360 rumors

Kodak's highly anticipated Orbit360 camera has still not been released in the US.  However, it was released in Japan back in May , and predictably, resellers are now selling it on eBay . The retail price of the Orbit is 59,500 JPY ($532 USD), so the eBay prices have a little bit of a premium, which is not unexpected given eBay's fees. Meanwhile, a sample non-360 video from the Orbit360 has been posted.  One of the unique features of the Orbit360 is that it has asymmetric lenses that allow it to function as three types of cameras: an ultrawide 197-degree, an ultrawide 235-degree, or a fully spherical 360 degree camera.  Although other fully spherical 360 cameras can be cropped to achieve a similar effect,  their resolution will be significantly lower if cropped to the same field of view as an action camera. The Orbit360's ultrawide 197-degree lens, however, captures 4K video.  It can therefore offer the same 4K video resolution as GoPro   or other ...

Here are hands-on impressions of the Moza WK , the world's first wearable 360 gimbal, and the most compact gimbal available for 360 cameras. The Moza WK is an accessory for the Moza Mini series of gimbals, which includes the Guru 360 gimbal for 360 cameras, the Mini-C gimbal for smartphones, and the Mini-G gimbal for GoPro cameras.  The Moza WK allows you to mount the head of any of the Moza Mini gimbals in a very compact and wearable base. The WK base has its own battery but can also be powered by USB.  It has a 1/4-20 tripod mount at the bottom, but the kit includes a 1/4-20 to GoPro adapter to use it with the many action mounts available. USING THE WK To use the WK, you simply unscrew the handle from your Moza gimbal and attach the head to the WK base.  No tools needed!  Using the WK is just as easy.  To turn on the WK, you simply hold down its power button.  That's all. By default, it will startup in all-lock mode which maintains the camera's direction ...

I got an inexpensive third person view mount / harness from eBay  for GoPro, action cameras, and 360 cameras.  Here's a sample 360 video from this mount.  UPDATE: found on Amazon a nearly identical mount . Here's how the backpack mount looks: The harness has clamps that you can use to configure the two included pipes and elbow to choose an angle for the camera.  It uses a GoPro style adapter, so you may need a GoPro to 1/4-20 adapter. For this sample video I used the Xiaomi Mi Sphere yet again because it's lightweight and stabilized.  Here's the video: I would say the harness did its job and I like that you can position the camera in many ways.  The issue is that when walking, the camera will move side to side.  Fortunately, the Xiaomi Mi Sphere's stabilization keeps the horizon level.  Without stabilization, I imagine it would be difficult to watch.  The mount is much smoother for videos while riding a bike, or other wheeled vehicle as you ...

Here is a full review of the Xiaomi Mijia Mi Sphere 360 camera, which has become one of my favorite 360 cameras for its excellent image quality and incredible image stabilization. EXECUTIVE SUMMARY The Xiaomi Mi Sphere is an excellent 360 camera that has the highest image quality for both photos and videos among cameras around $350 or less (for photo quality, I would say there is no better 360 camera unless you are willing to buy a Panono).  On top of that, its image stabilization really works, and it works very well.  On the other hand, the Mi Sphere has significant drawbacks that you should review before buying it. Here is the video review: WHAT'S IN THE BOX The Xiaomi Mi Sphere includes: - the camera - a mini tripod / handle - a Micro USB cable - a water resistant pouch The Xiaomi is very well made, with a sleek matte black outer finish with hidden LED indicators (like the Theta).  The frame is metal, which makes the Xiaomi feel solid but also helps to radiate heat (...

GoPro has posted sample 360 videos from their Fusion camera but now there are sample videos from press who got to try out the Fusion. Here are videos posted by Raymond Wong .  It's a playlist so you can select the video you want to see. Some observations: Stitching is generally excellent.  Subjects passed over the stitch line in several videos without a noticeable stitching even though they were somewhat close. Stabilization looks very effective and I didn't see any blur that you sometimes see from gyro-based stabilization.  I'm wondering if the videos were using software stabilization from Kolor Autopano Video (Kolor is now owned by GoPro). The video quality itself was sometimes not as detailed as I would have expected from a 5.2K video.  At times, it seemed to be less detailed than the video from the Xiaomi Mi Sphere . The GoPro Fusion looks interesting and I will definitely be on the lookout for more information about it.

image credit: AOL GoPro has finally revealed the Fusion.  Here are my observations and the 7 features that I predict for it.  (Image credit for all photos: AOL) GoPro announced the Fusion about two months ago.  It generated a lot of excitement because of its 5.2K resolution and the spectacular stitching in the sample videos.  GoPro said the Fusion will be available in a "limited commercial release" by then.  Here again is the sample video: However, since then, Garmin has announced the Virb 360 and retailers have already begun to ship them.  Perhaps feeling the heat, GoPro has now shown the Fusion. Based on its appearance, here are the features I predict for it. 1. OPTICAL FLOW STITCHING VIA DESKTOP The Fusion's body looks about as thick as the GoPro Hero cameras.  Among 360 cameras, that would be similar in thickness to the Yi 360 VR, and thinner than the Garmin Virb 360, two other high-resolution 360 video cameras that it is competing with.   For...

