The First 360° Neckband Wearable Camera

[Jon1989]

Check this out https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/467094941/fitt360-the-first-360-neckband-wearable-camera?ref=di...

I saw this on kickstarter, and couldn't help but think of the possibilities this could have for Local Guides.  I'd love to walk all over the place capturing 360 pictures without the odd looks I sometimes get when setting up and 360 camera, or walking in a circle to get a 360 picture..

What are your thoughts on it?

[JeslynL]

😮 Great for videos - no doubt! I am no pro at this so I'm curious - are 360 videos more ideal than a 360 image? Given that the maximum duration of a video uploaded to Maps is 30 seconds. 

Moving this to Photography because I imagine the folks on the board would looove to read about this. 

[BoLorentzen]

Cool concept and probably great for some action cam video.

But the grand canyon sample shows the problems with the system for getting 360panos.   the top and bottom sphere are severely compromised. 
Best case scenario is a tall necked guy with shaved head,   if you got much hair its going to be all over the back camera, and wearing anything but a tight t-shirt will obstruct the front camera.. 

The tripod street sample is even not perfect with a black spot up and down.  

Also since the cameras are fairly far from each other, you will get some significant stitching issues. (regardless what the sample videos on KickStarter look like, remember sample pictures and videos on these sites are famously doctored and shot with different equipment 90% of the time)

Like I said, love the concept, but strongly doubt its viability in real life conditions.  

   Bo

[StephenAbraham]

@BoLorentzen Absolutely agree with your thoughts here. I saw the video and whilst it seems like a interesting concept. the shoulders, head, hair, back will all get in the way for a big portion of the sphere. And stitching will probably remove a lot of the volume near the person himself. Although, a cropped traditional 16:9 video output would certainly work, like the overcapture of GoPro Fusion and the freecapture of Insta360. 

[Jon1989]

@BoLorentzen Do you ever watch Casey Neistat videos on youtube?  He says this in a lot of his videos "The best camera is the one you have with you"

He has tons of different cameras, some are externally expensive and high end, and some are just cell phone cameras.  And sometimes like when he runs a marathon he'll just Vlog using his cell phone camera; because it's portable and lightweight and it's what he has with him.

That sort of how I feel about this 360° Neckband Wearable Camera.  Yes there are better options out there if your only goal is the very best resolution and if you're worried about the sky and the ground.  And yes there are better options if you're willing to spend time setting up, and lugging around heavy equipment.  But for convenience and portability the 360° Neckband Wearable Camera looks great.

I mean given the choice between A: A 360 picture that's missing the floor and sky, or B: No picture at all, because the person doesn't want to carry around equipment all day.  I'd always go with choice A.

[BoLorentzen]

Hey @Jon1989   totally agree with you about that.   same reason my inspire2 flies a lot less than my mavic 😉

That said,  mostly because we are kinda in the business of creating 360 content,   i would probably not pick up this particular camera,  I have a ThetaV that rides in my backpack and can be deployed in about 30 seconds and create a not perfect but quite acceptable shot, you could say the ThetaV is my iPhone for spherical at the very least...   But thats must me.

   Bo