Zlogspot - PocariSweet 77

Hi everyone.  Just FYI, I am completing the migration from Blogger to 360Rumors.com.  As you know, I started the migration process a few months ago  and now we're about to complete it. WHAT WILL HAPPEN? After the migration is complete, all links to the Blogger site will be forwarded to the same article on 360Rumors.com.  After that, I will only be posting to 360Rumors.com.  The Blogger site will exist only for historical purposes even though technically, you won't be able to access it anymore. THE NEXT 24 HOURS Because we're completing the migration, then for the next 24 hours I won't be able to post anything on either Blogger or 360Rumors.com.  You will still be able to read old articles (although you'll be forwarded to 360Rumors.com).  For new items, check out the 360 Rumors Facebook page , YouTube channel , and Twitter feed .  I am trying to finish up a new video on Insta360 Pro. If you need to contact me (e.g. to report problems), please contact me via Facebook.

The Insta360 Pro is an amazing camera, and the marketing materials can't even capture all of its remarkable features (partly because Insta360 keeps adding new features!).  Here are 17 undocumented features of the Insta360 Pro.  Since there are so many of them, I tried to group them into Photo, Video and live streaming, and both Photo and Video. PHOTO 1. 60 second shutter speed .  It has full manual exposure and you can specify a shutter speed as slow as 60 seconds -- slow enough to capture night sky photos. 2.   Unlimited intervalometer .  The Insta360 Pro has an intervalometer (i.e., it will take a photo after every time interval), and the time interval is anywhere from 2 seconds to a practically unlimited time interval (I put in a crazy number like 200,000 seconds and it accepted that value).  Note: The intervalometer is in the video mode as "time lapse". 3.   The intervalometer / time lapse can be for 3D not just 2D . 4.   Stitched 360 Photos in Raw format .   The Inst

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 action cameras for a simila

I compared two of the best 360 cameras for consumers right now: Garmin Virb 360 and Xiaomi Mijia Mi Sphere for low light performance in typical indoor lighting conditions.  Here's the video: Both cameras did very well in this low light test.  As for which one is better, here are my thoughts: Without editing, the Garmin Virb 360 looks underexposed compared to the Xiaomi.  In Premiere, I added +1.0EV exposure, which made the Garmin exposure look more similar to that of the Xiaomi. Remarkably, the Virb video held up to the adjustment and did not show any noticeable increase noise. With the adjustment, the Virb and Xiaomi look very similar, but the Virb video is actually more detailed.  Here are closeup cropped portions of each video: Nonetheless, there is a huge $500+ difference between these two cameras, so you might say they are both winners in their own way.  In terms of absolute image quality, the Virb 360 edged out the Xiaomi, but the Xiaomi is so much more affordable that it is

Here's a new sample from the Yi 360 VR , the most affordable 5.7K 360 camera. Here's the sample, posted by Sami Luo : What do you think of the sample?  Let me know in the comments! Thank you very much to Martin Smith of Roto Studios for bringing this to my attention!

Dolly360 is a radio-controlled and stabilized dolly for 360 cameras. Dolly360 is a radio-controlled dolly designed for 360 cameras, with both horizontal and vertical stabilization.  It uses a gimbal for spherical stabilization and a telescopic oil shock absorber for vertical stabilization. Here is a video: Here is a sample 360 video from a GoPro rig mounted on the Dolly360: The Dolly360 can handle a camera up to 5 kg and will be carry it up to 1 km.  It costs 500,000 JPY (about USD 4491 at current exchange rates).  The price is for the dolly only and does not include a camera.

Ricoh has announced a huge discount on the Ricoh Theta SC, which is now only $199 !  I don't know yet if this is a permanent price adjustment or just a discount for the summer. The Theta SC has the same sensor as the Theta S, the most popular 360 camera and almost all of its features, including the best stitching in the industry. But at $199, it is almost half of the cost of the Theta S.  This makes the Theta SC quite possibly the best value for 360 photography. Here is a review of the Theta S - almost all of which applies to the Theta SC as well, except that the Theta SC has no HDMI port, no live streaming, and has a 5-minute limit on videos.  The Theta SC has interval shooting (an intervalometer) but I believe it doesn't have interval composite, so if you want to do star trails, for example, you'll need to blend the exposures yourself using tools such as Photoshop or Lightroom. Thank to you to MS and Tony Anastasi for bringing this to my attention!

