360 cameras

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Big Kev
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360 cameras

Post by Big Kev »

Anybody got one?

I like taking this kind of picture when I'm out and about (something a bit different)

ImageImage

But it's only done on my iPhone and the 360pano app that I have isn't great at stitching. 360cams seem to be getting popular now and there are quite a few on the market. The Ricoh Theta and LG 360 seem quite nice and not too expensive. The Samsung one looks good too but you pretty much need a sammy phone to run it. I'm mainly looking at stills rather than video but I might be interested in that too.

I know I can take a pano of photos and stitch and polar them in photoshop but this seems like a simple alternative if it does what I think it does.
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DarrenM
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Re: 360 cameras

Post by DarrenM »

Android has a 360 photo app that works well on the Pixel, but I found I had to use a tripod to get it to stitch nicely. Would be nice if it had a bit more smarts to align the shots better, but I've only tried a few so far.

I think if I went on a big holiday I'd get a proper 360 camera. Being able to view them in a VR headset is a much better way to experience a scene.
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DarrenM
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Re: 360 cameras

Post by DarrenM »

I was taking more 360's with the phone, but it's a pain in the arse so I bought myself a Xiaomi Mijia 360. Was $300 from China.

https://xiaomi-mi.com/action-cameras/xi ... kit-black/

http://360rumors.com/2017/06/review-com ... meras.html

It's only 3.5k (2x12 megapixel sensors) so the resolution isn't as good as the phone which gives 28-30 megapixel images, but it's good enough for web viewing and tiny planet pix. The overall image quality seems better than the 4k cameras in the same price range.

There's another one called Yi 360 coming out soon which is 5.7K resolution. The video samples look good but I haven't seen any photo samples from it yet.

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DarrenM
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Re: 360 cameras

Post by DarrenM »

Took a photo with the mijia at the same spot I did a photo sphere a few months ago. Bit hazy in Sydney today, but you can see the resolution difference.

Mijia 360 (6912x3456)


Pixel photosphere (7680x3840)


So image quality from the phone is a fair bit better, but it takes longer to do and you get a lot more stitching issues (and feet). With the 360 camera, one click and you're done. There's only 1 seam line where the hemispheres join. When you don't want to be in the photo you can use a selfie stick on a small tripod so that you don't have much to edit out.
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DarrenM
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Re: 360 cameras

Post by DarrenM »

Tried a chase cam on the bike. View it 1440 res or it looks like crap.



Need to angle the pole back a bit more. Ended up more like a pillion passenger position. Also need to sort out the image stabilization. Not using it in this clip because it also stabilizes yaw movement so it ends up facing the same direction relative to the world which sucks for viewing.
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StanDaam
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Re: 360 cameras

Post by StanDaam »

Hours flew by... 'Why can't I see the pole... It should be here, I can see the shadow... ' :melt:
Excellent stitchings!!
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norbs
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Re: 360 cameras

Post by norbs »

Very cool.
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