360° Video option?

[gearbow]

I am looking for a decent 360° video option for undrwater at a cost that will not break the bank. I am wondering if anyone has had any luck with any decent video. I could probably jerry-rig some filters to better the color.

I'm seeing only 2 1/2 stars for the Nikon KeyMission. It being mostly a software issue.

 

[lermontov]

google box fish 360 camera don't know what its like cost wise but Ive dived witth the guy who developing it and its pretty awesome

 

[3D diver]

I'm making 360 View videos with two pairs of Kodak SP360 4K's. They don't have a wide enough field of view, under water, for perfect stitching, but they're good enough, IMHO. The Key Mission, and Kodak Orbit360 4K look interesting, but I haven't seen how they perform underwater and they are only 25 FPS at 4K.

Issues with the SP360 4K's are battery life and heat. The only run about 45 to 50 minutes & my dives are typically about an hour, so I bought two pairs. I shoot with one pair 'til the batteries run low and switch to the second pair. They run hot, which promote fogging, so I'm using 4 no-fog strips in each housing.

PS. Wow that Boxfish 360 camera looks impressive. Genlocked cameras is the way to go, if affordable.

Boxfish Research - developer of the first mini submersible specifically for filmmakers, scientists, educators, and explorers.

PPS: You can make a 3-camera SP360 rig using this fixture from Shapeways. I haven't gone down this path yet because of the expense of getting the individual camera housings and stitching software needed.

Kodak 3-Cam Mount for Underwater Housing by sebhag on Shapeways

 

[kevjli]

The boxfish camera is out of my price range. They list it at $15,000. Their sample videos look nice.

 

[gearbow]

Yeah so far it looks as if there are no affordable options that are worth investing in. The Nikon looks great but they would have to come up with a hardware or software solution to make it work underwater without the banding issues. Maybe another year or two. The Gopro soloution is great but not worth the $5000.00 investment. Also the BoxFish looks amazing but again not worth the $15,000.00 USD for the enthusiast . But get yourself a pair of Google Cardboard VR glasses for no more than 15.00 USD to see the potential. I like just watching regular youtube videos on it. Much nicer with 4k content though.

 

[gearbow]

I'm making 360 View videos with two pairs of Kodak SP360 4K's. They don't have a wide enough field of view, under water, for perfect stitching, but they're good enough, IMHO. The Key Mission, and Kodak Orbit360 4K look interesting, but I haven't seen how they perform underwater and they are only 25 FPS at 4K.

Got any examples and maybe a picture of your set up?

 

[3D diver]

Here's a link to my 360 view playlist.

360 view - YouTube

The oldest ones (without music) were done with the first generation SP360's, the rest were done with this setup:

GoPro 3D rig on top. Two sets of SP360 4K's in underwater dual housings below.

I did one video using a tripod, but the fish don't like to wait for me to set it up.

 

[gearbow]

Dude you you and I seem to be two pees in a pod, lol. check out my rig in the video. Although I was filming with the selfie stick you can see the set-up I have. These 360° set up would be right up my alley!

 

[gearbow]

Here's a link to my 360 view playlist.

360 view - YouTube

The oldest ones (without music) were done with the first generation SP360's, the rest were done with this setup:

View attachment 400675

GoPro 3D rig on top. Two sets of SP360 4K's in underwater dual housings below.

I did one video using a tripod, but the fish don't like to wait for me to set it up.

Great set up, what are you using there for buoyancy? I could use a little more buoyancy on my rig. What is the best time to dive in your area?

 

[3D diver]

Divinycell 100. It's almost in-compressible PVC foam. My rig is 8 to 10 lbs on land (depending on which light/float combination I use) but is neutral at depth. The mass helps stabilize the video & the floats help the rig maintain a vertical orientation.

Here's a web site about using it for DIY floats:

DIY Underwater Camera Floats & Strobe Arm Floats

Here's the web site I bought it from. The sheets I used are toward the bottom of the list:

DIVINYCELL FOAM PVC from Aircraft Spruce

Oh, BTW, there are a lot of 3D videos on my channel too. Are you using H2's or H3+B's?