only one. Thank you! ☮

[@jamesCamali]

I would love to see some sort of ground-level macro shot with this camera. Like the feeling of being a bug in a blade of grass.

[@ericsalidbar1693]

Oculus has something like this in the meta app. They have showings of some History channel like videos it's pretty cool. It's the meta verse museum where you can watch with other ppl around the world who also own the oculus quest headset.

[@ericsalidbar1693]

Although I'd rather go see it in person in this thunderdome

[@christopher1791]

Dude this thing is so impressive and technologically advanced!!

[@SethMethCS]

The sphere should digitize the 15/70 Oppenheimer film print in 30k res. because they can show the full detail of the film print on the screen without projecting it. Digitize the frames in 30k res. Instead of 18 - 20k to futureproof the digitization effort.

[@HalianTheProtogen]

Unfortunately, film IMAX (15/70) is “only” 18k. :P

[@happytrailsgaming]

That vr set up to see how it would look and it’s live is crazzzzy

[@cexeodus]

Im glad they worked so hard on this, it really has upped the bar

[@godfreykafaru3249]

WOW! This feels like a time traveler from the future, giving us a glimpse of futuristic cinema experience.

[@suddhojitgon5929]

Great job done!!!!

[@8KHDRVideoBySittipong]

Amazing camera technology.

[@user-no8yp6ev3x]

Me and Hubby just got back from Vegas visiting the Sphere....Great experience....go if you can!!!! You will not be disappointed!!!!

[@SanghoBose5]

Thank you for making the video.

[@mortalens]

so you’re not gonna tell us the sensor size, lens focal length, aperture, or effective field of view? thanks!

[@vishakhabanerjee4424]

🎯 Key Takeaways for quick navigation: 00:32 The *Sphere in Las Vegas features the world's largest high-definition screen at 160,000 square feet, designed for immersive experiences.* 01:01 To *shoot exclusive content for The Sphere, a unique big sky camera system was created, overcoming challenges of combining views from 11 cameras.* 01:58 The *big sky camera uses a giant fisheye lens for a super-wide angle and a larger sensor to capture more light and detail, crucial for the massive screen.* 03:26 Testing *involves using a VR headset to ensure a natural view, and a quarter-sized prototype dome for a preview of how footage will look on The Sphere.* 04:22 The *Sphere's 16K by 16K resolution screen is created by 170 million LEDs, providing an immersive experience with vibrant visuals and sound.* 05:22 The *$2.3 billion venue includes physical effects like temperature changes and vibrating seats, emphasizing the importance of careful shooting with the high-definition camera.* 06:44 Future *plans include taking the big sky camera system to the International Space Station for realistic spacewalk experiences, exploring scientific uses of the technology.*

[@okaformichael383]

Wow. The Sphere is awesome.

[@thetrends5670]

What about the screen on the outer side of Sphere, are those separate screens or are the pixels have both front and back sides?

[@returntozero2112]

I read somewhere (source evades me at the moment) that each pixel on the outside of Sphere is the size of a hockey puck. I don't remember how many of them they said there are. It is possible, though I don't think I am, that I am incorrect.

[@arothmanmusic]

It's a separate screen - there's a roof in between, after all. The outer screen has more 'area' because it covers the complete exterior, but it's lower resolution with larger lights.

[@wyattbrunner8208]

theres a diagram at 0:23, the outside and inside display are separate

[@BreadOnAStick]

Yes they are entirely different from the ones on the inside. Here is the outside up close: supercarblondie.com/wp-content/uploads/las-vegas-sphere-led-lights-03.jpg and: i.insider.com/651d7d8a2ce014759e748641?width=700

[@TheJollyGreen]

Shout out to the Omni theater at Boston Museum of science! Wasn't as big as this larry but was fun, I got memories back at least 30 years. The intro before the showing was great, voiced by the legendary Leonard Nimoy who "grew up a few blocks from here." Hahahaha, close your eyes and turn your head yo. Where the musical stairs at?!?!?!?!

[@SethMethCS]

How many rackmount LED display drivers are being used and what is the expected lifespan of the different components in the system?

[@ilaion11]

Actually those tiny LEDs have a really long lifespan because they are not OLEDs, they don't develop burn in and they can get extremely bright, like 1000 candels per square meter or more.

[@edwardolaie]

incredible

[@pawelpixel5313]

Surreal that such a place exists

[@SyeilendraPramuditya]

Great engineering here

[@alberteinsteinthejew]

Super awesome, even the aliens go 😱

[@GothGuy885]

this is just amazing! Like WOW!!! 😀👍👍👍👍👍👍

[@SolaceEasy]

I was in Las Vegas in August and The Sphere is weird as $π!+.

[@nataromualdo]

Incredible explanation! Thanks! I still have questions about how the outside of the sphere works? Are these the same LED panels that are inside? How does it work in case of rain, lightning and dust and dirt that accumulate over time? Hugs from Brazil!

