360 rumors

Ben Claremont (Life in 360) compares seven 360 cameras for their low light performance!  Which cameras came out on top?  The answer will surprise you! Here's the video: Spoiler alert below ! . . . . . In my own testing, I found similar results as Ben did, although I would have a different ranking for these same cameras. For me, the Insta360 Air  ( reviewed here ) and Insta360 Nano are pretty good for low light because even though they have quite a lot of noise, there seems to be more detail in the shadows in low light.  Check out this sample . The Xiaomi Mijia MI SPHERE ( reviewed here ) did well because it uses Sony IMX206 sensors which are backside illuminated (BSI) CMOS sensors, which means the wiring for the sensors is behind the photodiodes, allowing more light to reach the photodiodes.   However, the contrast curve for the Xiaomi seems a bit aggressive, so it looks good with the highlights and midtones but the shadow areas in low light are almost totall...

Here is a brief tutorial on a few ways to avoid shaking in your tiny planet videos. Here's the video: To recap, stabilization isn't just for spherical videos.  It's also very useful for tiny planet videos.  Indeed, any shaking tends to get exaggerated in tiny planet videos, so even though the shaking is not going to cause any nausea, stabilization is critical for tiny planet videos.  There are three ways to stabilize the video to avoid shaking: OPTION 1 . Use a stabilized gimbal. Gimbals tend to have the most stability among the three methods.  Another advantage is that a single gimbal can often be used to stabilize any of your 360 cameras, or even your smartphone. The two most affordable gimbals for 360 cameras are: Guru 360 ($299): https://goo.gl/vMCD8l Feiyu G360 ($349 or $359 with extension handle): http://amzn.to/2rWF6Ia OPTION 2 : stabilized 360 camera. A few cameras have gyro-based stabilization: the Insta360 Air, Insta360 Nano, Xiaomi Mi Sphere, and Garmin Vi...

Insta360 had a big presence at NAB Show 2017.  I checked out their booth along with my friend Svend Even Haerra from NRK, the Norwegian Public Broadcasting Station.  I got to see some new footage from the Insta360 Pro as well as see a demo of its realtime image stabilization, and I found out other interesting news. Insta360 had a large exhibit at NAB Show 2017 and they were very busy.  I saw some footage from the Insta360 Pro - an 8K still, an 8K video, a 6K 3D video, a 4K video at 100fps, and they all looked amazing.  By "amazing," here's what I mean: often when I view a 360 video, I think to myself, it's nice but I wish it was more detailed.  I didn't get that feeling with the Insta360 Pro footage.  It looked very sharp and detailed, even the one at 4K @ 100fps (perhaps because it's downsampled from 8K).  It looked about as detailed as a regular non-360 HD video. In fact, IMHO, it looked as good as, if not better than the $45,000 Nokia OZO ,  ...

A couple of weeks ago, Twitter and Periscope had their first  360 livestreaming .  Right now, only select accounts are being allowed to livestream, but Twitter and Periscope are gradually rolling out the feature.   HOW TO DO A 360 LIVESTREAM ON TWITTER AND PERISCOPE  First, you need a compatible camera.  The only camera officially supported right now is the Insta360 Nano (reviewed here) , although there will be support for Insta360 Air (hands-on here) and Giroptic iO (hands-on here) as well when they are released.   If you do have a compatible camera, you'll need a Periscope or Twitter account.  (If you already have a Twitter account, that will work as a Periscope account).   You can then get on the Periscope waitlist here .  According to some Insta360 Nano users, the wait time is only about a week! I've requested to be on the waitlist and will let you guys know as soon as I get approval. Update : I got approval, I've tried the live ...

The Insta360 Nano (reviewed here)  is a 360 camera for the iPhone and currently the only 360 camera in the market that is officially compatible with Twitter and Periscope's new 360 livestreaming.  Insta360 showed a new version of the Nano in champagne gold to match iPhones with a similar color.  There were plans for a pink, space gray, and black versions but I haven't seen those IRL yet.

Insta360 Air is a 360 camera for Android.  At $119 ($99 for preorders), it is currently one of the most affordable spherical 360 cameras.  In addition, it features 360 livestreaming.  I got to see and try the Insta360 Air at CES 2017.  Here are my impressions. Update: I've received the Insta360 Air.  Here are my first impressions! Update : check out the sample video from the Insta360 Air ! These days, more people are aware of 360 cameras, but 360 cameras are still relatively uncommon.  Insta360's philosophy is to start with a device that people are very familiar with -- a smartphone -- and enable it to capture 360 photos and videos through an accessory.  This strategy was genius and it has worked very well with the Insta360 Nano for iPhone .  Now, Insta360 has created a 360 camera for Android as well. Unlike the Nano, the Air is not intended to operate independently and must be attached to a phone when being used.  The benefit of this design...

