360 degree cameras such as Ricoh Theta

[MarkWalberg]

I just learned that these exist. They look like a lot of fun. Opposed fisheye lenses that each cover a bit more than 180 degrees, thereby making a picture of everything. I remember reading many years ago about a guy who strapped two Nikon SLRs together back to back, each with a big fisheye lens to do this.

Has anyone here used the Ricoh Theta cameras or the Insta 360 cameras. I'm interested to know what your experience was with them. The few images I've seen are fascinating. They must require some software to view, but it looks like one can move their point of view within the 3D picture. A very cool picture is a guy riding his bicycle with the entire planet earth included below him in space.

 

[shawn]

I have a Rylo 360 and the Theta X. They are certainly interesting cameras. The Rylo's software makes it very good as a video camera as the stablization is great. It also lets you pick a subject to track (over 360 degrees) and it will let you export that as a more traditional video. Or to set points in the 360 over time that it will 'pan' to for export as a traditional video.

The Theta is a better camera. You can view in 360 or you can flatten the 360 image which can give very interesting perspectives.

Sites like Flickr will let you show the full 360 image too.

Example here.

Their software can also do like a motion tour video from a single image which is trippy. You can have it capture the whole 360 at once or set it to take one side then delay a few seconds before taking the other side. That lets you move out of the cameras video so you aren't in the image. Those shots above are done that way.

I either use a little light stand (that basically collapses into a small tube) to hold it or a very tall monopod with legs for high angle shots. You can control the Theta remotely from your phone or just set it for a time lapse, with or without the delay to let you move from side to side. It eats batteries.

Having said that, I don't use them very often so think about how and when you would use it