On a recent trip to Japan I was able to experiment with 360Rize’s Pro6 360 degree camera rig. Though I didn’t quite get the quality of captures I was hoping for, I still ended up learning a lot about the process of capturing and creating 360 degree video. This is in no way a complete list of tips for shooting in 360 degrees. There are already many blogs, from far more qualified writers about that. This should be considered more an addendum specific to my goals and my experiences.

I particularly want to explore timelapse photography in this new dimension. What experiencing timelapses in 360 degrees would be like, and how best to capture it. I love timelapse photography and am especially intrigued by the idea of time flow all around me. Taking my 2D experiences and applying them to a whole new dimension was and is something I look forward to exploring.

Also, please forgive the water marks. It turns out the license for the stitching software remains prohibitively expensive for my hobbyist experiments.

360RIZE Pro6 Bullet360 Holder

The Camera Rig

First off let’s talk about the rig. The Pro6 Bullet360 is a six camera rig which supports the GoPro Hero 4/3+/3. In terms of camera rigs, this one is particularly approachable for an enthusiast. Both in terms of cost and complexity. Especially now that these kinds of systems are entering the rental market.

Operating the Pro6 was fairly straight forward. Boiling down to individually configuring the camera settings and then hitting the record button on the remote. The only issue I ran into was an incorrectly connected cable. The only sign of which was one of the cameras not being turned on in series with the others. But otherwise the rig itself was pretty straight forward and user friendly.

This was also my first time using a GoPro as a timelapse camera. The little cameras are great, but I sure was hurting for the familiar control my normal camera provides. Problem is, there isn’t exactly a whole lot of DSLR 360 camera rigs out just yet.