by Stephanie Rudzik
My friends and I were really excited to capture our ski day in 360. The 360fly camera is an action camera similar to the GoPro, but captures a 360 view of all the action that is happening around you. The camera comes with several accessories that let you mount the camera easily to different things. I figured I would get the best and smoothest picture by putting the 360fly on my helmet.
The 360fly phone app lets you preview and review the footage, which is a huge plus. I had no problems while using it and the battery lasted the entire ski day. With just one click on the camera or the app you can start recording. So even with the entire ski gear on it was easy to hit record. Because the 360fly records everything around you, you don’t need to pay attention to whether you are framing the action right. Not having to worry about that made it easy for me to just have fun and ski down the hill, knowing the 360fly was filming every around me. My friends and I enjoyed filming with the 360fly and I especially liked how easy it was to use.
Editing 360-degree footage was a first for me. The app on your phone lets you edit the video and add music to it, but the 360fly director on your computer lets you only merge videos, it won’t let you add any music to it or cut out parts. It is possible to edit the footage in Premiere or Final Cut, but it’s not as easy as just uploading the footage, editing and exporting like you would normally do with a regular video. A quick search online helped me to it figure out how and I was able to edit my footage in Premiere.
Overall I like the design of the 360fly and its easy usage. It’s great that you can use your phone as a remote and review your video right away. You have to be aware though that because of its single lens the 360fly doesn’t capture the ground. When uploading your video to YouTube you will get a black bottom, which to me is a little bit distracting when watching it. Even though the 360fly might not completely satisfy you with a virtual reality effect, the result for having just one lens is great and it is a fun alternative to any other action camera.