Blog

In the 360 camera world there’s always been a trade-off. If you want a compact camera that is ready for action, your resolution and image quality will be limited. That may all change with this next generation of cameras. Kandao’s Qoocam 8K is the first 360 camera to deliver 8K resolution and 10bit video in a small form factor, weighing only about 19g more than a GoPro Fusion.

In the past year, 360 Labs has brought our immersive documentary about the world’s oldest drag queen, Through Darcelle’s Eyes, to hundreds of viewers at over a dozen in-person VR screening events in our local community. Our goal is to connect with diverse audiences that may not have access to or prior awareness of VR, in order to share this heartwarming film with them.

If you haven’t heard of it, EarthX is pretty much the largest environmental conference in the world. Every April, around Earth Day, Dallas Texas becomes a hub of activity for students, activists, businesses, innovators, scientists, farmers and more – all with a goal of working towards a sustainable future for our planet. We couldn’t think of a more perfect platform for 360 Labs’ environmentally driven films. Since the very early days when we experimented with the 360 video medium, in 2012 when 360 Labs was just an idea, we always dreamed about how messages like these could have such incredible impact in this new immersive format. We were honored to be given the opportunity to screen our VR films at EarthxInteractive this year.

Watching 360 video content in a VR headset provides a sense of immersion that brings the experience to a completely different level, but even today, the majority of 360 video content is watched on hand-held mobile devices. That’s unfortunate, but we totally get it. There’s a whole gaggle of VR products and phone holding devices, all of them offer a different, sometimes frustrating user experience. Since we’ve been dealing with this for years, we’ve put together some of our recommendations on making this process simple and enjoyable, as it should be!

Not all VR video experiences are created alike. When we ask our clients if they need stereoscopic or monoscopic 360 video, we’re often met with blank stares or silence on the other end of the line. This isn’t a surprise given the rapidly changing technology and the new advancements we read about almost every week. It’s hard to keep up! We know it can be difficult to wrap your head around how these formats work and decide which one might be the best for your project, especially if you haven't seen a concise comparison in a headset. To help inform these decisions, we’ve created the following simple guide.