At the F8 conference, Facebook showed a camera able to shoot a 360-degree panoramic video. The device, resembling a flying saucer, is equipped with 17-th camera, mounted on a monopod. Unlike many currently existing self-made or commercial VR-rigs, it requires a minimum of work with the footage. Solutions popular right now require installation of several action cameras GoPro with a long and dreary switching of them. Afterwards, the author will be long and painfully synchronize the footage with timecode or sound on postproduction.
Facebook has no plans to produce and sell 360 Surround camera by its own. Instead, drawings of harware and software algorithms will be available in open access on Github. The price of all the components will be about $ 30 thousand.
"We have no ambitions to conquer the cameras production business, but we understand that there is a need for a good prototype device" - says Chris Cox, head of the product development at Facebook. According to him, this is why Facebook Surround 360 is an open source-product.
The camera is primarily intended for professionals in the creation of video content. There is no need to talk about how Facebook is interested in increasing amount of new content: the social network supports 360-degree video in its feed, and also promotes virtual reality specs Oculus Rift.
Mark Zuckerberg’s social network is not the first company that has developed a high-quality 360-degree camera. In September last year, GoPro together with Google released the Odyssey camera, consisting of 16 cameras. It costs $ 15 thousand. Another similar product is Nokia Ozo, available for sale in the last month at the price of $ 60 thousand.
Facebook’s solution for stereoscopic shooting boasts with 17,4-megapixel camera with the ability to shoot in 4K, 6K, and even 8K; downloading data rate of 30 Gbit/sec., the ‘Fisheye’ cameras, proprietary software to "stitch" images from different cameras, which eliminates the cost of post-production.
source: bbc.co.uk
Facebook has no plans to produce and sell 360 Surround camera by its own. Instead, drawings of harware and software algorithms will be available in open access on Github. The price of all the components will be about $ 30 thousand.
"We have no ambitions to conquer the cameras production business, but we understand that there is a need for a good prototype device" - says Chris Cox, head of the product development at Facebook. According to him, this is why Facebook Surround 360 is an open source-product.
The camera is primarily intended for professionals in the creation of video content. There is no need to talk about how Facebook is interested in increasing amount of new content: the social network supports 360-degree video in its feed, and also promotes virtual reality specs Oculus Rift.
Mark Zuckerberg’s social network is not the first company that has developed a high-quality 360-degree camera. In September last year, GoPro together with Google released the Odyssey camera, consisting of 16 cameras. It costs $ 15 thousand. Another similar product is Nokia Ozo, available for sale in the last month at the price of $ 60 thousand.
Facebook’s solution for stereoscopic shooting boasts with 17,4-megapixel camera with the ability to shoot in 4K, 6K, and even 8K; downloading data rate of 30 Gbit/sec., the ‘Fisheye’ cameras, proprietary software to "stitch" images from different cameras, which eliminates the cost of post-production.
source: bbc.co.uk
