Shooting in 360 with one lens against the Sun or turning the camera sideways?
Let’s investigate the rumours with 4 different cameras, and check it out, how they behave in hard sunlight.
Shooting outdoors can be tricky, not only because of the wide dynamic range that 360 cameras have to deal with,
but the direction of the light is also very important.
Especially on days like this.
It’s winter, so besides it’s really cold, the Sun is not as high as on summer,
so it causes more trouble not only with blinding me, but blinding the cameras, too.
So I decided to do a short test, how these cameras behave in such conditions.
I’ve got the brand new One X here, with a really thin body, looking quite similar to the Ricoh Theta models,
but just in case, I’ve got a Theta, too.
And here is the Madv, or Mi Sphere with a thin but wide body and a camera rig with two single cameras
which have no software connection during shooting,
so they process the images independently.
And we will see how they fit together.
So let’s jump into it.
I start with the Kodak Pixpro rig.
As it has two independent cameras, I was thinking that it could be risky pointing one of them directly to the Sun.
But as you can see, there are not big problems in the image, and the stitched video looks fine.
The only problem you might observe is that reddish refraction on the top of the front lens.
But everything else is pretty good. Turning it in forty-five degrees it’s even better.
The red refraction disappears but we can see strong sunbeams instead, with some color distortions.
Then turning the stitchline against the Sun, we got the best result.
The white area around the Sun is quite small, while there are no disturbing refractions or distortions.
So in this case we can say that the rumour was true,
and we get the best result when the side of the camera faces the sun.
But what about this guy?
I’ve got the basic idea of shooting this whole video because of Mi Sphere or Madv.
I had it with me during traveling all around in Asia and Europe as a 360 Vlogging cam,
and sometimes I felt like it behaved a little bit differently than I expected.
It took days or weeks until I got my footage copied to the computer and then I realized something interesting.
So let’s see this orange guy on the pole.
Thanks to the special design MiSphere or Madv360 seems to be a little bit different
than an average 360 cam.
Now you can see how the image looks like when the front lens faces directly to the sun.
It seems almost perfect.
Then I start to rotate it, and two seam lines appear between the lenses.
But finally the situation is getting way better when the stitchline faces the Sun.
And as you can see, there are no refractions and color distortions, doesn’t matter how we position the camera.
So besides the seamlines in the sky, everything seems perfect. Or not?
I made this test a couple of times, and on another day I recorded this footage.
Starting with one lens facing the Sun, the image looks perfect.
Then as I turn it around, the seamlines appear in both sides
and they don’t disappear, even when the sun crosses the stitchline.
Moreover, it looks worse, and as the Sun crosses the stitchline it’s very flashy.
It's quite surprising, isn't it?
First I had this experience during shooting my travel vlogs,
and as you can see, due to the square shape, it behaves differently than other 360 cameras.
But let’s see another camera shape.
The lenses of Insta360 OneX are very near the edges of the body.
And as you can see, facing the Sun, it handles the lights very well.
The seamlines on the sides are not so visible.
But we can see a new kind of color issue, a small red dot in the image.
Then as I turn the camera around, the seamlines are getting stronger
and I can see both the seamlines and the red dot moving continuously until I turn the camera totally to the side.
And this will be is the best position with this camera.
There are no seam lines, and our red dot is disappeared, too.
Then as I continue rotating, we can see the red dot again on the other side, moving with the lens.
And when it’s facing the Sun, that red dot is still visible.
It only disappears when the edge of the camera faces the Sun again
So as you can we’ve got the best result the way like with the Kodak rig.
But this camera behaves differently than the MiSphere,
and besides seam lines now we have to deal with the red spot in the image.
But finally, let’s see the Theta, which has a very similar body.
Pointing the front lens to the Sun, there are no disturbing seamlines,
but we see a red dot, just like with One X.
As I start to turn the camera, the seamlines are getting more visible,
while we can see the red dot moving around the sphere.
In some other cases we also can see an ugly lens flare all along the front lens,
and as I turn around with the camera, it seems like the red dot is a part of the long lens flare.
Then turning to the side, the seam lines and the long flare disappears,
but the red dot is still visible, jumping to the other side.
It seems like this shape causes a red spot in hard sunlight.
The difference between the Theta and the One X
is that with the proper setup, it disappears from the Insta360 image.
As a summary I can say that in most of the cases the rumour
about turning the camera sides against the sun is true,
but surprisingly the MiSphere or Madv cam works completely differently.
And don’t forget that now I made this test with a tripod.
Shooting with a moving camera it’s getting more complicated,
because it’s quite hard to keep camera in the same position during walking, riding a bike,
driving or shooting with a drone.
So it’s very difficult to avoid red dots with One X and Theta
or lens flares with a setup like this Kodak Pixpro rig.
Maybe the Mi Sphere does the best job, because it has no refractions and color distortions,
and it’s a little bit easier to keep the camera in the optimal angle range.
Of course, now I’m only talking about optical issues in hard sunlight.
It's not about the overall quality of these devices
but if you have any experience and comments about this topic,
please write me in the comment section
And if you liked this short video, please push the like button
and if you are interested about further 360 contents and tutorials, subscribe to my YouTube channel!
See you soon guys!