360 Camera

I have never really been interested in doing any 360 work, but I got the itch to try it out. I have absolutely no experience nor knowledge of what camera would work for stock. Any suggestions? Since I am new to 360, I would like to keep it under 300 if possible. Might be willing to go a bit higher.

Give up now. Don't bother. You will be VERY sad. Start at $3000 instead.

Sorry - coffee . Didn't mean to sound mean. Just that I went through it already, and it was very disappointing. I'm hoping Sphericam2 ends up looking decent. They are due out fairly soon, so we'll see some real footage/reviews.

So nothing in the 300-400 dollar range that can do anything stock?

I was surprised to hear from one agency who told me that the clips that sell were more in the "less sophisticated" category regarding quality. "Stock" is relative, of course. I actually tried the Keymission 360 after exhaustive searches, downloading footage from pretty much the whole lineup, etc, and it was terrible. That said, of course it depends on what you are shooting and what your expectations are.... remember that when they specify a resolution, it is for the ENTIRE sphere. So these crappy portable cameras end up looking, at best, like the quality of an early GoPro shooting SD.

I never found anything remotely acceptable.

Thanks for the info.

It may have better legs than the flop of 3D a few years ago. Still not sure of the true value in marketing or as stock. SO far like Gene said, the low cost entrance are not very good quality and very fish eye distorted. A camera with two lenses on front and back I do not believe is the answer to a quality product.