360 rumors

I just received my Insta360 Pro last night!  Here is an unboxing and my first impressions, or otherwise entitled, "How I spent my tax refund!" lol When Insta360 said they were going to create a professional camera to rival the $5,000 GoPro Omni rig, I honestly wasn't sure if it was just an exaggeration for marketing.  Sure, the Insta360 Nano and Insta360 Air were excellent cameras, but they were designed for consumers.  Could a young company such as Insta360 really build a camera that could approach the quality of the 8K GoPro Omni?  Those doubts were quashed when Insta360 Pro launched at CES, with specs that could make any 360 shooter drool: - 8K 360 video - 6K 3D 360 video - 4K live streaming in 2D (30fps) or 3D (24fps). - 4K in-camera stitching, also in 2D (30fps) or 3D (24fps) - High-speed 4K in 120 fps (for super slow motion) - 3D photos can be up to 8K (7680 x 7680), whether stitched on a desktop or in-camera It would be able to do all...

After a few delays, I finally got the Garmin Virb 360!  I've been really excited about this camera because of its many features.  In fact, I would say that it has the most features of any 360 camera I've encountered, bar none , not the least of which is its unique image stabilization that follows the user's direction of movement instead of being locked in one direction . Here is a recap of the key specifications and features of the Garmin Virb 360: - video resolution: 5760 x 2880 (unstitched) or 3940 x 1920 (in-camera stitched) - photo resolution: 5640 x 2816 (no, that is not a typo) - gyro-based image stabilization - waterproof to 10 meters without a housing - G-Metrix overlay - live streaming - 360 audio The Garmin's box is smaller than I expected.  Maybe I expected a bigger box just because of the cost of the camera.  Here's what's inside: - the Virb 360 - a mini-tripod / handle - one battery (it appears to be specifically only for the Virb 360) - a proprieta...

In this post, I continue my first impressions of the Xiaomi Mijia Mi Sphere 360 camera.  This time, I'll present an unboxing a sample 360 video, and a demo of the Mi Sphere's realtime stabilization! First, here is an unboxing video: Now here is a sample 360 video from the Mi Sphere.  For this video, I stabilized the Mi Sphere using the Guru 360 gimbal. I did not edit the sound so you can hear the audio recording quality from the Mi Sphere.  Please note that the Guru 360's motor emits an audible sound, which can be heard in the video. I think the video looks very detailed (sufficiently so that even though its 3.5K video resolution is technically lower than 4K, it looks at least as detailed as 4K videos from competing cameras).  One issue is that there is a slight difference in color between the front and rear lenses.  I don't know if Xiaomi will address this issue.  Another issue is that the audio is slightly out of sync with the video. In the meantime, I al...