For true panoramic images, toss this camera in the air (opens in new tab)

(news.cnet.com)

49 pointsTzunamitom12y ago16 comments

16 comments

14 comments · 6 top-level

deletes12y ago· 3 in thread

It's a camera you throw in the air and it takes a panoramic picture of the surrounding area.

The actual Indiegogo site: http://www.indiegogo.com/projects/panono-panoramic-ball-came...

evan_12y ago

I don't think it's 3D, it's just a panoramic image you can scroll around.

gngeal12y ago

Why not 3D, in fact, if it had accelerometers and gyroscopes? Just throw it at around 45 degrees of elevation, capture photos during flight at a few fps, and post-process the results for a 3D scene reconstruction. (You'd have to design it much more durable for that mode of operation, of course.)

1 more reply

deletes12y ago

Fixed; it would be cool if it took several shoots instead. Or even better, put cameras in there instead and throw the ball around while recording.

jebus98912y ago· 3 in thread

It's a very cool product but panoramas still look awkward and awful to me.

sp33212y ago

Is it the really curvy bits at the bottom that bother you? You can fix it by using a different projection when rendering the spherical image to a flat surface.

jebus98912y ago

Yeah in general the warping and disconnect from our normal perceptions; I'd rather just see a wide-shot landscape than something distorted and alien.

But I take your point, I have seen some that have been well-corrected and look pretty normal so I believe that it's doable.

1 more reply

nakedrobot212y ago

the image quality leaves a bit to be desired... decoding raw images from sensor components is not a trivial thing. Hopefully the funding from indiegogo will go partly towards improving that.

vanni12y ago· 2 in thread

Original website from 2011: http://jonaspfeil.de/ballcamera

ChuckMcM12y ago

I thought I had seen it before. So it was patent pending in 2011, guess it takes a while in Germany too.

One of the downsides of the new Kickstarter/Indiegogo etc world is I keep seeing article on new "products" which don't exist yet. Interesting that the time to print time has shortened and now come inside the 'time to produce' margin. I think we need some backup words for these things, like "Possibly a new camera that can take panoramas"

svantana12y ago

Well to be fair, the camera exists, you just can't buy it yet. But perhaps it would be good to have some way of differentiating headlines about buyable products from prototypes/research projects etc.

dotBen12y ago

This isn't really a new idea - the military already have versions of these that they can throw into a room or inclosed space to gain optics on it upon before entering it to clear it. They also have versions that can be launched over a longer distance via grenade launcher.

eg http://www.epicos.com/epicos/extended/switzerland/macroswiss...

Fuzzwah12y ago

I dream of a weighted version of this which I can use while skydiving.

IE: like a spaceball https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sRUoe1nPxOE

micampe12y ago

A similar project, that also supports live video http://bublcam.com

j / k navigate · click thread line to collapse

16 comments

14 comments · 6 top-level

deletes12y ago· 3 in thread

It's a camera you throw in the air and it takes a panoramic picture of the surrounding area.

The actual Indiegogo site: http://www.indiegogo.com/projects/panono-panoramic-ball-came...

evan_12y ago

I don't think it's 3D, it's just a panoramic image you can scroll around.

gngeal12y ago

1 more reply

deletes12y ago

Fixed; it would be cool if it took several shoots instead. Or even better, put cameras in there instead and throw the ball around while recording.

jebus98912y ago· 3 in thread

It's a very cool product but panoramas still look awkward and awful to me.

sp33212y ago

Is it the really curvy bits at the bottom that bother you? You can fix it by using a different projection when rendering the spherical image to a flat surface.

jebus98912y ago

Yeah in general the warping and disconnect from our normal perceptions; I'd rather just see a wide-shot landscape than something distorted and alien.

But I take your point, I have seen some that have been well-corrected and look pretty normal so I believe that it's doable.

1 more reply

nakedrobot212y ago

the image quality leaves a bit to be desired... decoding raw images from sensor components is not a trivial thing. Hopefully the funding from indiegogo will go partly towards improving that.

vanni12y ago· 2 in thread

Original website from 2011: http://jonaspfeil.de/ballcamera

ChuckMcM12y ago

I thought I had seen it before. So it was patent pending in 2011, guess it takes a while in Germany too.

svantana12y ago

Well to be fair, the camera exists, you just can't buy it yet. But perhaps it would be good to have some way of differentiating headlines about buyable products from prototypes/research projects etc.

dotBen12y ago

eg http://www.epicos.com/epicos/extended/switzerland/macroswiss...

Fuzzwah12y ago

I dream of a weighted version of this which I can use while skydiving.

IE: like a spaceball https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sRUoe1nPxOE

micampe12y ago

A similar project, that also supports live video http://bublcam.com

j / k navigate · click thread line to collapse