360degree

VLC Media Player Can Now Do 360-Degree Photos and Videos

VLC's free and open source media player is a popular option for people who want a lightweight program that can handle pretty much any video format on any platform. The project just took another big leap in compatibility: it can now play back 360-degree photos and videos.

This 360° Video Shows the DSLR Wall on the ISS

This video by RT, titled "Space 360," is the first-ever interactive 360-degree video shot on the International Space Station. It's also of special interest for photography enthusiasts: it shows the inside of the service module, where the astronauts' Nikon DSLR cameras and lenses are stored on the walls.

Astrophotographer Proposes with a 360-Degree Photo

When astrophotography enthusiast Stephen King of Yakima, Washington, asked his then-girlfriend Andrea to marry him recently, he did so in a creative and unusual way: with a 360-degree night sky photo inside a Google Cardboard VR viewer.

Sheep View 360: An Island Country’s Makeshift Street View

Faroe Islands is an island country halfway between Norway and Iceland. It features some of the world's most beautiful roads, but those routes haven't been traversed by Google's Street View camera cars. So, the country decided to take matters into its own hands by mapping the island with sheep-mounted 360-degree cameras. It's called Sheep View 360.

The Tiny Orah 4i Can Stream Live 4K 360° Footage for Virtual Reality

GoPro may have just introduced their own 360° video solution, but they're not the only dog in this fight. The tiny little Orah 4i camera by VideoStitch is a more portable, easier to use 4K 360° solution that does something more: it can live-stream the VR quality footage it's capturing.

SD 5.0 Memory Cards to Support 8K, 3D, and 360° Video

The SD Association has announced its latest SD memory card specification. SD 5.0 features the fastest speed class so far, known as Video Speed Class. The cards will be able to support 4K, 8K, 3D, and 360-degree video recording (in addition to blazing-fast photo shooting speeds).

Shooting 360° Video in 48K Using 12 Sony Xperia Z5 Smartphones

Sony has created what it believes is the world's first 48K 360-degree video. The company created a special 3D-printed camera rig that uses 12 Xperia Z5 smartphones arranged in a circle. By shooting 4K with each phone and then stitching together the resulting footage, Sony was able to create 48K video that you can explore interactively.

This 360º Behind-the-Scenes Video Lets You Sit In on a Fashion Shoot

Back in May, Washington D.C.-based fashion photographer Ben Scott did an outdoor shoot featuring two models and a 1966 Corvette convertible. LEVR Studios was on hand with a 360-degree camera rig, resulting in the interactive behind-the-scenes video seen above. There are clips from different moments in the shoot, and you can move around in the scene to look in any direction you wish while the shoot unfolds.

Facebook Introduces 360-Degree Interactive Videos

Earlier this year, YouTube opened up its service to 360-degree interactive videos that you can "look around" in while watching, whether by swiping with your finger or by swinging your phone around in space. This week, Facebook also joined in on the fun by announcing that virtual reality videos are now supported in News Feeds.

The First Ever VR Film Shot in a War Zone with a 360° Camera

The American news media company RYOT recently sent its World Editor, Christian Stephen, to the war-ravaged streets of Aleppo, Syria. While there, he used a 360° camera to capture the world's first virtual reality film of the inside of a war zone.

It's an immersive short film that gives viewers a unique perspective into what the Syrian civil war has done to the country's largest city.

Hobie is a 360-Degree Time-Lapse Tool Built From an Ordinary Kitchen Timer

Startup Overlab has launched a Kickstarter campaign to fund Hobie: a personal time lapse tool with the heart of a kitchen timer. Hobie utilizes an actual ordinary kitchen timer at its base to rotate the camera mount perched upon it. Simply dial-in the time on the base, insert your smartphone into the circular mount, and begin capturing easy time lapses. As a bonus, when the base finishes rotating, it rings loudly to let you know the process is complete -- and that your eggs are done boiling.

GoPro’s 16-Camera 360° Rig is Called the Odyssey and Will Cost $15,000

Back in May, Google announced "JUMP", a new technology standard aimed at creating fully immersive content for virtual reality. At the time, Google showed off a demo camera rig that utilized over 16 separate GoPros. The folks over at GoPro have finally decided to release a production version of the apparatus that'll be available for purchase. Called the Odyssey panoramic capture rig, it features 16 synchronized GoPro HERO4 Black cameras recording 8K video at 30fps.

Kodak PixPro SP360 4K: A 360-Degree Action Camera

JK Imaging has announced the latest in their series of Kodak-brand action cameras. The new PixPro SP360 4K is a 12MP action camera with the ability to take 360-degree spherical images or 4K HD video up to 2028x2028 at 50fps. Positioned as a successor to the original SP360, the SP360 4K is promising to deliver higher resolution video and a 720p 120fps slow-motion capture mode.

Ricoh Theta S: A New 360° Spherical Camera With Live Streaming

Ricoh has announced the new Theta S, the latest in the company’s lineup of 360-degree cameras. The Theta S features two 12 MP sensors that interpolate with each other to output high-resolution 14.4 MP spherical still images or full 1080p HD video at 30fps. The device is also capable of streaming live video via its built-in USB or HDMI port and is compatible with Google’s Street View technology.

Roundme Offers Virtual Tours of The World Through 360-Degree Photos

We are on the fringe of widespread virtual reality that can truly captivate our minds and take us places we've only dreamt about. Services such as Roundme continue to bring these worlds a step closer every day. By utilizing a network of 360-degree imagery and a platform designed for professionals, advanced virtual tours are only a tap away.

The Nokia OZO is a Spherical Camera for Capturing VR Imagery

Nokia has announced that they will be releasing ‘OZO’, the first commercially available virtual reality camera, later this year. The company says the device has been “designed and built for professional content creators, and [is] the first in a planned portfolio of digital media solutions.” The unit features eight synchronized global shutter sensors, eight integrated microphones for spatial audio, and a design reminiscent of the Star Wars training remote.

Sphericam 2: 4K 60FPS 360-Degree Video Optimized for Oculus VR

With every report of virtual reality news, we seem to step closer and closer to a world such as the one depicted in Ernest Cline’s Science Fiction novel, Ready Player One. Today is no exception as we report on the new Sphericam 2: a 4K 360-degree video camera for transporting minds through the power of audio and video. The product, launched by Jeffery Martin, is on Kickstarter looking to meet its $150,000 goal, and it is almost there thanks to 130 generous backers thus far.