The wide Field Of View lenses for
Pimax Crystal are finally here! Recently, I received the pre-production samples and today, after a week of testing
I will give you my test results, impressions and thoughts on how high-end Virtual Reality
can further be enhanced by a wider FOV! Hi everyone and welcome
back, it's Martin from Pimax. The beauty of being a Pimax user is that
your headset is constantly getting better. The frequently released OTA updates
are meant to improve the experience, to fix potential bugs and issues
while also adding new features. In fact, many of these features have been requested
by the consumers themselves. For instance, not long ago, a 72Hz
option was added into the Pimax Crystal, in addition to the existing 90
and 120Hz modes already available. This was requested by the community and turned out to be a godsent feature for VR flight simulator fans. Meanwhile, the modularity of the Pimax Crystal also
allows for some new and exciting accessories. We have a new adjustable strap which I
covered in a previous video, by the way. This new accessory can greatly improve
the wearing comfort and weight balance of your Pimax Crystal – and it’s now
available to order from the Pimax Store. The latest addition to the lineup - and maybe
the most awaited one - is a new set of Aspheric glass lenses that are custom designed and developed
to further increase the maximum achievable field of view of Crystal,
without compromising image quality. But why, you may ask. Well, we all know that Pimax
is, and always has been, a big fan of wide field of view in
Virtual Reality, with the previous generations of Pimax headsets, such as
the 8KX reached ultrawide FOV levels. Innovating and breaking the limits
of what’s physically possible is kind of what Pimax is known for, as a brand. Having said that, with the latest flagship headset
being released, the Pimax Crystal, a transition had to be made from plastic Fresnel lenses to
Aspheric glass lenses, for many obvious reasons. Not only are the glass lenses sharper, but they provide a much bigger sweet-spot.
They also have edge-to-edge clarity, no distortions, they are scratch-free
and completely free from glare and God-rays. This, combined with higher-than-4K-resolution displays, has made Crystal the VR headset
with the highest possible image quality. The optical properties of these unique glass lenses
allow for amazing sharpness and clarity, but one compromise had to be made
- and that was the field of view. The Pimax Crystal is currently bundled
with the 35 PPD Aspheric glass lenses, in other words lenses that introduces an optical
pixel density, or a pixel-per-degree value, of 35. Today, this is market-leading among
VR headsets for home consumers. Using the included 35 PPD lenses, the
horizontal field of view of Crystal is usually somewhere in between 100
and 104 degrees, horizontally. On the vertical plane, the FOV is
often around 98 to 100 degrees. The reported FOV numbers from Crystal users around
the world may vary a bit, because of multiple factors. First off, the procedure to determine the exact FOV
is difficult, even if there are a few 3rd party tools made for that, such as the pay-ware utility TestHMD,
or the older Real O Virtual test application available to download for free among
other SteamVR home environments. Secondly, the FOV can differ
depending on the IPD value set, or the Interpupillary distance which is the distance
between the center points of your eyes. Other personal factors such as face
shape, eye position or eye depth must also be considered and can lead
to variations in FOV between individuals. So, if I tell you that my FOV with the
Pimax Crystal’s bundled 35 PPD lenses is measured to be 100 degrees horizontally
and roughly 98 degrees vertically, you could use it as a guideline, but not
as a statement or the official specification. Now, around a hundred degrees FOV horizontally
is still wider than what the average VR headset can offer today and I agree its fully
enough to immerse you in the VR world. But what if you could extend that field of view with
additional 10 or-so degrees horizontally? Well, that’s what the new
wide-FOV lenses were made for. According to my measurements with the TestHMD
application, while my vertical FOV stays the same, the new lenses allow me for 112 degrees FOV
on the horizontal plane, which is exactly 12 degrees more. It may not sound a lot,
but trust me, it is very noticeable while in VR. In fact, it makes Pimax Crystal wider
than Valve Index, Quest 3 and Varjo Aero. While flying in VR flight simulators, driving
in racing simulators or maybe just playing some random VR game, a wider FOV will always help to
