360 Cameras

[Outback in Idaho]

  Has anyone used or still use a 360° Camera in their outings? Think Grant uses one.

  Would be good to see some previews, links, experiments, and overall use & tips using them.

  I picked up a Vecnos IQUI 360 camera that looks a lot like a Men in Black Neuralyzer. The copany styarted last year in Japan and seems to be a bit hit over there. And a lot of reviewers cannot think outside the box on it, and I been experimenting with various takes and positions. Also should have a 360 Fly coming in soon if customs plays nice. Grant uses one of those on his Kayak.
  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PnEWvBsRjBo
  Unfortunately is does not have that the effect of a Neuralyzer. I been toying with it in the car, at work, and along the rural roads on the recumbent trike. Not much of a socialite. :\

 

  I can post mine to Facebook, so far, as 360 is it is not touched, enhanced, or any of that. Otherwise it posts a photo into a small video with the affects added. I have posted a few not so glamorous shots to Facebook. Not really gotten anywhere as of yet that has much fascination, but works great as evidence at work. Can show me in the photo and the work I had done, or the amount of boxes I threw. So in that, if there was a beef with a driver on those heavy night, I can show a photo - with me in it. So that's a plus. Also you can capture (somewhat) a photo of a pretty girl or group of miscreants in a flash. Power on, photo, power off. Maybe 1 second. Can stash it easily as well, and does not grab attention.

  Wished I had this when I was fighting wildland and forest fires in my 30's. I could of had some really good photos to show!!

  It can take up to a 30 second video, that's it. Videos, so far, cannot be edited by the IQUISPIN app. So is mostly photos that get all the luv.

  Flikr does not seem to like raw 360 photos. Hmm...PNG format...

  Here's a try from Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=4290175161041937&set=pb.100001484864157.-2207520000..&type=3

[Syncop8r]

I heard their development has come full circle. 

Looks cool. Can modern (ie not mine) phones do this?

[Outback in Idaho]

I heard their development has come full circle. 

Looks cool. Can modern (ie not mine) phones do this?

  Would be interesting if they could, or have some sort of snap-on adapter - but with multiple cameras on the back of most phones... 

[Outback in Idaho]

  In an earlier test with the IQUI I posted a 360 video to YouTube. It came out perty much like what photos do without software to view them with. Unsure if there is a standard sharing type,, or of this is all still too new. But if viewed on a smartphone through a compatible app you can see 360°.

  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iZ8aM0VTyYE

  Windows 10+ has a 3D viewer, but uses: 3mf, fbx, obj, stl, ply, gltf, & glb file types.

  A person can use the IQUI to see past barriers if the head of the camera can fit through, under, to the side, over, etc. Although it was probably not designed for such activities. If someone was hiding behind the corner of if there was something or somebody messing around a blind area, the camera could give you a view not otherwise safe to do so. Bad part is this does not use any form of night vision, but the concept could be opened for that - we have the technology.

  Went out and put this IQUI in the neighbors flower garden, pointed downwards. This was a photo originally. Set angle to point downward, as it catches everything around it within view. Many motion settings, I chose a simple horizontal roll. Added orbs for an effect, has a good amount of 'social' effects. Then saved and uploaded the video. That's perty much what this camera does. However it will detect faces and you can beautify them, and the scene, eve apply different photo affect before changing it to a video.

  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1iSy2QZW4Lg

  Each 360 camera has its pros and cons, and some software is better than others.

[ReamerPunch]

That's a lot of cameras.

I could not resist. Apologies.

[Chako]

I looked at the videos and thought to myself...Outback...run...there is something paranormal happening in that second one..and then I read.   

I was curious about those 360 cameras where you can take a still shot and then move the screen about in a virtual kind of way. I never really did look into it much however. That died when my dreams of using a drone died with new Canada/Ontario drone laws that basically force you to get insurance and a pilots license to use one over a certain weight.

[Outback in Idaho]

I looked at the videos and thought to myself...Outback...run...there is something paranormal happening in that second one..and then I read.   

I was curious about those 360 cameras where you can take a still shot and then move the screen about in a virtual kind of way. I never really did look into it much however. That died when my dreams of using a drone died with new Canada/Ontario drone laws that basically force you to get insurance and a pilots license to use one over a certain weight.

  Juts got a cheapo drone to see if its batteries would fit a dragon one I got last year. The battery went missing, and dragon said they don't make extra batteries ... sort of stupid IMO not to make extra batteries. Here you have to apply to the FAA something called TRUST which I heard was mandatory.|
  A pilot's license? Insurance I could see. Wanted one to take photos of my on the trail as those whom I ride with ado not take photos. I like to look back on life, like now, am watching the videos from last October's rides. Gives me hope and motivation.

  This 360 stuff is all new to me. More of an eye opener. The 360 Fly has one camera facing up yet you can scroll around in any direction on the video. Seen a kayaker video, but its unlisted. Not sure how it with work on a recumbent trike. Will be interesting.

[Outback in Idaho]

  Surprisingly Flick'r recognized two raw 360 photos I posted. Thumbnails looked distorted, then clicked on them and the photos were indeed in 360. By default Flick'r has them slowly rotating, but can freely move with the mouse.

