Samsung Gear 360 Portable VR Camera

Product Description

Introducing the Gear 360 camera. A lightweight, Compact 360-degree camera. Gear 360 is the First affordable, high-resolution, consumer 360-degree camera-and the next step in vr’s evolution to the mainstream. It’s small enough for you to take anywhere-and because it’s dust and water-resistant, it can go anywhere, too. Take full 360-degree videos, or use the wide-angle Lens for a 180-degree shot. Take 4K video and 30 MP stills with a super bright Lens. And this is the classic phone-plus experience. When you add the 360 camera to your S7, you can easily shoot content save it and then view or share it. With services like Facebook 360 and YouTube 360, you can easily share with friends’ networks across town or all around the world. Or, Watch directly with your Samsung Gear VR. In all of these ways and more, Samsung doesn't just design mobile devices; we deliver mobile experiences.

Features

• A lightweight, Compact 360-degree Camera
• Take full 360-degree videos, or use the wide-angle lens for a 180-degree shot
• Dust and water-resistant

Top Reviews

This works so easy and great with my VR goggles
by Steve Medved (5 out of 5 stars)
May 19, 2017

OMG. This works so easy and great with my VR goggles. I took this with me on a cruise to the Panama Canal. Not only does it take great 360 pictures, I also used it to do time lapse of going thru the Canal on a tripod. I had many people ask me about the camera and what the little ball was. When I showed them what I was seeing on my phone they wanted one also. For the price this is a great camera. I even showed the pictures on VR to the ships photo crew, who had not seen VR yet, and even they were impressed.
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Great first start for a 360 Camera, can improve however.
by Britt Dietz (5 out of 5 stars)
December 2, 2016

After doing research on all the 'lower cost' 360 cameras, I constant came to the conclusion that the Gear 360 is the best 360 camera on the market currently. I ended up purchasing the Samsung Gear 360 in October. I took it with me to Las Vegas, the Nellis AFB Airshow, and to Disneyland a few times putting it through a through a few hundred photos and videos. This allowed me to really get a feel for the various aspects of this first effort by Samsung.

Photos - As someone who used to do the manual way of taking 20 shots with my phone to make a photosphere, this instant way of taking a 360 photo was perfect. No weird 'half human' stitches from people walking between shots. The photos are stitched well as long as the nearest subject is at least about a foot away from either lens. Putting the brightest light source (like the sun) pointing at the area between the lenses helps to give really nice consistent stitching. The quality, however, is not as high res as you might imagine. While it's better quality than any of the other 360 cameras out there, it looks like a 'medium' res camera took the photo. If you bump up the ISO limit to anything above ISO 800, the image becomes soft, noisy, and looks terrible in the Samsung VR system. Keeping the ISO at 400 makes for sharper and clearer photos, but still not like what the newer smart phones can get quality wise. I was surprised at how non detailed some of the photos could be, especially at night. They are acceptable for viewing in VR, providing you keep the ISO limit low and don't move the camera. But don't expect the quality to be better than a photosphere.

Video - Video is said to be 4k, but keep in mind that's 4k when stitched together, NOT per lens. The quality is again decent, but if something is moving fast (a USAF Thunderbird fighter jet flying past at near Mach speeds) you won't see smooth high res motion, but a little more jumpy motion. Night video isn't that great, so you have to bump the ISO limit up for there to be enough light (like at Disneyland at night), and that will introduce noise into the video. At the highest ISO, it can look like the dark sky has the old fashioned TV noise when you flip to a channel that isn't broadcasting. Also, the videos are split into multiple smaller files and can take a really long time to transfer to the phone. However previewing the videos on the phone (without downloading them) is really fast.

Phone App - The phone app is pretty simple, and can be slow to respond when trying to connect to the 360. Keep in mind that the 360 DOES NOT stitch the images/videos in camera, your PHONE does all that. I believe only Samsung S6, S7, and S7 Edge phones are compatable (could be more Samsung phones) but there are ways to sideload the app on other phones and get it mostly working. The App is slow to download the images and videos because it has to download them then stitch them. If you have 50 images you want to stitch and a few videos, it could take a few hours to all get done. The app could really use some improvement. That being said, I find it easier to change the limited camera settings (ISO, exposure value, quality/size, white balance, etc) with the app, but it's not something you can do super quickly. I will say that the HDR setting doesn't seem to do anything noticeable for the photos.

Build Quality - The camera seems pretty fragile overall, you will NOT want to drop it. Water, dust, dirt, etc are no issue... but the glass bubble lenses are super easy to scratch/chip with even the slightest fall I've been reading... and it's expensive to replace them (if Samsung even will at all!) I wish there was some sort of screen protector I could put on the lenses to protect them. Make sure you keep a cleaning cloth with the 360 as you will want to make sure the lenses are always clean as that can produce weird lens flares.

