360 rumors

My friend Ben Claremont (Life in 360) just posted a review and tutorial for the 2017 Samsung Gear 360.  His video demonstrates the Gear 360's resistance to overheating (in cool weather), but points out the Gear 360's flawed video stitching. As Ben mentioned, the 2017 Gear 360 has a strange video stitching issue.  Briefly, the stitching will warp if anything crosses the stitch line close to the camera (if they cross far from the camera, it doesn't seem to warp).   It happens with both recorded and live video.  Whether this is a problem depends on individual users' preferences, but as Ben said, it's less noticeable when you're moving.  (Note also that this issue does not affect the original Gear 360). As for live streaming, it worked flawlessly with my Samsung S8 plus: I haven't been able to test it on my Samsung S6 because mine's stuck on Android 6 (I bought it used and it had a bad IMEI). Personally, I think the 2017 Gear 360 is a pretty good camera but...

All the attention right now is on the 2017 Samsung Gear 360, but there's a less known 360 camera that may actually be better, for about the same price -- the Xiaomi Mi Sphere 360 camera.  In this post, I compare photos and videos from the two cameras, as well as describe the workflow for the Xiaomi to help you decide if the Xiaomi is better for your needs. Here is a video comparing the two cameras: PHOTOS Here are sample photos from the Xiaomi, including a comparison photo with the 2017 Gear 360. Here are my observations: 1.  The Xiaomi has much more detail .  This is not surprising because the Xiaomi's photo resolution is significantly higher (6912 x 3456) compared to the Gear 360 (5472 x 2736). 2.  In shadow areas, the Xiaomi has an even bigger advantage.  The Xiaomi retains detail in shadow areas , whereas the Gear 360 has much less detail in the shadows.  The Gear 360 also has much more noticeable chroma noise in shadows. 3.  The Xiaomi has almost ...

My friend Ben Claremont (Life in 360) compared the 2017 Samsung Gear 360 with the original Gear 360.  Check out his comparison! Ben is a preeminent 360 shooter, one of the first to be recognized for tiny planet photos and videos.  He has been shooting with 360 since 2015 and knows his 360 gear, as it were.  He got the 2017 Gear 360 last week and has been testing it.  Here is his comparison between the 2017 Gear 360 and the original Gear 360: I agree with Ben's findings.   You can check out my comparison between the 2017 Gear 360 and original Gear 360 here .   I also have an updated comparison here (comparing the original files) .  I will also be working on the mega-comparison (with twelve 360 cameras) as soon as I get the Xiaomi Mijia Sphere 360 (which should be arriving this week). In the meantime, if you want to get the 2017 Gear 360, it's available here: - Amazon - B&H Photo - eBay The original Gear 360 is available below and can be found below...

How does the 2017 Samsung Gear 360 compare against last year's video quality champ?  Check out these comparison videos. Last year, I found that the Kodak SP360 4k Dual Pro had the best video quality among consumer 360 cameras.  I thought it would be interesting to compare the 2017 Gear 360 against the SP360 4K Dual Pro.  Here's a playlist with a sample from the SP360 4K Dual Pro and another sample from 2017 Gear 360. Here are screenshots (the bluish one is the SP360 4K). For near objects, the SP360 4K Dual Pro was sharper and more detailed. SP360 4K Dual Pro 2017 Gear 360 For distant objects, the SP360 was also more detailed.  In the SP360 sample below, you can see the texture of the far wall. On the 2017 Gear 360, the texture on the wall is not visible. On the other hand, the stitching on the Gear 360 is far superior: SP360 4K Dual Pro stitching 2017 Gear 360 stitching In summary, the Kodak SP360 4k Dual Pro appears to be sharper and more detailed than the 2017 Gear...

The Mac desktop stitching software for the 2017 Samsung Gear 360 is now available! Here is the link to the Mac software . Here are the requirements for the software . I don't know yet if the 2017 stitching software can also stitch photos and videos of the original Gear 360. Samsung also posted the requirements for the PC version of the desktop software (Gear 360 Action Director 2).  In case you missed it, the link to the new Action Director software is here .  The new software can work with both the original and the new Gear 360.  The software can be activated with either the original Gear 360 or the 2017 Gear 360's serial number. Meanwhile the 2017 Gear 360 is still pretty hard to find outside of Korea and parts of Europe.  However, you can buy it on eBay where reseller prices have dropped to as low as $260 (just $10 more than the MSRP) . Thank you very much to Axel Baumann of  www.video-tv355.de for sharing this info!

Here is a 360 video comparison between five 360 cameras, by Aram Pan of plus720.com !  Here are the cameras Aram compared: - 2017 Samsung Gear 360 - Nikon Keymission 360 - Entaniya 280 on a GoPro Hero 4 Black - Giroptic 360Cam (their first camera, not the Giroptic iO) - Ricoh Theta SC Here is the video comparison: What do you think?  Let me know in the comments!  You can check out the cameras here: -  2017 Samsung Gear 360 -  Nikon Keymission 360 - Entaniya 280 on a  GoPro Hero 4 Black -  Giroptic 360Cam -  Ricoh Theta SC ABOUT ARAM PAN Aram Pan's YouTube channel is quite popular.  One of his past projects was a 360 video of North Korea (!).   Here is the story of his trip .  And here is his 360 video from North Korea  (captured with the Entaniya 280 + GoPro Hero 4 Black).  You can follow Aram's YouTube channel here .