Z Cam is the latest company to join Google's recently announced VR180 program .  Z Cam also showed their VR180 camera called 3D180. Z Cam Founder and Chairman Jason Zhang had this to say: "Z CAM is very well positioned in the VR180 camera market. Our solution's precise synchronization coupled with excellent calibration of the footage delivers amazing immersive experience to viewers. I am very excited that the VR180 era has finally come and we are very committed to entering this market." Z Cam CEO Kinson Loo added, "We are glad to be part of the program and expand our cooperation with Google. VR180 will open up a lot of interesting content opportunities and Z CAM's excellent image quality and ease of use will accelerate market growth. Seeing is believing!" No other details were available such as price or specifications.

Here is another low cost selfie stick that is slim enough to be invisible to 360 cameras, straight out of the box with no modification required. I've been recommending the Benro MK10 as a selfie stick because if you remove the ballhead, then it becomes invisible to 360 cameras.  The problem is that removing the ballhead takes a lot of effort because the ballhead is glued with loctite or something. Like the Benro MK10, I found  this cheap selfie stick called Monopod  that is slim enough to be invisible to a 360 camera, but you don't need to modify it. I tested it with the Xiaomi Mijia Mi Sphere ( reviewed here ), which is itself a very slim 360 camera, so anything but the slimmest selfie stick will show up in the shot.  Here is how the nadir looks with the Monopod selfie stick: Note that there are selfie sticks that look similar but which are slightly thicker and will not be invisible to slim cameras such as the Xiaomi Mijia Mi Sphere.  In the shot below, the one on the left

In case you haven't checked it out, Immersive Shooter is a very useful resource for VR content creators and journalists.  Here are some of the stories from the past week on Immersive Shooter: Intel will be bringing 360 video live streams and replays to the next Olympics Global Editors Network panel on VR in journalism , moderated by Immersive Shooter's Editor-at-Large Robert Hernandez from the GEN Summit in Vienna.  Here's a video of the panel discussion: McClatchy's 360 video workflow for breaking news Kandao Obsidian to be launching soon; here are the specifications .   You can also check out samples I posted previously . Jaunt VR camera videos to be offered as stock content through Getty Images . You can also check out my guest post there this week , talking about the Insta360 Pro, the Garmin Virb 360, and the Lanparte LA3D-VR-01.

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 totally clipped.   Here is

As I said in my review of the Xiaomi Mijia MI SPHERE 360 camera , I found the Xiaomi  to have the best image quality for both photos and videos for 360 cameras that cost $350 or less.  You can now preorder the international version with English instruction manual, for shipping in July. The Xiaomi Mijia MI SPHERE is a camera that most people still don't know about, but it has been surprising new users.  Nonetheless, the Xiaomi has a number of quirks, one of which is that it feels like it wasn't intended for sale outside of China. For example, - the App Store listing previously had only a Chinese name (how would English speakers search for it?  Note: it's now in English); - the manual is entirely in Chinese. - The original app had many options that were in Chinese (but now the app is now almost fully translated). The downloading page for the Xiaomi app is still in Chinese. Now however, Xiaomi is ready to release the Xiaomi Mijia Mi Sphere outside of China, with a manual in

At Vidcon 2017, Google announced VR180 videos and cameras, which are 180-degree 3D videos and cameras that can capture the world from your point of view. VR180 videos are 180-degree 3D videos, similar to 3D 360 videos but only showing a forward-facing view.  While that may seem like significantly smaller view than 3D 360 videos, heatmaps show that most viewers view videos only looking at the forward view. Here is a playlist of sample VR180 videos (to see them in 3D, you'll need to view them with a Google Cardboard or similar viewer): WHAT'S THE DIFFERENCE FROM STANDARD 360 VIDEOS? VR180 appears to be a separate format from the standard equirectangular 360 videos.  If you watch the video above without cardboard, you cannot look around the video the way you can with a hemispherical 360 video (such as from Entapano ).  Instead, the perspective is fixed until you click on the cardboard icon, which enables gyro viewing.  I am supposing it uses a special tag in its 360 metadata so th

