360 rumors

How do you use an ND filter for your 360 camera?  One way is to use a rig.... Paulo Teixera shared this video by Personal View , where SLR Magic shows their filter system which attaches to rear lenses of Micro Four Thirds lenses:

The AXA rig is a unique 360 camera rig that comes in three sizes to accommodate various high-end cameras such the Black Magic Micro Studio 4K, Arri Alexa Mini, and Sony UMC-S3C.  Radiant Images posted a sample video from a version of the rig that uses the Arri Alexa Mini, but the sample seems to show that stitching will be a problem. Here is the video: As expected, the video shows excellent detail.  However, with the understandably large distance between the cameras, stitching is going to be a challenge, as these crops show from the video:

DroneVolt's Janus VR Bot is a 360 camera rig on a remote control dolly.  I don't know much about it except that it seems to use a Freedom 360 rig which uses six GoPro cameras for up to 8K resolution. B&H Photo has the Janus VR Bot listed at $14,350 without any specifications yet.  I'm not sure if the VR Bot includes the Freedom 360 rig and/or the GoPros for it. In the meantime, B&H also has the Janus 360 drone for two Freedom 360 rigs, for about the same price  (the price excludes the cost of the Freedom 360 rigs)  You can check out a sample video from the Janus 360  in this previous post .

At NAB Show, Yi Technology launched the Halo, a 360 camera capable of shooting at 3D 360 video at 8K.  Check out the sample 360 video! Yi made several announcements at NAB Show 2017, but the two most significant were the announcement of the Yi 360 VR, a 5.7K 360 camera, and the Yi Halo, a Google Jump rig.  We've talked about the Yi 360 VR  and showed samples here .  In this post, we'll talk about the Yi Halo. Last year, at the 2016 Google IO conference, Google announced that Yi Technology was creating a version of the Google Jump rig.  Everyone in the industry assumed that Yi's Google Jump rig would be a lower-cost version of the first commercial Google Jump rig, the GoPro Odyssey.  Instead, the Yi Halo offers additional features for the same price as the Odyssey. Here are the key specifications, highlighting differences from the GoPro Odyssey: - video resolution: 8192 x 8192 @ 30fps or 5760 x 5760 @ 60 fps. - sixteen Yi 4K cameras plus one up-cam...

Boxfish 360 is a professional 360 camera rig designed for underwater use. Update : here are the details on the Boxfish 360 ! Boxfish 360 consists of three cameras in a waterproof housing.  Here are the specifications at a glance: - up to 300 meters depth (MSW) - resolution: 2520 video lines. - weight: 6 kg I'm not sure but I think 2520 is the vertical resolution, so the resolution in equirectangular format would be 5040 x 2520, which is higher than 4k. Here is a sample video: The video quality looks impressive, although hopefully the stitching could be improved. For purchase inquiries, please contact Boxfish Research directly.   Here is the official website .  Thank you very much to Jim Jensen  (the very knowledgeable moderator for the Photo Sphere Community on Google) for bringing this to my attention!

For the highest 360 video quality, professionals still use rigs, and for component cameras, full frame cameras offer unparalleled quality.  The Sumo360 is a 3D-printed rig designed to be used with four full frame Sony A7S II mirrorless cameras renowned for their low-light capabilities. Here is what the rig's base looks like: It is designed to be used with four Sony A7S II mirrorless cameras that are each paired with a Samyang 8mm fisheye lens.  The Samyang lenses must have their built-in lens hoods shaved off.  The video must be stitched in software such as Autopano Video (not included). The resulting video is up to 6k resolution. One of the limits is that there is no genlock to synchronize the video from the cameras.  Instead, Sumo's creators have relied on a clapper and audio syncing. Sumo is licensing the 3D printing file for the rig for $359.  You will need to use the file to print it at your own cost.  The total price, including the cameras and lenses,...

For professional image quality 360 video, a rig is still the way to go.  The 360Heros 3DPro is a 3D 360 rig that can capture fully spherical 3D 360 video that is stereoscopic in all directions, even the zenith and nadir. The 3DPro converts to use either twelve or fourteen GoPro Hero 4 Black cameras.  With fourteen cameras, it has omnidirectional 3D.  With twelve cameras, the horizon is 3D in all directions, but the zenith and nadir are not stereoscopic. The 3DPro allows you to capture 3D 360 video at up to 8k resolution (8000 x 4000).  The minimum focus distance is 4 feet. To sync the cameras, the 3DPro relies on audio syncing.  It includes an audio sync clicker. The 3DPro is available for preorder from B&H for $999.95 with free expedited shipping.  It includes the following: (1) 3DPro 360 Plug-n-Play™ Holder (1) 360RIZE 1/4"-20 to 3/8" mounting accessory/ adapter (1) Audio sync clicker (1) 360RIZE screwdriver/ camera removal tool (1) Velvet holder ba...

​ The Brahma Duet is a 2-camera rig that uses modified  Git2 cameras  to output fully spherical 360 video in 4k at 30fps.   Now the Brahma Duet adds realtime stitching and livestreaming capability as well! Here is a sample video demo of the livestream: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kP_sdGt2uko  (the first part of the video shows recorded samples from Brahma rigs; jump to 0:23 for the livestream). The demo linked above shows a resolution of 1080p, because that was the limit of the streaming software that Steve Jones used.  However, the Brahma Duet is capable of livestreaming in 1440p resolution at 30fps at a bitrate of about 12-15mbps (24fps if stitched with Kolor Autopano software).  Even at 1080p, the video shows plenty of detail compared to a livestream from the Ricoh Theta, for example (which can livestream at 720p via USB or 1080p via HDMI). Parts of the demo also showed recorded samples from the Brahma Duet (the rock concerts) and the ...