[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=7_yiwfTlP8Y#at=50]
A few years ago in Prague I met a guy named Jeffrey Martin who is one of the world’s best panoramic photographers. At that time he had a bunch of weird hardware that took mostly panoramic photos but he’s since branched out to video, building his own methods for capturing 360-degree scenes. The Sphericam is his invention and it looks pretty amazing.
The project is now on Kickstarter and for $599 you can get the entry-level model which includes:
More expensive units include more features topping out at $2,000 for a unit with WiFi streaming and a huge battery for field reporting. Obviously this isn’t for the the dabbler, but it’s still cool that you can get a device that essentially videos an entire environment for less than a price of an entry-level DSLR.
The device takes 1280×1024 video using four 640×512 cameras with 170-degree fisheye lenses. It records directly onto an SD card (or via the network) and includes a small monitor. Jeffrey is doing the engineering in Prague and hopes to commercialize the technology after completing the Kickstarter. He’s off to a very good start.
Why would you want this? Well, you can grab some odd and clever effects like this fisheye video of, well, fish.
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=v763Dd7EjQY]
You can also take wild video like the bike ride above, which is perfect if you’re making something to show at your next rave or LSD-ingesting party. He’s looking for $10,000, which shouldn’t be hard considering the pricing.
You can check out the Sphericam project here and look at more video.