The Garmin Virb 360 , Garmin's 5.7K 360 camera, is due to be released within the next couple of weeks.  It is quite expensive at $799 but it is the most feature-rich 360 camera I've seen for consumers.  You may already know that it is waterproof, has gimbal-like image stabilization (spherical stabilization) , 360 surround sound, and voice control for hands-free operation.  Here are  10 other cool features of the Virb 360 that you might not know about (in no particular order). 1.  Remote wake up. The Virb 360 is one of the few 360 cameras that can be remotely turned on from standby (two others are LG 360 Cam and Nikon Keymission 360).  Let's say you are recording a long event and you only want to capture the highlights. With this feature, the Virb can remain off while you wait for the action from a distance.  When the moment comes, you can turn on your Virb remotely to begin recording. This feature does sip the battery on standby, which is wh...

Check out this stabilized 360 video using a third person view mount that is hands-free and makes the camera invisible! To create this video, I created a hands-free third person view mount.  I used the following: 1. a slim 360 camera.  In this case the Xiaomi Mi Sphere , which I chose because it is lightweight and has image stabilization .  It might also work with the Insta360 Air (Type C or Micro USB ), Insta360 Nano , or Garmin Virb 360 , all of which also have stabilization but they're heavier (in the case of the Air and Nano, you need to attach your phone as well).  It might also work with the wearable kit from GimbalGuru .  You need to consider that if they're at the end of a selfie stick, they will feel even heavier. 2. a selfie stick that is invisible even to a slim 360 camera.  In this case, I used a Benro MK10 because it is stiffer than my other selfie sticks, and because the handle is heavier than average, allowing it to act like a counterweight ...

The new Garmin Virb 360 is now available for preorder on Amazon or B&H Photo .  But before you preorder it, here are some things you ought to know: 1.  You can only get 5.7K video if you stitch the video with expensive third party desktop software such as Autopano or Video Stitch.  (According to DC Rainmaker, the Virb 360's desktop software, Virb Edit, will be updated "in the near future" to allow stitching of the 5.7K files.) Regardless of whether you use third party software or a future version of Virb Edit, stitching 5.7K is a time-consuming process.  Stitching 5.7K video will take a while, depending on your desktop processor and your RAM (expect it to take hours for around 30 minutes of footage). 2. Since Virb has no desktop software for stitching 5.7K video yet, the buttery smooth stitching you see in Garmin's 5.7K videos appear to be stitched using third party apps.  There's no guarantee that you can get that same quality of stitching if ever Virb Edi...

Garmin has launched the Virb 360 and features stabilization, in-camera stitching, and more, exactly as I predicted ! Key features: - 5.7K video - 15mp photo --> new info - waterproof to 10 meters - 4K video with stabilization - 4K in-camera stitching - voice command --> new info - 360 audio - live streaming and video sharing - G-Metrix overlay - can use Bluetooth microphone as external microphone --> new info - can record nonstop for an 1 hour --> new info - replaceable lens Full specifications here .  In short, the features are as I stated, including the features I predicted ! :D Strangely, the live streaming only works on iOS products, and only at a paltry 1280 x 720, to either Facebook or YouTube. The Price: $799.   Available for preorder here .   Here are some caveats before you preorder.  (Yes I am definitely ordering this.) Here is the promo video: Here are more product videos: Here is a 360 video: Here is the stitch line - ridiculously smooth, if ...

Gearbest has a flash sale with discounts on a couple of VR headsets and some action cameras that can be used for 360 camera rigs. HIGH RESOLUTION VR HEADSET: PIMAX 4K Pimax's 4K VR headset is a desktop VR headset with a 4K (3840 x 1920) screen.  The per-eye resolution is 1920 x 1920, which is significantly higher than that of the HTC Vive or Rift (1080 x 1200).  Upload VR tried it and they said that it was crisper than anything they had seen .   Pimax 4K is on sale at GearBest for $375  with free shipping. HOMAGE TO GOOGLE DAYDREAM: MI PLAY 2 Xiaomi's Mi Play 2 is a Google Cardboard viewer based on the design of the Google Daydream headset (but I don't have anything to indicate that it is an actual Daydream headset with NFC codes etc.).  It fits phones with screens from 4.7 to 5.7 inches.  It looks like a comfortable Cardboard viewer.   It's on sale for $23.99  with free shipping to the US. 4K ACTION CAMERAS ON SALE There are several 4K action cam...

Xiaomi updated their app to fix a few things, including enabling users to export gyro-stabilized 360 videos from the Mi Sphere 360 camera!  Check out the video! I've had the Xiaomi Mijia Mi Sphere 3.5K and the camera itself is amazing.  The photo and video quality are impressive ( see here for photo comparison , and see here for video comparison ). The only problem was the Mi Sphere's app.  The Mi Sphere app can connect to the Mi Sphere easily and I can control the camera, see the live preview, etc.   The issue is the stitching and export of videos .  In short, I wasn't able to export stabilized 360 video on previous versions of the Mi Sphere app. On an iPhone 6 and SE, it seemed that export resolution was limited to 2304 x 1152.  On my Samsung S6, I could only get 1920 x 960.  On my Samsung S8+, I could get the full resolution, but only by using their video editor, which was limited to 5 minutes. I also noticed that there was image stabilization , but...