OIT recently purchased the new Nano 360 360-degree still and video camera by Insta360. This camera seems like a game changer in bringing a new level of user-friendliness to the world of 360 cameras.
By integrating with your iPhone (version 6 and above), it essentially allows you the kind of control in previewing and reviewing your work that you have with regular photos and videos on your iPhone. There is the added intermediary of an app, and having to export the photos and videos from the camera to your iPhone camera roll one by one, but the process still seems at least to this reviewer an order of magnitude easier than shooting blind and then having to manually attach the camera to a computer and upload files manually.
[youtube width=”640″ height=”360″]https://youtu.be/-LcM48oTK68[/youtube]
With the addition of a MicroSD card (up to 64GB), and a little studying about what the different colored LED lights mean and what’s the difference between one click and a double click of the single button that the camera has, you can use the camera without the use of the iPhone monitor, but the magic of the Nano 360 is definitely in the iPhone integration.
[youtube width=”640″ height=”360″]https://youtu.be/t9Uq6xJTlO0[/youtube]
In the near future we’ll be using this camera and others to explore potential workflows for live immersive 360 streaming, so expect another update soon.
General word of warning about this and virtually any other 360 camera–make sure not to set the camera down on a hard surface without specifically covering the lens with a soft cloth. The lenses, one on each side of the camera, are the most prominent part of the camera and can easily be scratched.
