Field of view(degress): 360 x 360
Phone Support: Android, iPhone,desktop app
Water resistance: 30 meters
Battery life: 1.5hours
Storage/Microsd: 64GB/Support
No question about it—the popularity of 360-degree video and imagery is exploding, and it’s no coincidence that the new boom arrives smack-dab in 2017’s virtual reality revolution. Today, anyone can view 360-degree images and video in a browser, smartphone, tablet, or headset, and YouTube’s 360-degree Videos Channel and Facebook’s 360 community have become major destinations for immersive and streaming content.
The first wave of 360-degree cameras has arrived, and they let you record everything going on around you at once. If you have a VR headset, such as the Gear VR or Google Cardboard, you can enjoy that trip to the Grand Canyon, family birthday party or rockin' concert in virtual reality and really feel as if you were there. Or you can just watch 360 clips on your phone or laptop after uploading them to YouTube or Facebook.
When I started to use the Magicsee P3 360 Camera on a trip,the tiny globe—it looks a bit like a GoPro, a bit like a webcam—captures 360-degree photos and videos using two fish-eye lenses. The result can then be shared with friends online, who can move around inside the image using a mouse, or viewed using a VR headset such as the Samsung Gear VR or Google Cardboard. And it attracts curious people like mosquitoes to a bug zapper.
Most 360 players like Youtube and Facebook compress the video file when you upload. The higher the starting resolution, the better it will look on each site, but it was still significantly worse than the version I had exported onto my desktop and phone.
The Theta videos were the easiest to upload (right from the app), but they also took the biggest hit in terms of picture quality.
But one rookie mistake I made when I first played the videos on these sites was to rely on the default resolution which made them look terrible. Click on the settings icon on Youtube to max out the resolution to 4K if it allows. On Facebook make sure to select the HD option. It makes a huge difference.
Above all we learn to accept the imperfections even if you do everything right things are bound to go wrong when shooting in 360.It seems like everyone from the camera makers to the content creators are still trying to figure out new frontier and you may be better off waiting a few months if you want to get your feet wet in 360. By the end of the year expect the products and the footage to improve significantly.
