Photojournalist Jonas Ginter always wanted to take the idea of the still-2D spherical panoramas and somehow make them in video format. It took him 2 years to develop the idea and tools, but finally last week he achieved his goal. Jonas used a 3D printer to build a special mount that holds 6 GoPro cameras, and placed them as close as possible to each other to make sure they overlap. The result is simply great.
Jonas tried different methods in order to get the desired result. He placed cameras on a turntable, used mirrors to get different angles with one single camera and some other interesting concepts. None achieved the look he was looking for. After 2 years of trials and errors, Jonas built achieved his goal by building a mount that can hold 6 GoPros. The wide view angle of the cameras made it possible to use just 6 cameras to get a full 360° coverage of the scene.
This method of filming can be great for commercials, music videos and marketing videos. I wonder who will be the first big company to hire him for the job. Cheap to build, simple concept, but produces amazing results.
Right now Jonas is looking for people who own cool cars/boats/planes and want to collaborate with him on making new 360° Spherical Panoramas. If you want to reach out to him with your idea or offer your vehicle, contact him here.
[Via Gizmodo and Jonas Ginter]
That IS really cool, but a few weeks ago I came across this same idea, but in the air... Check it out here: https://vimeo.com/88360151
Different effect, certainly, but this one takes the cool factor for me.
The idea isn't new, look at Creative Lemons 360 interactive video: http://www.creativelemons.pt/colorrun/matosinhos/colorrun.html
Are we seriously to believe that this guy developed this all by himself without even noticing that there are multiple companies out there who have been shipping practically identical solutions commercially, and in volume, for almost a year?
That whilst "developing" "his" idea, he never did any research, never Googled the subject, never discovered that people were developing, and talking about, prototypes for this exact thing years ago?
And what about the stitching - did he develop that software himself? No - of course he didn't. He would have used off-the-shelf commercial software that is impossible to purchase without noticing that 360 degree video rigs, based on a cube of 6 GoPro cameras, have existed for ages.
All he's done is copy an existing idea and product. There is nothing original nor revolutionary here.
People have been shooting 360 video (and with respect, it should be said with FAR more impressive results than this) for a long time now.
One of these days bloggers will realise that simply because something has gone viral does not mean it's anything new, original, or revolutionary. You do yourselves a disservice by crediting someone with "developing an idea" who has no right whatsoever to claim such a thing..
Here is the original one made by http://Freedom360.us/shop
I wonder if after all the 3D printing costs if his rig is actually money saving.
Panorama, like a BOSS.
Awesome and so clever!
@gerald_d just out of curiosity, what are the names of some softwares that you would recommend to be able to provide this stitching-ability?
I myself would like to experiment on this type to video :)
Any recommendations would be helpful,
Thanks!
This test was shot using the rig Jonas used from thingiverse. http://io.vni.io/gopro-360-spherical-test