Future of photography
We’ve seen panoramic photographs which stitches the photos and brings a 180 degree view. And fish eye lenses bring a distorted spherical view. Beating all these comes the new era of Virtual Reality, not just the videos, VR photos are taking the internet into a storm. To explain in simple terms it brings a 360 degree view when rotated. You can view the photo as if you were really standing still in that location. This is made possible by capturing and stitching a series of images shot with a VR camera where the camera is mounted in a fixed position, or it can also be made using softwares available for computers.
VR brings the immersive feel that nothing ever can. You get into a different world without paying a visit. There are plenty of VR photos available on the internet. Ranging from the wonders of the world to scary houses and places you can never imagine. It brings out how beautiful the world is and why it has to be captured.
VR GLASS
To view the VR photos the device (smartphone or computer) should be capable to view VR content and VR glasses are a must. There are many companies which have invested in VR and come with wonderful technologies. For example HTC Vive, Oculus Rift, Samsung Gear, Sony playstation VR, Microsoft HoloLens, Google Daydream and the cheapest Google Cardboard.
HARDWARE
To capture VR photos there are plenty of cameras in the market like the Nokia Ozo which costs a whooping $60,000.
Go Pro Omni comes at a cost of $5000 it comes equipped with six cameras, stitching software and other accessories like smart remote, data cables and memory cards.
Facebook Surround 360 comes at a price of $30,00. It comes equipped with 17 cameras. The other hardware and software is publicly made available in the internet. Yet the information regarding the sales have not been announced yet.
And there are also reasonable ones like the Samsung Gear 360 which cost only around $350 which comes with 15 megapixels, aperture 2.0. It can also be used to take super wide videos.
Or the Kodak PIXPRO SP360 which comes at a cost of $279 which helps you to capture photos with a quality of 1080p.
Nikon Key Mission 360, it comes with 20 megapixels sensors and an aperture of 2.0. It has got some exciting features as well, it is waterproof upto 98 feet, shockproof upto 6.6 feet and withholds temperature to the max of 14 degree F.
LG 360 Cam comes at a very less price compared to its competitors in the market at a price of $199. It comes with 13 megapixel sensors, 200 degree wide angle cameras.
There is no doubt that Virtual Reality is the next big thing. And as the year 2016 has almost come to an end, we’ve seen many Tech Giants launching their own Virtual Reality cameras and VR enabled devices. Now the smartphones available around Rs 10,000 too has some VR features. For example the Lenovo K4 and K5 note which comes with Theatre Max and the ANT VR GLASS which comes along with it as a bundle package is available just for Rs.500. In coming years the prices of the VR cameras too would drop down when all the Camera Giants venture into VR and as the technology develops it would be made available the prosumers too at reasonable prices. And yes the sci-fi movies we watched as kids are becoming real. Go get your VR glasses and jump into the world you’ve never been into.