Unclip, a free cloud storage service for 360 videos (similar to Google Photos but for videos) is ending its service and is being merged into Samsung's 360 video sharing platform, Samsung VR (formerly called Milk VR). Unclip is a cloud based storage service for 360 videos that allowed you to upload your 360 videos from any of your devices (phone, desktop, etc.).  It was a convenient way to synchronize files and was very useful for conserving space on mobile devices.  Uploaded photos could also be edited.   See here . Unclip announced that its service would be ending on June 30, after which all previously stored videos and data will be deleted.  Instead, you can upload your videos to Samsung VR , Samsung's 360 video sharing platform.

I found the perfect camera case for the Garmin Virb 360!  Look at it -- it even fits both cradles, and there's no wasted space.  Here's a video: The case is the Pelican Micro 1010 (available here) .  Here are the benefits: - fits the Garmin and both cradles with no wasted space - Virb and cradles will not move around - Transparent cover lets you see if the camera is inside - You can attach your monopod or selfie stick while the Virb 360 is still in the case (while cover is open obviously) - The case can be used to temporarily cover the Virb like a lens cap while the Virb is on a monopod waiting between recordings. - you can attach a strap to it for your backpack, etc. - includes a carabiner - Water resistant, dustproof, crushproof - Low cost - Proudly made in the USA by Pelican.  Comes with a lifetime guarantee. PLEASE NOTE THE DIRECTION that the lenses are facing. Do not face the lenses to the cradles - they could be scratched! Alternatively, you can also remove the red rubber

This is huge!  Adobe acquired Mettle makers of the popular SkyBox Suite of 360 / VR editing tools, which will now be included with Adobe Creative Cloud! Mettle Skybox is a popular suite of plugins for 360/VR editing for Adobe Premiere Pro and After Effects.  Today, Adobe and Mettle announced that Adobe would be acquiring Mettle Skybox Suite, and Mettle's founder Chris Bobotis would become a director at Adobe. Skybox will no longer be available for separate purchase, and instead will only be available through Creative Cloud. Existing Skybox users will get ten activations, other than those who purchased Skybox in the last 15 days will get a refund. By the end of the year, Skybox will be rolled out to Creative Cloud.  But for now, Adobe CC paid subscribers will be able to get Skybox by sending an email to dvaplugin@adobe.com. You need to include your Adobe ID and first and last name as it appears on your account, then Adobe will respond within 24 hours. Here is the official announceme

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 this for $3500, drastically u

Personal View interviewed camera rental company Radiant Images about the Z Cam S1 Pro, a high quality professional 360 camera that uses four Micro Four Thirds sensors paired with iZugar lenses.  Here is the video: The original Z Cam S1 (not shown here) is $2,500 while Z Cam S1 Pro is $8,880.  Neither camera includes the cost of the WonderStitch stitching software ($1,500), or the WonderLive live streaming software which is a separate cost (note that the license is for one camera only and is not transferable ).  Alternatively, the S1 and S1 Pro can be stitched with third party software. Both cameras have 6K resolution but the S1 Pro's larger sensor means that it has higher image quality than the Z Cam S1.

Lanparte's LA3D-VR-01, a gimbal for 360 cameras ( previewed here ), the first consumer gimbal without counterweights is now available . Lanparte LA3D-VR-01 is a gimbal designed for 360 cameras with two lenses such as the Samsung Gear 360 and Nikon Keymission 360.  It has an unusual design that places all the motors within the stitch line, making them invisible to the 360 camera (except that the yaw motor and the handle will become visible if the handle is held horizontally). LA3D-VR-01 is also the first consumer 360 gimbal that does not use counterweights .  In theory, this should make it much lighter and easier to setup the gimbal, compared to other 360 gimbals that use counterweights. The LA3D-VR-01 has a modular design and appears to have parts that are interchangeable with some of the other components of Lanparte's LA3D system, possibly including  Lanparte's wearable wireless control kit , although I don't know for sure yet. Here is an interview and demo by Persona