Battery - The battery is small, so if you're using it heavily you will run out of battery within a few hours. BUT, there's an issue with the 360 overheating before you even would reach the end of the battery's life. If it's hot out the camera can easily overheat and it will flash a warning and stop any video recording/photo taking and will force you to wait till the battery cools down. You can pop out the battery and fan/blow on it to cool it down, but this is a major issue. The bad/good news is that all the other 360 cameras out there do this too, so it's something you'll have to live with. I find that if you just turn off the camera in between shots, that helps a lot. BUT, if it does start to over heat, you'll run into another problem that only seems to happen to this camera:
'Blurgate' - As reported on a 360 forum (and as I've seen myself), as the camera begins to overheat, the battery slightly bulges in size. This causes what seems like a very slight movement of the lenses making the camera go slightly out of focus. I've seen this happen myself. It's not blurry to the point you can't use it, but you will notice a suddenly lack of sharpness and detail. Once the camera cools down again, all is back to normal. This seems to be because of the fixed focus on the lenses being a bit too precise. This hasn't been addressed by samsung at the time I'm writing this review (12/2/16), so hopefully either there's an update to help this or the next release fixes this major issue. Again, making sure to turn off the camera in between shots/videos helps keep the camera cool, and in turn keeps the blurgate under control.

Accessories - The 360 comes with the battery, a USB cable, a mini tripod (you'll want to invest in a monopod/selfie stick to avoid the 'fat fingers' from holding the tiny tripod), and a nice draw-string carrying pouch. There is an optional accessories pack that includes a remote control, various types of mounts for the 360, and a longer tripod.

Overall - It's a great start to what will hopefully only get better. As the whole VR fad continues to get more and more popular, I think 360 cameras will be seen more and more. Right now, everyone stares at my 360 like it's some alien device and are very interested in what it is... but I think we'll see more people with them in the future. If you want to jump on the start of 360 photos and videos, this is a great one to start with having the best quality and stitching time... just make sure you have a Samsung phone. If you're looking to record a concert, show, etc. you might want to wait a year or so as it's not quite there yet. For the casual person who wants 360 mementos from vacations, trips, etc this is the perfect gadget for that.
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pretty cool new way to take pictures and video
by TX gadget nut (5 out of 5 stars)
September 4, 2017

I'm really impressed with this thing. I took it on a bike ride through glacier national park and took video and photos with it mounted on a stick extended from my aero bars. At firse I had used part of a selfie stick to mount it and the chea; thing broke and the camera fell to a paved bike path and bounced like a golf ball. Luckily it did not impact the lens and it was still fully operationao. I posted some pretty cool video with it and am looking forward to using it more. I did have some trouble at first installing the video editing software which may be needed to share the files in certain places. Finally I found a new version downloadable from Samsung that will authenticate by plugging in the camera (without finding the printed license code).

Facebook has a pretty cool viewer that pans around as you turn your body with your phone in hand. otherwise the industry is still sorting out how to display these things in standard way.
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Buy it with an ice pack if you don't live in Alaska already
by ttttttqqqttt (1 out of 5 stars)
March 1, 2017

It warms up too fast in room temperature making it impossible to shoot more than 15 minutes consecutively at highest resolution.

So probably if you go to tropical regions where it's even warmer, maybe you won't be able to shoot more than 5 minutes before it's too warm to continue operation...

It would have been nice if there was a gyroscope inside it that could prove metadata to be used by the stitching software later on to keep the post-processed video straight at all times, instead of getting tilted with each move.
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So far so good
by NahHeLyon (4 out of 5 stars)
October 18, 2017

As an newcomer in the world of 360 cameras, I've been on the search for a decent camera to shoot videos and pictures in 360. And I will say this camera is by far my favorite 360 camera. Though the unit I received had a small white speck of some sort inside the lense, but it's a pretty easy fix, but still 4 stars just because of unnecessary effort lol.

Side note.