[@YabaDABonThem]

they use a different kind of panel outside with a significantly lower pixel density; you can google "sphere outside close up" to see it.

[@astefanlopez]

They aren't the same as the LED from the inside screen. The outside screen is made up of LED the size of a baseball ⚾️.

[@THE-X-Force]

@@astefanlopez Still though .. how do they clean it?

[@joeygil-hz9kv]

@@THE-X-Forcethey probably don’t

[@THE-X-Force]

@@joeygil-hz9kv Ahh .. so just like my TV then ..

[@Coolguy_2491]

this makes me want to go to las vegas

[@briankivuti]

So cool.

[@yecto1332]

Watching adult movie in this will be something tho 😂😂😂

[@liam3743]

10 Reds strapped together is just a flex of money 😂

[@ngroy8636]

How long does the leds last before decaying. And does the uneven heating, uv explosure makes one localized area dimmer than others. Additionally, how often does the sphere need to be washed and dedust

[@Ilovecruise]

Pretty the same as other led billboard I guess?

[@HeroesReforged]

Unreal.

[@Darren...son4634]

Brilliant

[@portalpvp5031]

5:17 lol good vid

[@Settiis]

I would really love to experience the spehere. Sadly Las Vegas is a long way away from the northern Europe.

[@M3Busssin]

People hate the sphere I cannot understand why…they complain “wahhh it’s just a screen”, willfully ignorant, this is an amazing technological marvel. The ILLUSION of BEING THERE(wherever the shot being shown is) is crazy

[@DjRjSolarStar]

I should note that this isn't new, Vancouver, BC had a system called the 'Omnimax' back in the mid 2000's that I went to view a nature movie in. Spectacular, but this Sphere takes it to a whole new level.

[@sto2779]

I agree, in time square in NYC uses the same tech, fat large array of LEDs to make a screen. The only nice thing about the sphere is that it's shaped like a sphere, its massive and 3D spatial sound. It's like the sound directly hitting towards your face from the source.

[@CheapSushi]

Is the pixel density the same though?@@sto2779

[@curtisbme]

lol, mid 2000's? Youngin', IMAX's first permanent dome installation was 1973. But trying to compare anything that has come before to this is silly. Like comparing a small satellite to the space station.

[@g1expert102]

What kind of system do they use to output 16K video on a screen that massive That must be a very good system

[@Ricardo-fv2qi]

Why no one ever told me Darren Aronofski looks so much like Steve Jobs? Like it’s uncanny.

[@unrellated]

Here's a question. Is the angle so wide that if two of the cameras were placed side by side in the same orientation, would they be able to see each other? Because there's a type of 3D glasses that use LCD shutters, and they can work on any screen with a high enough frame rate.

[@jesuszafra1343]

Apple Vision Pro should support these formats on AppleTV+.

[@Sergiokay26]

One question? Is this the first large format digital camera?

[@bernstock]

That lens!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[@pihermoso11]

Back in the 80s we had the Planetarium

[@SVENY]

we arw watching the birth of a new movie medium! i’m very excited to get something this cool while i’m alive, I missed out on Polyvision, Cinemascope, Cinerama, etc.

[@lucysphotosfromar]

I started out with Black & Wh movies and remember when my parents took me to the first color movie and then the first Cinerama a extra wide screen in vivid color and a newish theater on Lincoln Blvd just south of Santa Monica. Wow, of course, it was a Western. I loved the scenery in those movies. And there were no fleas in the theater like the one at the beach and the three downtown S.M. (1950 ish). This looks magical.

[@SVENY]

@@lucysphotosfromar that's fascinating! I missed it because I'm only 20 years old, so it's interesting to actually find someone who witnessed Cinerama for real! I've watched cinerama but digitalised on TV, I always found it interesting how the format looks, and how it looks like 3 films stitched together (which they are). It's fascinating stuff. I can't imagine how it was to sync all the projectors together back then.

[@glorious_help]

impressive

[@shanmantv]

I personally think this is the future of cinema

[@Hobbes4ever]

so its just like a very large fisheye lens

[@mynameisesteves]

The lens reminds me of the ultra rare Nikon Fisheye. Very cool

[@user-uw1wq9rj8g]

this documentary is really amazing, it answers all the questions inside my head about how the viral "sphere" works

[@naufalam7840]

Is it still mp4?

[@SimplestUsername]

"this is how a camera with a flat lens and small sensor looks" They really should have had their photog proof read this script...

[@barrysmit5181]

are the same LEDs in the inside of the sphere the ones we see on the outside?m Or is that a complete different setup ?

[@abdullahemad9457]

diffrerent

[@kutter_ttl6786]

If you look at 0:27, you'll see that the inner screen is different from the outer. There's a noticeable gap between the two.

