Show HN: I invented, built, and released a 360º Video Camera.

artursapek · on Dec 14, 2012

This video https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=07YMliQ4iqE is some of the weirdest cinematography I've ever seen.

nakedrobot2 · on Dec 14, 2012

Thank you :-) I was excited to fly Sphericam on a strong octocopter flown by a couple of very skilled operators. It was a lucky event.

This video shows the spherical image with a rather different geometry than we are used to - it's called "stereographic" projection (not to be confused with "stereoscopic" wich is the quasi-3d effect in Avatar for example)

It's sometimes easier to see a world map in these projections to understand it better. Here: https://www.google.com/search?num=10&hl=en&site=imgh...

bdwalter · on Dec 14, 2012

Interesting, these guys have been building 360 cameras for years, but in a clearly different space.

http://www.imoveinc.com/geoview.php

nakedrobot2 · on Dec 14, 2012

Hi bdwalter. Yes there are a number of companies in the military space making 360º cameras. Generally these are built for a different use case and often cost 10-100x what Sphericam costs. This is generally the rule with medical and military equipment - it needs to be "overengineered" to withstand exceptionally demanding environments without fail because lives may be on the line (99.9999 vs. 99.9 uptime, and all that). Not to say that Sphericam isn't built to take a beating - it is - but I wouldn't yet want to make the kind of guarantees required to sell it as a military solution. Not this iteration, anyway - a ruggedized (throwable! flying! lasers!) version is certainly doable in the future!