immerse you. Even with small FOV increasements. It will enhance your awareness in fast-pacing games,
as well as increase the sense of speed, especially in flying and racing games,
because more of the peripheral view is seen. A wider FOV is always better, and those
12-or so extra degrees of FOV, with the new Crystal lenses, can make a significant
improvement to your overall VR experience. Obviously, when using these lenses,
the VR view is not just horizontally stretched by the optics, which would of
course look terribly distorted and bad. The rendered image in the headset is in fact
automatically adapted and adjusted in the rendering pipeline. This is matching the new
lenses, by rendering a wider FOV onto the panels. Also, a different distortion profile was
specifically made for this type of lens. But how is that even possible, you may ask. As I said last time in my previous video,
when I went deep into the Pimax Crystal optics, each lens module has a few physical
connectors on the lens-frame which it communicates through with the headset. This means that when you switch the lenses
from 35 PPD to the new wide FOV lenses, the Pimax software will instantly
detect what kind of lenses are attached and thereby apply a specific distortion
profile matching the optical properties. This ensures that you see an image with no
distortions and no other optical flaws, but with a wider field of view. The wide FOV lenses adds no further
distortions or any other optical flaws. The optical properties are exactly the same as
with the 35 PPD lenses, with perfect clarity, same brightness levels, an image free of
God-rays or glare in high-contrast scenes, as well as minimal Chromatic Aberration. Please bare in mind that some of the
through-the-lens clips in this video were captured with 1080p action camera, mainly
to frame an ultra-wide angle through-the-lens. The image quality of these recordings does
not really make Crystal’s extreme clarity any justice - but at least it gives you an idea of
what to expect in terms of field of view increase. I assume any technical person out there, maybe
you, may wonder right now if the wide FOV lenses do impact - or somehow change - the pixel
density or the amount of pixels per degree? Well, it should I guess. To some extent. We haven’t got any official
statement from the engineers on the PPD achieved with the wide FOV lenses. But since the pixel density
is so high to begin with, at 35 PPD using the standard lenses,
I must say I can’t really tell any difference in terms of clarity or sharpness
switching to the new wide FOV lenses. The screen door effect is
still non-existing to me, and the image feels just as crisp and
pixel-free as with the standard lenses. And I guess you may wonder about
Tobii eye-tracking functionality, automatic IPD adjustment, the automatic
head position guidance and of course Dynamic Foveated Rendering. Which are some of
the key-features built-into the Pimax Crystal. Well yes, all these features work fine using the new wide FOV lenses, just like before.
The new set of lenses comes in a
nice Pimax box securely padded, making sure nothing goes wrong with
the glass elements during shipment. - Oh, I almost forgot. The procedure of switching
the lenses is basically a 3-minute effort. Simply because it’s a unique feature
of Pimax. Take off the face gasket, unscrew the tiny screw of each lens
frame and gently pull out the lens. Now, put in the new lens and tighten the screw
again. Then finally put back the face gasket and you are ready to go. Of course, the headset
will automatically handle the rest for you. For users wearing prescription glasses, it is highly recommended to use the 15mm face
foam together with those wide FOV lenses. This is because of the new lenses
and its frames being a bit thicker, causing a slightly shorter distance
between the lenses and your eyes. Although the standard 11mm face foam might work
as well, the 15mm foam will make sure you get additional space in-between for your prescription
glasses, making it a safer bet, I think. So, the most Crystal-clear
headset that Pimax has ever produced - now also allows
for a wider field of view! And who knows what’s next
to come from the creative engineering team that never stops innovating. As of today, there is no official
release date or price announced for the wide FOV lenses, but I
guess we will know very soon. In fact, some VR YouTubers have already tried out
and reviewed these pre-production samples of the wide FOV lenses, such as MRTV and VR Flight Sim
Guy. So, go check these out, if you still haven’t. I hope that you are now just as excited,
as I am, by these wide FOV lenses. Thank you for watching everyone
and see you in the next episode!
