STACK June 2016 Issue 140

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view to a thrill
The fear of missing out is now a thing of the past with the 360fly. By John Roebuck
I t’s an astonishing world
that we live in, where
technology can
converge with science fiction. In
1968, Stanley Kubrick
foreshadowed the invention of
the iPad in his film 2001: A
Space Odyssey. In 1989, in Back
to the Future Part II, Marty
McFly’s shoelaces tied
themselves. Two years ago, Nike
released those very shoes. And
now, the virtual reality recordings
that Ralph Fiennes’ Lenny Nero
traded in Kathryn Bigelow’s
Strange Days have become a
reality. We can experience
incidents as they have happened
to other people, in virtual
reality.
The 360fly is an action
camera, like the GoPro or
the Panasonic, barrel-shaped
action cameras. But it doesn’t
look like one. That’s because
it’s a different type of action
camera to everything else on
the market at the moment.
Capturing 360-degree footage
has customarily required a
host of cameras, rigged up to
capture video in unison. It’s
not hyperbole so suggest that
the 360fly is the first step in a
new era of action videography.
Imagine creating your own
virtual reality out of reality.
The entire device is smaller
than a tennis ball and comes
with a variety of mounts that
allow the user to attach the
camera practically anywhere. The
lens of the camera is spherical,
pointing directly up into the
air, able to capture everything
happening around you, or
everything in its field of view.
It’s even waterproof, provided
you use the included plug to
seal the microphone input. If
you’re already an action camera
enthusiast then the 360fly is
definitely your new favourite toy.
Once the footage is captured,
it’s transmitted back to an app
on your phone, available for
Android and iOS system, where
you can either watch it like a
regular video or, astonishingly,
move your phone around to
see different parts of the 360°
capture. Put the app in Virtual
Reality mode, strap on a VR
headset, and move your head
to look around the new virtual
reality world that you’ve just
created. This is immersive stuff.
Sharing online has become an
integral part of the contemporary
tech climate and the 360fly
makes it remarkably easy to
communicate your footage with
others. Using the app, you can
edit your clips and share them
on Facebook, Twitter and Break.
com with absolute ease. There’s
even a way of embedding the
clips and including them in your
blog, allowing viewers to peruse
the scene in a full 360 degrees.
With commercialised VR
happening at a tremendous rate,
the 360fly is an essential tool for
anyone wanting to experiment
in the medium and the first
step in a new and astounding
direction.
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68 JUNE 2016
TECH