For those looking to get into the world of 360 cams, I HIGHLY recommend you think of all the possible uses you will use said camera for then make a decision on purchasing, as these cameras are still new and buggy to an extent. This camera (out of the insta360 air, ricoh theta s [standard]) is so far one of the better ones I've used, but my plans for use is to make chill spots for VR so the image quality isn't too big an issue as I can edit what I need to edit. But for a beginner, I would say you SHOULD definitely try this cam out while it's still around and still cheap.
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Amazing...
by Hickory Namlet (5 out of 5 stars)
February 22, 2018

So idk why people are writing such bad reviews on this camera. It's awesome, crystal clear video and decent pics. Sound quality is also well above average...yes you need a Samsung phone and yes you need know how to go through the menu options and set stuff up but wow it's really nice! I use it to record my commute back and forth to work everyday. I can get a good three days on one battery which equals 3 to 4 hours of straight 2k video using only one lens. I also use it on my bicycle for safety reasons. Look my experience with the Samsung gear 360 has been amazing, I recommend it over almost anything else out on the market. The only downside is not the best nighttime recording. Hope this review helps someone.
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A solid 360 camera
by ROb (5 out of 5 stars)
February 13, 2017

This camera is fantastic!

After using it for a few months, here is what I have come to love and hate:

PROS:
-small!
-lots of features!
-decent picture/video quality (shoots in 4k!)
-It comes with stitching software (which, although slow, actually works pretty good)
-It comes with a fantastic carrying bag that can be used without detaching your monopod/etc.
-you don't NEED a Samsung phone, or any phone for that matter. It can be used by itself (although there is no preview screen)
Some positive thoughts:

This camera is very iconic and gets lots of positive comments. It not looking like a typical camera helps people to be less camera shy, and act more natural. The camera's size, shape, and fast controls make it easy to just throw into a bag, usually with a monopod or selfie stick attached. It's very easy to use without a phone, although you will need a decent computer to process your videos.

Now some CONS and negative thoughts:
-This camera NEEDS a u3 high speed card.

If you go with anything slower, the camera will bottleneck with video data and shut down after about 1 minute (and give you a nice, corrupted video) It would have been nice of Samsung to boldly state this fact somewhere on the box. It was a huge waste of time filming with this camera only to find over half of the videos were corrupted (this is with a u1 high speed card)
-This camera overheats!

After going through a single battery, the internal battery compartment (and the battery itself) becomes almost too hot to touch. I have seen it turn off with the overheated message multiple times (while filming at night, in the winter). This makes me nervous, with all the battery exploding problems that seem to be popping up with companies like..... Samsung.
-Extra batteries from Samsung are expensive!

I am hesitant to put an aftermarket battery though the extreme heat this camera produces. Since the battery lasts only a few hours, my options are limited! Pay $50 for two Samsung batteries, or save $30 and risk the device... Tough choice for someone who doesn't have $50 to spend on batteries...
-The stitching software takes about ten minutes to stitch just one minute of footage.

Imagine trying to work with a half an hour of footage! This can easily add up to a whole day of just stitching. It takes a huge amount of your computer's memory and space, by the way. So prepare yourself and your computer. Pro tip: start stitching before you go to bed.
-The videos take huge amounts of space!

This isn't necessarily a con, but it ends up costing you more money! You should consider buying a 1TB or larger hard drive to store your videos on. I ended up purchasing a 3TB internal Barracuda drive (less than $100)
-The included "accessory" is already in the trash.

The tripod that the camera comes with is great if your going for the whole ant's view thing. But for anything else, its completely useless.

The bottom line:

This camera is fantastic! Just remember, this technology is very new! As with any new technology, there will be little things here and there that need improvement. That being said, the problems with this device are easily outweighed by its superior performance and portability.
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Great little 360 camera
by GB (5 out of 5 stars)
January 10, 2018

This is a really good 360 degree camera for the price. Sure, the newer (2017) model may have some benefits, but it's over twice the cost. I don't have a compatible Samsung phone, so relied on the free Action Director software to process and upload my videos to YouTube, but it seemed to do the trick. I played around with the project settings initially and messed up the export format (YouTube didn't see my videos as 360), but eventually figured out the correct settings and it's worked flawlessly since. Takes a few minutes for YouTube to fully process the video as 360 after the link becomes available, so be patient.

I also tried a free android APK that allowed me to control the camera settings and preview the camera before taking a picture/video - but it was a hassle to set up and I'm not sure it was really necessary. If you don't have a compatible Samsung phone, you can take pictures and video using the buttons on the camera and a slight delay.

I'm looking forward to capturing some 360 photos and videos during my next trip abroad.
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pretty cool new way to take pictures and video
by TX gadget nut,Top Contributor: Smart Home (5 out of 5 stars)
September 4, 2017

I'm really impressed with this thing. I took it on a bike ride through glacier national park and took video and photos with it mounted on a stick extended from my aero bars. At firse I had used part of a selfie stick to mount it and the chea; thing broke and the camera fell to a paved bike path and bounced like a golf ball. Luckily it did not impact the lens and it was still fully operationao. I posted some pretty cool video with it and am looking forward to using it more. I did have some trouble at first installing the video editing software which may be needed to share the files in certain places. Finally I found a new version downloadable from Samsung that will authenticate by plugging in the camera (without finding the printed license code).