Double 2, two-wheeled self-balancing 360 Camera Dolly is now available. An increasing number of 360 videos are using movement.  Among other things, slow forward movement can be used as a subtle way of directing the viewer's attention, as demonstrated for example in Felix and Paul's documentary, "The People's House." The challenge for 360 filmmakers is that a 360 camera sees everything around it, therefore it is not ideal to use traditional methods for moving a camera such as a camera operator carrying a camera or using a camera track dolly. There are dollies available for 360 cameras that perform very well but they tend to have substantial cost. See here (Vroomcam) and here (RigRover) . Double 2 is a two-wheeled self-balancing 360 camera dolly by Double Robotics.  It is a modified version of the Double 2 robot which was designed for telepresence. The modified version of the Double 2 is designed specifically for use as a 360 Camera Dolly.  Instead of an iPad and c

Varjo's VR headset is as detailed as human vision with a 70 megapixel resolution. The crops you see above are crops from the view with an experimental VR headset from Varjo, comcompared to the Oculus Rift desktop VR system.  Simply put, it looks incredible.  Varjo's resolution is 70 megapixels per eye compared to the 1.2 megapixel resolution of the Oculus Rift and HTC Vive. Varjo is a startup formed by former Nokia employees and their goal is to create a headset with as much resolution as human vision will allow.  That will require tremendous amounts of data, which they aim to reduce through foveated rendering, which means that it will track your eye, and only the parts that you are looking at will be rendered at full resolution. Here is another crop: I'm curious how the extremely high resolution affects a viewer's sense of immersion.  Will images become much more convincing?  We'll see.  In the meantime, you can check out more samples on Varjo's official websit

I hope you had a great Father's Day weekend.  Over the weekend, I tested the Garmin Virb 360's underwater capabilities in a swimming pool.  Here are videos and photos. The Garmin Virb 360 is waterproof up to 10 meters, without needing a housing.  The Virb is only the second 360 camera for consumers to do that (the first was the Nikon Keymission 360). Of course, just because a camera is waterproof does not negate the laws of physics.  In particular, refraction will often be an issue.  That is why in my list of 12 things to know about the Virb before ordering, I warned that Garmin had not posted any underwater photos or videos, and that there would likely be refraction underwater. I took the Virb 360 to a swimming pool to find out.  As expected there was refraction.  Nonetheless, the stitching looked better than the other 360 cameras I've used underwater, such as the Keymission 360 ( see these samples by Young360 ), the Elecam 360 with its housing ( see these samples from El

You can take 65-megapixel 360 photos in RAW format with no parallax stitching error with the Pano5+1 Mark II, a panoramic head for GoPro Hero 5 (with an included adapter for Hero 3 and 4). The Pano5+1 Mark II is the new version of the original Pano5+1 .  The new version has several improvements including: - compatibility with GoPro Hero 3, 4, or 5 (natively compatible with Hero 5, and an included adapter for Hero 3 and 4) - fully spherical (the original version required manually holding the camera for a downshot). - transparent body casts less of a shadow - the Pano5+1 doubles as a case for the Hero 5. - includes a carrying case. By using a Hero5, it is possible to take photos in RAW for maximum image quality and then stitch the edited images together.  Please note the kit does not include stitching software.  I believe you should be able to use PanoramaStudio 3 . Here is the video Here is a sample 360 photo .  The photo is of a car interior, which is usually a difficult subject for la

YouTube has added heatmaps to popular 360 videos, showing where viewers are looking. Update : Scott of  Foundry 45  shared a video of a heatmap.  See below. YouTube added 360 heatmaps to analytics tools, letting you see where viewers are spending the most time looking.  Last year, heatmaps were added by Facebook, but the threshold was quite high at 50,000 unique viewers (not views).  YouTube's heatmap has a threshold of only 1,000 views . To see the heatmaps for your videos,  click here .  You can also go to your Video Manager and then see the new 360 Heatmaps tool under Analytics.  You can see the heatmap and how it changes as the video plays. Update : Scott of Foundry 45 shared this video of a heatmap: There is a separate heatmap for desktop viewers and for mobile viewers.   In my videos, it seems that desktop viewers are much more likely to look around, while mobile viewers stay mostly in the original view. Sample 1 (top: desktop; bottom: mobile) : desktop view heatmap (sample