[@Dyl_Cam]

I want that fisheye, looks like a gigantic Century Optics .3x lense

[@___xyz___]

The real question is how they seemingly solved the physical problem of lens distortions on such short notice.

[@TheXshot]

If you know the dimensions of the final screen, it's not that difficult.

[@interestings7866]

There really would not be any Lens distortion because the screen is a dome, on a flat screen the footage is super distorted and I’m assuming the multiple reds facing each way makes all the edge distortion go away

[@9thstreet]

I love the sectional view ~30 seconds in, I think that's the first thing I've seen (having not actually been inside it yet) that really conveys the size of the thing on the inside. It's a bit TARDIS-y

[@jackdolah2031]

Christopher Nolan should see this and make movies with this camera!! Imagine watching Oppenheimer in sphere

[@mattroyle1087]

They oughta make those handrails out of Plexi clear material, probably not code tho ..

[@user-ob5rg6ne6l]

You are being watched; WORLD 🗺.

[@SHDEdits]

2:06 WHAT THIS IS INSANE

[@noteda6361]

😂

[@matiasperez8924]

"We are not outside" "yeah I know😒"

[@Johanneslol11]

This looks sooooooo cool this is the only reason why I would want to go to America lol

[@the-secrettutorials]

I challenge you to make a probe lens with a wide angle to show an ants POV 🤩

[@busti4552]

Why did they have to explain pixels to us?

[@BibhatsuKuiri]

Great. Now just imagine. ... Avengers endgame in the screen. 🔥🔥

[@TroyRubert]

That's right, it fits in the square hole.

[@Waltaere]

WSJ 😃

[@matiakd]

Did bro just say “the circle fits in the square perfectly”? 😂

[@JoraulStreams]

That’s right! The square hole!

[@jarcdday]

and here you all are, thinking you can see a 100 megapixel photo on your 1000 $ cellphone xD

[@drewdonnelly98]

The Franklin Institute did this years ago spherical screen vibrating seats immersive yeah

[@holzwurm_hd7029]

I want to play Cyberpunk on that thing.

[@GamingKing545]

you would need all the quadros in the world

[@pauldannelachica2388]

❤❤❤

[@Dreddwinner]

❤

[@hellaocd]

That lens was made for skateboarding if anything

[@KingAlphaOmega]

My friend living in las vegas says he hates this thing its like giving him freaks 😂

[@johnnychang4233]

16K times 16K is 256 Megapixel.

[@ericsalidbar1693]

A space walk that is actually realistic keywords "actually realistic" meaning it's not realistic but it will seem like it.

[@codacoder]

It would be cool to point the fisheye camera at the night sky while the ISS passes, and maybe catch a meteor

[@audiogek]

Okay, but I want to know how they are able to record 18k footage.

[@UncleFjester]

Can I Skydive with this Camera?

[@abbeysekamatte8289]

They "one upped" Dubai !

[@pedroesteves3018]

dont show this camera to Nolan 😂

[@burtan2000]

What about the exterior? I know it's not as high res, it doesn't have wind, smells and sound coming at you through the image, but it still looks super cool. Is it just like a better version of the large video panel systems they have at sporting arenas? But on a sphere? It's really more of a 12,480-sided thing. I assume. Like there are flat panels everywhere, but they're small.

[@ifb6368]

On the outside there aren't any panels, just many single big (palm sized) LEDs. Then the whole outside is a spherical frame, with those circular LEDs attached to it.

[@carchang4843]

I'm honestly surprised it's pixel density is that bad. Only 16k pixels by 16k pixels in such an enormous theater is really tiny. And then she said your iPhone has 2k by 1k and it fits in your hand. So just 16 iPhone stacked side by side would have more pixels than that the biggest screen in the world

[@simonteng5096]

Nikon 6mm f/2.8

[@lakshmivarun]

1:38 is ellora caves from india

[@slevinshafel9395]

insta360 have it in pocket why you made it so dificult? just improve insta360 for high bitrate and 4K

[@TechnoBabble]

It's really amazing to me when people with no knowledge on a subject assume that people who are experts in it don't know what they're doing and that the "simple" solution they've come up with in their head is obviously better than the way it's actually being done.

[@pld4365]

I like the irony of building a big polluting sphere in an already atrocious city to show the nature that kind of construction is detroying

[@volpedo2000]

“Room for cream?”

[@ravishir7440]

Must need dome like set-up to edit ....😂

[@slevinshafel9395]

4:17 Imagine that led with mniled or microLED instead of normal led. will be 12K or 60K hahaha

[@bazsi_hun]

if it had a normal pixel density (100 ppi), it would have a total of 2,304,000,000 pixels. or, a resolution of 144k by 144k

[@auro1986]

why video playing on screen when seats are empty?

[@johan.mp4]

Because WSJ were filming. Would look very boring without the video, wouldn't it?