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Giroptic's 360cam lets you capture, stream everything around you (hands-on pictures)

A company that specialized in 360-degree cameras for virtual tours goes after consumers with its Kickstarter project (now fully funded), the 360cam.

Joshua Goldman
Managing Editor Josh Goldman is a laptop expert and has been writing about and reviewing them since built-in Wi-Fi was an optional feature. He also covers almost anything connected to a PC, including keyboards, mice, USB-C docks and PC gaming accessories. In addition, he writes about cameras, including action cams and drones. And while he doesn't consider himself a gamer, he spends entirely too much time playing them.
Joshua Goldman
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Small, light, and powerful

The 360cam captures full 360-degree high-definition video at 25fps or 30fps with a resolution of 2,048x1,024 pixels and 4,096x2,048-resolution photos at 3 frames per second.

There are time-lapse and HDR photo modes and all pictures can be geotagged automatically and are Google PhotoSphere compatible.

The 360cam has built-in Wi-Fi that will let you livestream video or remotely control the camera with an iOS or Android app.

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From that to this

The camera has been in development for two years. On the left is the prototype with the finished product on the right.

The camera weighs 6.3 ounces (180g) and measures 2.7 inches high by 2.7 inches wide (6.9x6.9cm).

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Three lenses

There are three, 185-degree fish-eye lenses paired with three, 8-megapixel BSI CMOS sensors. Combined they provide a 360-by-300-degree field of view. All of the image stitching is done in camera and the MP4 video and JPEG images can be viewed with any player or image editor.

There is a proprietary player that will give you the best experience, but the 360cam files are standard equirectangular projections, so you can use most 360-degree video and photo players. They're also compatible with Oculus Rift.

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Removable base

The base has a standard tripod mount. You can remove it to get to the camera's microSD card slot (up to 64GB supported) and a user-replaceable battery.

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Accessories

One of the cooler aspects of the design is that the base can be swapped for other things, such as this lamp socket adapter that will power the camera. You can then set it up in the middle of a party and record the whole thing, or use it as a security camera or baby monitor.

An Ethernet base will also be available that can supply both power and network access so you can stream without worrying about a wireless connection or battery life.

Software and hardware developer kits are available too, if you think up something want to do with the 360cam.

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Goggles

The 360cam is waterproof to 30 feet (10 meters), but to prevent distortion underwater, Giroptic made these goggles for the lenses.

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Microphone check 1, 2, 3

Below each camera lens is a microphone, so the 360cam captures audio for complete surround sound.

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Fully funded

The 360cam Kickstarter is fully funded and will ship in November if things go as planned. Once it hits retail it'll be $500, but you can get one of the first ones out the door for $300.

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