Minolta To Offer 3D 1500 Digital Camera

NEW YORK, May 25 - Minolta Corp. and MetaCreations Corp. on Tuesday unveiled a new camera and delivery system to allow online merchants to wow shoppers with three-dimensional pictures quickly and relatively inexpensively. Minolta licensed MetaCreation's technology, called MetaFlash, which captures and stores an image in three dimensions. Minolta said the camera, the 3D 1500 camera will be marketed to professional Web site designers. Eastman Kodak also licensed the technology for a similar camera, MetaCreations said.

From the camera, the images are downloaded to a computer, where they can be put together and manipulated for an e-commerce Web site. MetaCreations and Intel Corp. also developed MetaStream, which can send images over the Internet to just about any standard computer and connection. The shopper can then view the item from any angle.

MetaCreations said Microsoft also has licensed the software and will include it in its operating systems, allowing a user to view the three-dimensional objects without downloading MetaStream software first.