This little camera is impressive. It's about the size of a GoPro (or smaller), and it records a 360º wraparound in 4K. Granted, I haven't been too interested in 360 video because I'm not the biggest fan of having to watch a video with VR headware. However, there's an aspect of 360 video that I hadn't considered until I found this little guy: REFRAMING.
What is Reframing?
Reframing is the ability to take a 360 video source and choose what out of it to frame as a standard 16x9 video frame. This is much like the old "pan & scan" technique when widescreen movies were released on the old 4x3 square SDTV's, except 360 gives you the ability to choose from the entire environment. In other words, you don't have to worry about where the camera is pointed, because it gets EVERYTHING.
Another advantage - and probably the feature which excites me the most about this technology - is the ability to do post-production stabilization. Because the camera is equipped with a gyroscope, it has the ability to record the camera's physical motion while recording in order to perfectly balance the horizon - all without a gimbal. It can also track objects with amazing precision.
Both of these features are very interesting to me especially when referring to my fantasy road trip, which I still very much dream about every day now. I've also been intrigued with the idea of using this when geocaching, which I've recently become fascinated by.
You can also do the "tiny planet" videos with this thing. :)
And you can do silky-smooth hyperlapses and bullettime!!
All of the clip-rendering happens on your mobile device (both iOS & Android) using Rylo's app, which is awesome. The reframing on a mobile device is so much easier than on a desktop. Once the clips are rendered, they can be easily transferred to a computer to be edited using your favorite non-linear desktop editor, such as Premier, Final Cut, or Sony Vegas.
It may take me a little while before I can get my hands on one of these, and that might be a good thing. By the time I'm ready, hopefully they'll have a new & improved model.