  My test videos were of the chip aisle at a store. Was their inventory day so I had the top shelf a very few boxes in back. When I would take photos before people would like to get in front of the phone camera. But with this small IQUI camera no one notices it as a camera. Thus no customer photo bombs.

    CA001 by Outback Idaho, on Flickr

  Double posting links in case one fails to show correctly here.  That did not work out.

    CA002 by Outback Idaho, on Flickr

  Okay... direct links to images from forum show the distorted looks. So have to use the Flick'r shared links instead. Otherwise it look like smurf.

  Also found that Windows 10 "Movies & TV" app does show 360° video. The default video player does not recognize the video as 360.

  Am sure things will evolve over time.

[Outback in Idaho]

  Looks like YouTube wants raw 360 videos, no enhancements after the video was recorded.

  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WW5j-1Bhonc    Ahh, progress. 

[Syncop8r]

Good to see we can pan around in that last video, I couldn't in the others. 

Seen a kayaker video, but its unlisted.

Grant put some up today: https://forum.multitool.org/index.php/topic,77988.msg2267177.html#msg2267177

[Grant Lamontagne]

I heard their development has come full circle. 

Looks cool. Can modern (ie not mine) phones do this?

There was one for Samsung phones.  I don't know if it caught on, if it worked with certain phones or what.  It was basically a keyhole shape with a camera on either side of the round part.  I can't comment on its effectiveness as I have never seen or used one.

Currently I have a 360Fly HD, a combination of GoPro and 360 camera, in a unit the size of a Clementine orange, or only slightly larger than a golf ball.  It also weighs almost as much as a similar sized cannonball.

It would have been state of the art when it came out, but that was a while ago.  I picked it up for about $50, which I thought was a good deal for a camera still listed places for its original MSRP of $500.

It has a single lens, which gives you a 360 degree field of view in whichever direction it is pointed.  It does show relative down fairly well, although there is a much bigger footprint than there would be in a multi lens camera. 

A friend has the Insta One 360 (first and second generations, but he is a professional photographer/videographer, so you expect him to have better camera toys than I do!) and it is far superior to the 360Fly HD.

I'm pretty happy with the 360Fly though, and I wish the company would keep developing it.  They seem to have stagnated though, and I wonder if they went under.

Either way, it does what I need it to, even if the app is a bit on the buggy side.

Def

[Grant Lamontagne]

I looked at the videos and thought to myself...Outback...run...there is something paranormal happening in that second one..and then I read.   

I was curious about those 360 cameras where you can take a still shot and then move the screen about in a virtual kind of way. I never really did look into it much however. That died when my dreams of using a drone died with new Canada/Ontario drone laws that basically force you to get insurance and a pilots license to use one over a certain weight.

Look at the DJI Mini 2 or Mini SE.  Both below 250g, both are excellent drones.  The Mini 2 has a better camera- 4K versus 2K for the SE.

Def

[Chako]

Oh...I did not know that they were making drones for the Canadian market to bypass those laws. I will look into it. Thanks for the tip. 

[N05J3W3]

The Ricoh Theta seems appealing: good optical quality, robust construction, decent support, and quite affordable on the secondary market.

[Grant Lamontagne]

Oh...I did not know that they were making drones for the Canadian market to bypass those laws. I will look into it. Thanks for the tip. 

250g is the cutoff for most nations.  Anything under 250g doesn't require a license, insurance or really have any of the drone rules apply.  Just don't be a smurfhole with it and fly around runways or spy on your neighbor's wife and you should be okay.

Def

[Outback in Idaho]

  Am looking for a lanyard with a grip attachment for my IQUI 360 camera. Vecnos has no plans on making one, although a tripod adapter and a plastic lens cover is coming out soon - already on the Japanese market.

  The main tube is 15.75 mm wide. It is a triangular shape with rounded corners. Each of the three wider flats denotes where the camera lens are. Only want a thin 15mm long grip on the tube with a way to add/remove a lanyard, preferably a neck lanyard, but those are easy to locate - it's something to grip the barrel is what I'm more after.

  Ideas welcome. Paracord would be too much for this I think.

[Outback in Idaho]

  Did one of them Tiny Planet zoom-outs, or was that a zoom-in ... 
  Was taking a 360 of a fallen tree in a local park. Think it took out another across the creek. Sure hope they make a wooden bridge out of this instead of cutting it all up. In the old days when kids were taught to be kids that would of happened, maybe. Now days everything has to be emo friendly.

 

  Now rocking this image on my Facebook page. Can imagine more possibilities in the future like this.

[Outback in Idaho]

  Here is a photo converted to video using a smartphone app.

  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E3yGD5jThR0

[Grant Lamontagne]

Very cool Jim!

What app did you use for that?

Def

[Outback in Idaho]

  IQUISPIN is the app for the IQUI 360 camera. It only change photos imported from the camera. Unfortuntely it does not view or render other photos on the phone. It's one way only.
  Even with photos to videos, those get saved to the phone and the original photos stay behind until transferred.

