Nikon is one of the world’s leading photography brands which every year attends Photokina in Germany. This is the world’s leading trade fair for photo and video. This year they wanted to promote their new KeyMission 360 camera. Showing the content at two VR cinemas on separate locations, running three full days.

Every year thousands of visitors travel to Germany to admire the latest technological advancements.  Getting as much people to view the content was one of the main goals. However, Nikon wanted to avoid having people stand in line and wait.  We had to manage the cinema’s efficiently, getting as much people through as possible.

The experience also  needed to be easy accessible and run continuously. Users should be able to walk up to a headset and undergo the experience. For obvious reasons the wanted to avoid using the Samsung Gear VR so there was also a hardware challenge involved.

Starting off with the hardware we looked at different combination of smartphones and headsets. Eventually settling on the Zeiss VR One and iPhones. Engineering two constructions where around 20 headsets could run constantly was a fun challenge. We tried different set-ups and finally setting on VR Sync in combination with VR headsets mounted to the ceiling.

On location we created two separate installations, one indoor and one in front of the expo. Both were manned by our technical staff and measures were taken to keep the devices charged and safe from theft. VR Sync was used to monitor the devices and start them in sync when enough people had entered the cinema. Being able control playback from a distance really made operating the cinema’s a breeze.

During the 3 day event hundreds of visitors experienced the awesome content of the KeyMission camera. With limited staff needed and most of the operation automated, costs were kept down. No significant issues were reported and Nikon had one of the best and memorable of their most important event of the year.