Plus you have the flexibility of shooting bracketed shots or HDR. The sensor size is really the key here. The sensors on these can either be full-frame or APSC but provide a much higher quality and resolution count than these regular all-in-one 360 cameras. For the highest quality 360 images, you want to go with a traditional DSLR or mirrorless cameras. Google sees this as a point-and-shoot camera and one that creates cool, engaging content, but it only has a 180-degree field of view. Now, on the back side of the camera, there is no lens and that's fine.
These two lenses are eye-width and essentially what happens is it can be used to create photo or video content, but it easily works in 3D. This is from Google, and you'll notice that there are two lenses that are about similar to the distance of a pair of human eyeballs. Another new format that's quite popular is the VR180 system. The only drawback is that you're not getting as high as a resolution as a regular camera. These kind of cameras are great because since it does internal stitching, the processing power is actually really fast. So if you're interested in social media or quick publishing, these save you a step, but they do sometimes mean slightly lower image quality. Other cameras like the YI that you see here, and the one from Insta360 only use a single memory card and produce files that are more easily and ready to share right out of the camera. Some cameras like the GoPro Fusion are actually writing to two separate memory cards which leads to a higher quality signal, and additional flexibility during post, but it does add another step. And internally, they're able to stitch together to create your 360 image. What they do is they actually take video on both sides of the camera, they have two sensors. These are the more consumer kind of cameras. One of the more common cameras nowadays is actually two-lens cameras. But it provides fewer points of failure with just a single camera. This type of technology is a bit older, and has been around for more than two decades. Instead of combining two images, one image has to be stretched into a 360-degree image. That's because it's shooting into a curved mirror and the image is unwrapped in post. When you shoot with these types of cameras, it's really the lowest type of VR solution. Now, older types of these cameras were useful for shooting just stills and the newer ones are capable of stills and video. Essentially what happens is it allows you to shoot into a parabolic mirror and then the image is unwrapped. These types of VR technology are fairly old, or based on older standards. First up are the single-lens camera solutions. So let's talk about a couple of different types of cameras. But really what it comes down to are your resolution goals, and what is it that you're trying to accomplish when shooting. It basically allows you to pair the camera and use your smartphone or tablet to actually stream the data live. And this works really well because platforms like YouTube and Facebook support live VR streaming with a supported device. You can use this for concerts, grand openings, or just to show off a business.
Some 360 cameras actually offer live streaming. And of course, there are other features that a VR camera can support.
As such, maybe some compromises need to be made. Or maybe you need to balanced approach that does a great job of capturing both photos and videos. Are you looking to capture video? Well, that might be the type of camera that you favor and some of the VR cameras are stronger when it comes to video than others. Do you only need to capture photos? If so, you might be able to get by with a traditional DSLR or mirrorless camera. There are a few things you need to think about. Let's talk about some of the criteria you might use when choosing a VR camera.