  Am guessing Vecnos' way of sharing 360 photos is to convert them to mini videos. I have not found a Windows app r program that views 360 photos. Videos, Windows TV & Video will play 360 videos and can be panned around in. Supposedly VR equipment can view 360 photos, but I do not have such an animal.

[Outback in Idaho]

  From the first frame in the IquiSpin app you can enhance faces and use a format to enhance or alter the 360 picture. For a recent fallen tree photo I enhanced it twice. Then was rolling the screen and pinched in or pinched out and got that Tiny Earth as the call it. Played around with it on the smartphone and captured a few screen shots before going to select an effect, motion, and angle for each person.

[Grant Lamontagne]

Out paddling on the ocean yesterday and I brought the 360Fly along. 

I'll post the video when I get it all processed and stuff, but so far it looks pretty good.

Def

[Syncop8r]

I'm guessing this is a 360° video but they didn't save it in such a way as to allow the viewer to pan (they panned it themselves during editing)?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kpVefKX1XoI&t=68s

[Grant Lamontagne]

The software for the 360Fly allows you to do that too.  I can choose what people see be either following a subject as it moves around the camera, or choose one direction to keep in frame, like a standard camera.  Or, I can use it as a 360 camera as intended.

The annoying thing is that the app on my phone limits video output to 4 minutes.  I have finally managed to connect it to my PC (have I mentioned the software can be a bit buggy?) so I'm going to experiment with it a bit and see if the PC software offers any different options.

Def

[Outback in Idaho]

I'm guessing this is a 360° video but they didn't save it in such a way as to allow the viewer to pan (they panned it themselves during editing)?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AX4hWfyHr5g

  These are a 360 video, Good Sir 

  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YrW6xCvSZ2c

  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gS9g0IgwHsU

[Syncop8r]

These are a 360 video, Good Sir 

They're cool. 

What I mean is, I'm guessing they used a 360° camera to record it but didn't process it in such a way as to make the viewing 360°. 

[Outback in Idaho]

They're cool. 

What I mean is, I'm guessing they used a 360° camera to record it but didn't process it in such a way as to make the viewing 360°. 

  They could of been using a wide-view lens or a fisheye then converted back to normal view, much like that of GoPro cameras. Does anyone know of a codec package that could let all computers to render 360 photos and videos? There has to be 360 software out there, and is probably expensive or requires a dreaded subscription... 

  So if I posted this, would it be seen 360 or flat? Could not be uploaded... grr.    Only 3.18 MB in size.

  Grr... need to do the Flick'r code... WSUP8447[1] by Outback Idaho, on Flickr

 
  New fire in Oregon. Luckily it is goi8ng to get in the mid 50's tonight. Felt so good outside tonight!!!! 

[Outback in Idaho]

  Seen some rather spectacular 360 photos on Facebook groups. Lots use Mavic drones and all sorts of 360 cameras. Theta seems popular, but there are people into some serious cash on their cameras, filters, software, etc. Makes me want to get a better camera but I think my best days are gone. Not as agile nor am I 30. Twice that soon.
  Wished I had a 360 camera back in my 30's when I was fighting wildland forest fires. Could of had more to show than silly 10 self-timed photos with me in them. Most my friends don't know how to take a photo. Is why the IQUI by Vecnos is so wonderful, press a button and it's taken. Nothing gets chopped off. Seams are going to be there with multiple cameras, and that is where software comes in to alter that. So there is 360 software that can enhance a photo and make it seen as 360.

  Last night I tried posting a new Oregon fire to Facebook, but the app kept crashing. Found the remedy, which makes no sense at all. Add at least two or more 360 photos and it will upload. Then edit and remove the other 360 photos. /shrug  Facebook changes and breaks their stuff all the time.

  https://www.facebook.com/groups/pano360/permalink/4247450608677891/

  https://kuula.co/post/N5t0w?fbclid=IwAR2BfJduYKQ7Tdj_vccXpgPNHFd0sybBn_gH0nu5VGuZteKIBqjhZaMnf9A

  https://www.facebook.com/groups/panoramicphotographers/permalink/4700044800039594/

  If I was a traveling person, heck yea, invest in a 360 camera. you might even land a job. Seen a few 360 videos of houses for sale, even cars - you get to peer around inside the car for sale. The sky is NOT the limit. Imagine some of those cave systems, and other things more people will never see in their lifetimes. Instead of a video or a flat picture, now they can look ALL AROUND. 

[Grant Lamontagne]

As a landlord I like the idea of a 360 camera, especially in the days of COVID.

My buddy with the InstaOne 360 also does Matter port, which allows you to stitch 360 photos together to make a virtual walk through of a building, so I will probably sucker him into helping me with that soon. 

Def

[Outback in Idaho]

  IQUI 360 Camera is limited to a 30 second video, and man those videos get large. Self-contained memory too, so cannot add any more memory to it. In any case, I was trying a few videos, and this is me cruising down the highway into Payette, Idaho. Had a letter to get mailed out, and needed a ride while it was under 80° F.

  Short daytime 360 video:
  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5QVOSz2WYpw

  Night Riding
  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EArsx4b33Xg