ZEISS Acquires Ncam Technologies Ltd – Expanding Tracking and Live VFX Capabilities

Industry News

by Jeff LochJuly 19^th, 2023

German lens manufacturer ZEISS has just announced that they acquired UK-based camera tracking pioneer Ncam Technologies Ltd. This acquisition means tracking data should soon be easier to use when shooting with ZEISS lenses, which will be helpful for Live VFX, virtual production, and postproduction applications. So let’s take a closer look at what this acquisition could mean for filmmakers’ future!

ZEISS is well-known amongst filmmakers and cinematographers for their state-of-the-art lenses. However, the company has been relatively quiet since adding four new lenses to their Supreme Prime Radiance lineup in 2021. Indeed, it takes time to develop high-quality lenses, and to this day, some classic lenses like the ZEISS CP.3 are still widely used.

Yet, it sounds like ZEISS is working on exciting projects behind the scenes, as they just announced the acquisition of Ncam Technologies Ltd, a British company specializing in camera tracking and real-time visual effects solutions.

Who is Ncam Technologies Ltd?

Ncam Technologies Ltd was founded in 2012 and spent much time in research and development to build a system called Ncam Reality. In a nutshell, the Ncam Reality system consists of a multi-sensor Mk2 Camera Bar that sits on your cinema camera rig. The Mk2 Camera Bar will analyze the scene in front of your cinema camera rig and transfer all the 3D data to the Ncam Reality software.

According to Ncam, you can “track any camera, with any lens, on any rig, in any environment, whether on LED stages or green screens, urban streets or football fields.” The Ncam Reality system was used on projects such as “Solo: A Star Wars Story,” Netflix’s “The Irregulars,” and many more feature films/live events.

ZEISS acquires Ncam Technologies Ltd

ZEISS recently acquired Ncam Technologies Ltd and mentions that “this technology is an excellent complement to ZEISS’ cinema product lineup, which includes Supreme Prime and Supreme Prime Radiance, Cinema Zoom, and CP.3 lenses as well as recently introduced lens data related services in the CinCraft ecosystem.”

Here is what ZEISS says about this acquisition:

Together, ZEISS and Ncam are aiming to deliver outstanding, easy to use tracking and VFX solutions for professional production workflows.
“We are happy to be combining Ncam’s unique tracking technology with ZEISS’ longstanding expertise in cinema lenses, lens data and the cinema market,” says Christophe Casenave, responsible for the cine portfolio at ZEISS, adding, “This enables us to think beyond current camera tracking capabilities to offer innovative solutions especially for visual effects, virtual production and other applications.”
Brice Michoud, Head of Research and Development at Ncam adds, “The team is excited to be working together with our new colleagues at ZEISS on the next step in camera tracking technology and making it available to more users than ever before.”
ZEISS plans to ensure that every new feature and improvement brought to the technology will also benefit existing Ncam users and will offer a compelling upgrade program. A first product announcement will follow later this summer.

ZEISS

The Ncam Reality system was already compatible with all smart lens systems, including the ZEISS eXtended data, Cooke /I, and ARRI LDS. This integration between ZEISS and Ncam Technologies Ltd products should be pretty seamless, and I can’t wait to see what both companies are working on.

What do you think about this acquisition by ZEISS? Did you already shoot mixed reality content? Do you think it is the future of filmmaking? Don’t hesitate to share your thoughts in the comments down below!