Helix lenses apart

BURBANK, Calif.--If the folks at 3ality Technica have their way, no one will ever again get nauseated again watching a 3D movie. And with the company's latest gear, the Helix, that may well be true.

The new gear features what is almost certainly the most advanced beam splitter in the business, and one the company expects most major Hollywood 3D film projects -- as well as live concert films, 3D TV projects, and others -- to be using in the near future.

With the Helix, everything is robotically controlled, including its operating lenses. It mounts two cameras -- one facing down, another shooting through -- a configuration known as over-and-through. And though 3ality's previous rigs have also offered that configuration, none have offered filmmakers the level of automation that the Helix does.

Here, we see the Helix configured for a 3D shot with a fair amount of depth, because of the distance between the two lenses.