Share your thoughts or experiences with 360 cameras

I did another 130 on WIFI and it went well.

I did a first test interval shooting 8 seconds while walking without stopping during sunset and I am surprised with the acceptable quality of the original pictures. It was not in narrow streets.

http://www.mapillary.com/map/im/WvKusgMtjtde-qndCRjszA/photo

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I also tested the 8 second interval. It works allright while walking out in the open, but then the resolution gets an issue because the interesting objects are relativly far away.

http://www.mapillary.com/map/im/Llv3xELx4eiMgnocuXYckA/photo

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So I have been practicing with the Ricoh Theta S that I will use on my long walk. For now, I have been using a selfie stick holding it high, but as noted above, I am in every shot. I am thinking about cutting a small piece of paper to put between the camera and the selfie stick in just the right position so that I (but almost nothing else) am blocked out from the view. Any thoughts on that?

I think you are using the same camera i borrowed of Mapillary.
Some tips:

  • The selfiestick makes it difficult to keep the camera pointing in the right direction (and that is important even whith a 360 camera. Mounting a small horisontal bar on the stick should make it easier.
  • I also tried mounting a small disc between camera and sefiestick, but thought it was more annoying to have the disc in every picture, just wear a dark baseball cap or cowboy had.
  • Try to adjust the mount so you can connect a usb cable (it should fit). It is nice to keep the battery loaded.
  • I found it is better to hold the stick in the front (around your breast) then on your back.

Would a small disc be less annoying than this? http://www.mapillary.com/map/im/YmbGb5njk6JNdftCaOAVTQ/photo
This is the setup I will use for a 1,000 km walk I’ll start in about a week so I might end up in quite a lot of shots :smile:

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No problem. The less you hide, the better.
The only problem is the picture size.
You could use a rectangular disc :smile:

Interesting testing results @filipc , @Harry and @Ainali . Now the picture quality (namely resolution + capture interval) needs go up one notch and the prices come down another :smile:
But really neat as is already!

Just saw the 360Fly in Denmark at WUPTI... Vi byder dig velkommen på Bilka.dk. In an earlier post I wrote “looks promising and seems to have everything we need” but now I cannot find time lapse photos in the specifications or manuals. The closest in the FAQ is a guide to grab images from recorded video. So unless anybody knows something I don’t, it does not look like a good Mapillary camera.

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What about Gear 360, review are promising http://360camerasforums.com/index.php?/topic/6-samsung-gear-360-reviews/

I think this is best option to 800$

I have been reading a lot about Gear 360. Here are what people say (compared to Ricoh Theta S):

Pros:

  • Best picture and resolution
  • Has an SD card (Ricoh only has 8 GB internal)
  • Many options

Cons:

  • The app only works with some of Samsung high end phones. The basic modes can be changed directly on the camera, but forget about stuff like time lapse interval (important for Mapillary) and image resolution. The app is necessary to get any firmware updates to the camera - one should already improve image quality.
  • Ball shaped - does not fit into a pocket.
  • Much more visible stitching lines than both Ricoh and LG.

I have not been able to dig up reliable information about time lapse, neither timing nor resolution. I don’t know if it will make a video instead of jpgs, only make video resolution or it is full resolution pictures.

I will say: If you have one of the supported phones go Samsung. Else go Ricoh Theta S.

Edit: While Samsung has this very closed platform, Ricoh has a completely open REST API, so developers can easily write a lot of cool software. We could hope that Mapillary would integrate with this API!

360 Rumors claims that the Gear 360 images will only be stitched together if you have a Samsung phone - i.e. it happens in the phone and not the camera. Such a mode would definately make it possible to shoot time lapse far faster, but for a good Mapillary session you might have to keep the phone stitching all night?

I lack a lot of info about Gear 360, but the close ties to a Samsung phone does it for me. I will order a Ricoh Theta S today.

My samples - create with open360.pro prototype…
2k panorams https://goo.gl/PxMF43 (15Gb)
1\8 0-250 original samples https://goo.gl/photos/rysVp7vasMYzxteg7 (5Gb\8)
2\8 251-500 https://goo.gl/photos/cD1FF5aYgwFwyMA4A
3\8 501-750 https://goo.gl/photos/e4DPnBwP54r6kmjj6
4\8 751-1000 https://goo.gl/photos/D31oY5socWDiujkA9
5\8 1000-1250 https://goo.gl/photos/LyTyqYFPYkmN9b5W7
6\8 1251-1500 https://goo.gl/photos/a9FuxQMoYnqs5vFw8
7\8 1501-1750 https://goo.gl/photos/52nrKp1fSpdKogKs7
8\8 1751-2000 https://goo.gl/photos/NvDrtHV4m7PkvNRf8

8 * 1.3Mpx * 60degree (45degree*8=360) - MicroSoft LifeCam
FPS = 1 / (4…5)sek
GPS - not tested ((
OutDoor - not tested ((

…to be continued :smile:

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The Samsung Gear 360 can be used with phones other than the Samsung high end phones.
There are two possibilities:

a) Use the hacked Samsung apps that have the phone check removed

b) Use the Google Streetview mode. This works even with iOS. One drawback: You can’t specify the interval, the default is 8 seconds which is quite slow.

Here’s how to set it up:

  1. Download the google streetview app.
  2. On the Gear 360, hold down the menu button, then use the menu button to select “Google Street View.”
  3. Connect the iPhone to the Gear 360 Wi-fi network. Use the password on the display of the Gear 360.
  4. Launch the Streetview app.
  5. Tap the camera icon (bottom right) to take a picture. Go to the app settings to configure interval photos.

Details for both of these methods are at the 360rumors website.

I ended up getting a Ricoh Theta S (will do a writeup when I have used it a bit more).

One of the main reasons was, that as far as I could see, the firmware could only be updated using the Samsung app. The first firmware update should improve the image quality a lot, But does that work with teh hacked app? Do you know what the maximum timelapse speed is?

I feal quite uncomfortable spending a lot of money on a pice of hardware that I have no official way of using. In Denmark it is price at the same level as the Ricoh Theta S.

@tryl @Mapster Great information and experiments on Gear360. We haven’t ordered our own yet. Is it true that GPS will be written to the photos if we use Samsung’s native camera app and the StreetView app? Will need to check if they will open their API so that we can integrate it to our app as well.

360 Rumors claims that the Samsung camera does not stitch images inside the camera. So if you manage to use their API you will have to stitch them yourself. That explains why they only allow their own expensive phones to be used, because they need hardware acceleration to do the stitching within final time.

Hi there,
I have been testing the Giroptic camera extensively on the Faroe Islands, and it’s great with the 3 batteries that recharge pretty quickly - we could get out a whole day of mapping 6 days in a row.

However, the resolution is not great (we will soon enable original zooming in panos but still it’s not awesome) - https://www.mapillary.com/app/user/peterneubauer?lat=62.103879&lng=-7.6545510000000005&z=17&pKey=62Gg_fT0dPs0u0Mxy6m4AQ&focus=photo and some others.

/peter

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sample shot on camera '‘pseudo’ 360 )))
(windows10 8x-cam dev)

https://mapillary.github.io/mapillary_greenhouse/ctm/kyiv-south

wow, how do you make them? i am having a 360 camera and i don’t like it. either because i don’t know how to properly use it or am not sure. whatever the case, you’ve got amazing stuff out there. someone can help me learning?

MapiCam