OP
Not underwater, but still water related 
My 360vr Journey
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OP
Going back in a week or so for Underwater kelp forest footage, but this was practice masking out the shadow of the camera array and the base.
OP
Alki Junkyard eelgrass in #360video shot with SEVEN GoPro Hero 3+ Blacks in a 3D Printed array from Assembyl 3D Printing and mini-domes scavenged off original 360Rize v1.0 SCUBA system made with parts by Snake River Prototyping, and upgraded with thicker flat white float glass so they can take decent depths and slightly better optics. Gopro Hero's have been modified for use underwater with the mini-domes for crisper in focus footage. Domes are required to return the FOV and allow stitching, footage was not stitchable without.
I feel like the stitch is nicer with a 7 camera assembly, but that could just be me
There are fewer disappearing fish, because the extra camera allows for better stitching within the areas of distortion and dome reflection that normally plague underwater 360 footage. Dearest Gopro, if you are listening, i could really use a nice set of Hero 4 blacks, I'm doing the best I can with what I've got collected off eBay, craigslist and kindness of friends
Nagel616
Registered
I've been really getting into the 360 this year, and have 2 rigs..
First rig is 7 x Hero4 Silvers, in a 5 sided cube, with top and bottom cams, using the gopro's original housing. Awesome stitches above water, no problem synchronizing cams with Autopano Pro Video 2.5, and Autopano Giga for control points and masking, but I had horrible issues with parallax and stitching underwater footage shot with standard housings that don't have the "domes". Granted mine do not have the dome lenses, and I do believe that is key to the issue with parallax and stitching underwater. Would love the Abyss but it is not in the budget for the foreseeable future. And finding the rig that you use with the domes is hit or miss as it seems 360 heros is pushing the Abyss V4 and dropped your model now.
Footage *was* stitchable, however I had to use Autopano video, and use a template from a previously known good stitch (Saved in Autopano Giga). And that footage had horrible parallax, so was it really "stitchable"? I wouldn't consider the footage usable..
Second rig is a pair of Kodak SP360 4K cameras. I like this rig as workflow is much less (only 2 cams to sync, download, etc), and that also makes it quicker to render. They have a dive housing for the pair which I will be trying out in Utila next month, but preliminary tests in my koi pond show the parallax issues are much less likely to happen. I also like the fact that I can mount the Kodak cams to my drone and get "floating" 360 above the water, in the sky, and make the drone disappear. The 7 GoPro's would be too heavy for the drone. And I did a lot of 360 footage (on land) with the pair of Kodaks recently for a training conference I went to and editing them has been a breeze. I think this will become my go-to rig for 360 footage if all goes well next month in Utila.
Software is KEY! Autopano Pro Video 2.5 for sync, stitch and blend, Autopano Giga for control points, blending, and tweaks, Skybox Mettle so you can do titling and logos without distortion, or even so you can view in 360 format within Premier Pro CC 2016. Yes, software is a tough nut to bust, but man, it makes it so much easier.
Exciting and frustrating at times because there's not much info on 360° video underwater, so its a lot of trial and error... I first tried it with a 3D printed 7 camera holder and SJCam SJ4000's. Thought they would work, and found out the FOV wasn't enough and they lacked overlap. Lesson learned.
Will post vids after my trip of how the Kodak SP360 4K do underwater, on land and in the sky as I plan on doing a passion project / video on plastics in the ocean while I am there, utilizing air, land and underwater shots to tell my story, all in 360..
SO glad to finally find someone else doing underwater 360!!!
First rig is 7 x Hero4 Silvers, in a 5 sided cube, with top and bottom cams, using the gopro's original housing. Awesome stitches above water, no problem synchronizing cams with Autopano Pro Video 2.5, and Autopano Giga for control points and masking, but I had horrible issues with parallax and stitching underwater footage shot with standard housings that don't have the "domes". Granted mine do not have the dome lenses, and I do believe that is key to the issue with parallax and stitching underwater. Would love the Abyss but it is not in the budget for the foreseeable future. And finding the rig that you use with the domes is hit or miss as it seems 360 heros is pushing the Abyss V4 and dropped your model now.
