Facebook’s new 360 camera wants to bring this technology to everyone, at no cost.
Content for virtual reality devices will become especially important in the future of Facebook in the coming years, and so it is not surprising that the company bought from Oculus to take advantage of its technology.
For Facebook, the thing is clear: the more people have access to a technology, the more content will be created, the more content will be shared, and the more people will use Facebook (and the more advertising will be shown, obviously).
This is the 360 camera of Facebook
So when Surround 360, Facebook’s 360 camera, was introduced, it came in small print: actually Facebook will not sell this camera in any store, it will not commercialize it.
Instead, he has decided free the necessary files so that on our own and with the appropriate components, we can create our own camera, bringing 17 cameras together in one device. 14 of them are arranged in circumference, one at the top, and two at the bottom.
They are not just the camera shots, but Facebook will also release the necessary software to mix the video from the 17 cameras in a single file that we can share directly on Facebook.
The experience seems to be much superior to that of other 360 cameras, with videos in which the connection between cameras is not noticed, and less artifacts and visual errors thanks to the fact that the device perfectly synchronizes all the hardware.
That is, Surround 360 will not come cheap even if we have the plans and the software; Facebook ensures that buying camera materials costs $ 30,000, and we have to add what it takes or cost us to manufacture and assemble it.
Facebook will upload the Surround 360 files on Github in the third quarter of the year, so there is still a lot to save.
