Capture Every Awesome Moment in 360 Degrees with This Action Camera
Homkm 360 Degree Action Camera for VR Review
Buy it at Amazon: Homkm 360 Degree Action Camera for VR [Affiliate Link]
Takeaway: Budget priced, w/low-med video resolution and avg sound, but fun intro to 360 video/photos. Half-hemispherical output.
The action camera comes with a number of accessories for mounting including a waterproof housing. The dome lens on top records 360 degrees laterally with a 220 degree field of view (FOV). Because it's a single lens camera, the final video will end up with a fairly large blind spot of everything below the lens. The unit comes with a battery pre-installed but a memory card is NOT included. It can accept cards with a capacity of up to 64 GB.
The software recommended to use the camera is XDV360 available for Android, iOS and Windows desktops/laptops. Connecting over WiFi was straightforward and there is a WiFi mode shortcut by pressing the menu up key. At 2K, the highest resolution of 2448 x 2448 @ 30 fps, each 1 minute file takes up about 200 MB so you'll be able to get about 2.5 hours of footage on a 32 GB card. The battery, however, will only last about 1.5 on a full charge.
The resulting video files are interesting to watch and I found that they're best when the camera is stationary or mounted to a tripod at about chest to shoulder level in a brightly lit scene. Subjects should also stand about 2-5 feet away to be seen clearly. Any closer and there's significant distortion; any farther away and it will be hard to see them. Keep in mind the 2K resolution refers to the whole recorded image, so when you end up viewing the file, say in a VR headset, you're only looking at a small portion of the footage which may make the image look grainy and pixelated. I also found that the camera doesn't perform very well in low light conditions.
Photos/video need to be converted if you want to post to social media and use panning/rotation. I used 360Fly Director on my PC to convert the spherical video files to eqirectanguler projection and add the necessary metadata. The final results are very cool and lets you and others see your photos and videos in a whole new way.
Buy it at Amazon: Homkm 360 Degree Action Camera for VR [Affiliate Link]
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