360 degree walk through video is here

30th December 2017
360 degree walk through video is here
360 degree cameras from left: Insta 360, Rocoh theta and Samsung Gear 360

TECH DIRECTIONS 2018 - 3

Taking photos at events such as weddings or birthdays and revisiting them in Virtual Reality as if youwere one of the guests will be commonplace in a few years
Bangalore, December 30 2017: It's time to say hello to  360 degree panoramic photos and video... all round images you can create  and then walk through, long after. Here's how:
Not too many camera and phone makers are talking about it, but 360 degree  shooting  has crept upon us, unheralded. Photos and videos captured with a 360 camera offer  a stunningly immersive way to see places You  can enjoy a full spherical view, around you, above and below you Most recent mobile phones  can display 360 media  and use  special  internal sensors to act as a sort of moving window into your photos/videos. You load the image, then move the phone to see the image as if you’re inside it. It’s  a unique view of the world -- and you are at the centre! But first you need to generate that 360 degree still or video image.  Cameras to do this are already available in India on online sites like Amazon and e-bay.
The market leader in 360 degree cams seems to the Japanese company Ricoh which has  multiple models in the Ricoh Theta series, shooting basic HD to full 4K video. They are all slim, lightweight  easy to handhold  made-for-dummies devices  with dual fish-eye lenses capture all of  the  surroundings with a simple push of a button. You can capture up to 5 minutes of 360° video, which can then be transferred and viewed directly on to your mobile device or uploaded directly to social media sites such as Facebook. Prices range from Rs 25,000 to Rs 50,000.  If you have never experiences 360 degree imagery, a good place to start is Ricoh's online gallery of samples  at https://theta360.com/en/gallery.|
Samsung   has launches its own 360 degree camera, the Gear 360, which  sells online for around  Rs 30,000.   All these are stand alone cameras.
The big jump has come from Chinese spherical video technology company Shenzhen Akashi Vision whose Insta 360 cameras are the world's tiniest  in this class, the size of a ping pong ball and weighing about 25 grams. The company has a model for professionals -- the Insta Pro that cost  over $ 3500. But for you and me, they have  models that plug into a mobile camera and turn it into a 360 degree video and still  shooter. The Insta Air  is for Android phones, The Insta Nano, for iPhones. Both have a recessed micro USB connector which plugs into the matching port on the phone and voila! the required software pops up on your screen, lets you start shooting and stitches the images together in real time. It's very easy to use and lets you instantly  share 360 videos or still photos on Facebook, YouTube, Twitter, WhatsApp, Messenger, WeChat etc. Insta Air  is quoted online for as low as Rs 8000.
One  home grown industry can be expected to embrace  360 degree cameras in 2018:  Expect many  event  videographers to shoot in 360 and record every event  so that you can upload to your friends  and provide them the unique feel of walking through every ceremony in intimate detail, without ever being there! Goodbye photo albums and wedding DVDs. Hello  walkthrough video!