If you're going on a vacation, a 360 camera is a must-have for your trip.  But there are now several 360 cameras on the market.  Which one of them would be the best? The best 360 camera depends on your specific needs: If you are just starting out and want the most affordable 360 camera, that would be the LG 360 Cam (originally $199, on sale for $99 ; reviewed here ).  The LG 360 Cam is compatible with both iOS and Android.  Photos are stitched in-camera, while videos are stitched on your smartphone via an app.  It has decent image quality for both photos and videos.  However, in low light, there is a lot of chroma noise.  You also need to keep it charged at night because the battery drains even during standby. If social media is important to you, and you'd like to be able to share photos and videos easily , and even do a livestream in 360 , the best camera at the moment is the  Insta360 Nano ( $199 ; reviewed here ).  The Nano connects to y...

The Insta360 Nano is a 360 camera for the iPhone, designed for ease of use and convenience.  However, it can also be a powerful filmmaking tool if used with the right technique, as demonstrated in this short video. Wiebe de Jager is a filmmaker based in the Netherlands.  He created this short 360 video, entitled The Hague 360 using nothing but an  Insta360 Nano .  The video incorporates sophisticated techniques such as beat-syncing and time lapses ( recently added via firmware update ), and shows the potential of the Nano. The video shows some purple fringing but that is now resolved in the most recent firmware update .

You can use the Insta360 Nano  with a modified adapter on an iPhone 5 (with limits), or iPhone 5S or iPhone SE.  The adapter is inexpensive, and the modification takes less than 5 minutes.  It also works with some smartphone cases. Correction: it appears the Nano is not fully compatible with iPhone 5 - photo works, but there are errors when shooting video .  iPhone 5S and SE have no issues.  Thanks to Skip Hunt for bringing this to my attention! The Insta360 Nano is a 360 camera designed for the iPhone 6 series and 7 series.  It is one of the most affordable fully spherical 360 cameras and has very good video quality and excellent 360 livestreaming capability.  ( Here is my review .) However, the Nano has a couple of compatibility issues: First, the Nano won't fit the iPhone 5 or iPhone SE.  The Nano is curved to fit the curved edge of the iPhone 6 and 7 series, and can't fit the flat edge of the iPhone 5 or SE.  Similarly, the Nano won't fi...

Facebook announced that it would add 360 livestreaming capability.  This would enable you to broadcast a livestream in 360, giving your friends and followers a view of what it's like to be where you are at the moment.  But which devices are compatible? Facebook will begin its new 360 livestreaming called Live 360 tomorrow with a 360 livestream from National Geographic tomorrow from the Mars Desert Research Station facility in Utah at 12pm PST.  Eventually, the capability will be rolled out to all Pages and Profiles "in 2017." The next question you're wondering is, which cameras would you be able to use?  There are livestreaming cameras such as the Nokia OZO , LivePlanet , or Orah 4i but they are not intended for consumers. For consumer 360 cameras, there are very few with 360 livestreaming capability.  Fortunately, the consumer 360 camera with the best livestreaming capability also happens to be among the most affordable 360 cameras (with or without livest...

The Insta360 Nano (reviewed here) is a new 360-degree camera for the iPhone.  It competes with other consumer 360-degree cameras, such as the popular Ricoh Theta S (reviewed here) , and the Samsung Gear 360 (reviewed here) . Here are a couple of sample videos showing their image quality (be sure to switch to 4k first).  The first set is with cloudy skies.  The second set is with sunny skies.  Click on the playlist icon to switch between the two videos. The videos also show the effect of the Nano's calibration.  The Nano's stitching on one side wasn't perfect, but it was remedied by the calibration.  In the first set of videos, I didn't calibrate the stitching on the Nano.  The children's slide shows a slight stitching error.  In the second set, I calibrated the Nano.  The slide has no stitching error. Here's how they look in a headset ( Samsung Gear VR ).  In this case, I copied the video into my Samsung S6 then played them with MoonPla...

The Insta360 Nano is a 360-degree camera for the iPhone. I got my order on launch day July 18 and have been testing it in "real world" conditions.  Here is a review.  The review will cover the following topics. 1. Background 2. What's in the box* 3. Description / Parts* 4. Phone compatibility* 5. Using the Nano 6. Accessories 7. Viewing Photos and Videos 8. Editing Photos and Videos 9. Sharing Photos and Videos 10. Image Quality 11. Livestream 12. Pros and Cons; Summary; comparison with other cameras *These parts are identical to those in my preliminary review, so feel free to jump ahead if you've already read that. Camera firmware version: v1.43_0160 App version: 1.2.0 BACKGROUND Ever since I broke the news about the Insta360 Nano in March , I had been very interested in the Insta360 Nano, much more than its big brother, the Insta360 4k . In my opinion, a 360-degree camera has to be portable, easy to use and affordable, in order for it to be adopted by the masses.  ...