Footage *was* stitchable, however I had to use Autopano video, and use a template from a previously known good stitch (Saved in Autopano Giga). And that footage had horrible parallax, so was it really "stitchable"? I wouldn't consider the footage usable..
Second rig is a pair of Kodak SP360 4K cameras. I like this rig as workflow is much less (only 2 cams to sync, download, etc), and that also makes it quicker to render. They have a dive housing for the pair which I will be trying out in Utila next month, but preliminary tests in my koi pond show the parallax issues are much less likely to happen. I also like the fact that I can mount the Kodak cams to my drone and get "floating" 360 above the water, in the sky, and make the drone disappear. The 7 GoPro's would be too heavy for the drone. And I did a lot of 360 footage (on land) with the pair of Kodaks recently for a training conference I went to and editing them has been a breeze. I think this will become my go-to rig for 360 footage if all goes well next month in Utila.
Software is KEY! Autopano Pro Video 2.5 for sync, stitch and blend, Autopano Giga for control points, blending, and tweaks, Skybox Mettle so you can do titling and logos without distortion, or even so you can view in 360 format within Premier Pro CC 2016. Yes, software is a tough nut to bust, but man, it makes it so much easier.
Exciting and frustrating at times because there's not much info on 360° video underwater, so its a lot of trial and error... I first tried it with a 3D printed 7 camera holder and SJCam SJ4000's. Thought they would work, and found out the FOV wasn't enough and they lacked overlap. Lesson learned.
Will post vids after my trip of how the Kodak SP360 4K do underwater, on land and in the sky as I plan on doing a passion project / video on plastics in the ocean while I am there, utilizing air, land and underwater shots to tell my story, all in 360..
SO glad to finally find someone else doing underwater 360!!!
OP
This was a difficult stitch, after this dive i've switched to a carbon fiber pole because PVC had too much flex for 7 camera assembly. even with stabilization in post this makes for some stitch inconsistencies. Please watch in highest resolution for best experience.
Nagel616
Registered
Raw and unedited, so there are parallax issues and horizon issues, but for the most part you can see the pair of Kodaks does ok for the most part if you are VERY aware of divers in your stitch plane (only one plane to worry about divers / things passing thru the stitch line). Need to adjust for exposure, and I think holding them front and back (or up and down) will solve horizon issues (they were on an angle facing forward down and backward up during a lot of filming). Can tweak horizon in autopano video, but if I can eliminate work to begin with, why not?
The Kodaks do show promise, but they DO fog up the dive housing if you use them non stop (the cams get pretty warm actually, even anti-fog inserts failed to help). The "dive mode" (supposedly adds red) is ok at shallow depths, but non existent below 50', they really need to come up with red lenses for diving.
Ended up using a shorter selfie stick (the one that came with the kodaks) and it worked out ok. I have an Orbit monopole, which is very rigid, and I can hook into my d rings on my harness but I brought it and didn't even try it on my last trip since the small selfie stock seemed to work ok.
The Kodaks do show promise, but they DO fog up the dive housing if you use them non stop (the cams get pretty warm actually, even anti-fog inserts failed to help). The "dive mode" (supposedly adds red) is ok at shallow depths, but non existent below 50', they really need to come up with red lenses for diving.
Ended up using a shorter selfie stick (the one that came with the kodaks) and it worked out ok. I have an Orbit monopole, which is very rigid, and I can hook into my d rings on my harness but I brought it and didn't even try it on my last trip since the small selfie stock seemed to work ok.
OP
From the other night... a bit too dark but fun none-the-less. I was too impatient to wait for the next day Shot with Samsung #Gear360 in home-made underwater housing
Shot with Samsung #Gear360 in home-made underwater housing
OP
Added a pole mount to the underwater 360 UFO (pole mount AKA conduit holder) didn't know how much weight it would all add so went ahead with less lead. Big mistake. A floaty balloon on the end of a fiberglass pole makes for jiggly video. My apologies
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