Facebook has a pretty cool viewer that pans around as you turn your body with your phone in hand. otherwise the industry is still sorting out how to display these things in standard way.
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Cool toy, but the image quality isn't quite enough to call it a tool yet.
by Pete (4 out of 5 stars)
June 21, 2018

Got this as an open box deal for about $50. To be honest, whomever repackaged it didn't do the best job and it was missing things like a charging cable and manual. Upon plugging it in with a spare cable there were no lights and the camera would not power on. After some searching around the web I was able to find several other people who had similar issues. The fix is to try pulling the SD and battery out and putting them in in different combinations until it powers on.

Now that the worries were out of the way time for testing. The interface is simple, and even with no manual I was able to figure out how to smoothly navigate through the menus without any trouble. I have a Galaxy S8 for a phone and the app for the Gear 360 worked out of the box with no issues, pairs with the phone quickly and does have a pretty decent Bluetooth file transfer speed. The pictures look pretty good, just keep in mind that even at 30MP it is spreading the picture 360 degrees in every which way so the picture quality is closer to what you'd get from a 4MP camera or so. The stitching in the pictures is okay, it's not perfect, but I was impressed with it's ability to manage the white balance from the opposite facing lenses. I wish there were some settings in the software to pre-set the zoom on pictures to get rid of the fish eye effect and whatnot, but overall it's a pretty impressive toy at the $50 mark - but I can't see spending $100+ on one.
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Easy to use and great results!
by Kevonski (5 out of 5 stars)
July 3, 2018

For the price it is out of the ballpark! Key is understanding that if you are not warring the 360 goggles you can use your finger to pan around to see other angles.

I bought this for our cruise and wanted to capture everything during our visits to the Mayan ruins.

I made a ballcap mount based off a video which you can find if you search out 360 ball cap mount. The video is amazing. Easily used by importing to a pc since I am a iPhone user. If your have a samsung device you will enjoy extra flexibility from the on board app support not avialable on IOS.

Even though I had to use a pc to edit I was extremely satisfied with the video quality of the final product.

No, you cannot use in splashing conditions.

Yes, it will capture a true 360 degree video of your location. Very cool on vacation if your are visiting somewhere of interest but if not who would want to see. I've posted on YouTube, which allows 360 videos and they are awesome. For the price just do it!
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Not a bad step into 360 video for less than $80!
by Ray B. (4 out of 5 stars)
September 18, 2018

This is a pretty nifty video "toy" for the price.

I wanted to give 360 video a shot, especially with some really well-done featurettes I've seen on YouTube and Facebook. I'm still learning to use it well, but so far, it's been a bit of an adventure.

This little guy is very lightweight, takes pretty high-res photos and video, to include 60fps at 2560x1280 and a max res of 3840x1920, and is very easy to use. The little tripod it comes with is enough for static 360 shots... and that's fine, because unless you want to do a smooth, linear path with this camera, I would think that your audience would get a bit seasick from watching shaky video.

Video quality is okay. I'll have to test it out more as I've only really shot this at the default 2560x1280 @ 60fps.

The Bluetooth connectivity is pretty slick, like with a GoPro. Once it's connected, you can control everything remotely from your phone.

WORKING with the video is a different story. You'll need a really beefy computer to keep your sanity. MInutes of video will take MUCH longer to stitch and render using the "included" CyberPower ActionDirector 360 software... which is basically Windows Movie Maker for 360 video. It is somewhat easy to use, but it is an amateur product. However, I feel like I'm stuck with it because I can't figure out how to make it work with Adobe Premiere Pro CC 2018 well.

If it helps, I have a laptop with an Intel i7-4710MQ - 2.5GHz, 20GB of DDR3 RAM, and a Samsung EVO SSD. It still takes quite a while to let ActionDirector automatically stitch 360 video so that you can use it in your projects, and it takes about 10 minutes to Produce a 2.5 minute MP4 at 2560x1440. Editing was not smooth either... it was usually a game of click and wait a few seconds before it caught up to what I wanted to do.

This isn't something you would want to do on a mid-range computer or anything weaker.

One huge gripe I had with this is that there is the common complain of almost NO REPLACEMENT LENSES AVAILABLE ANYWHERE. It's weird, because even in the options, you have the choice of lens cover switching, but it's like looking for a leprechaun online. (Google for GH67-02946A and you will find it on Samsung's website... for $29 EACH.) I bought a case for it and the case itself was pretty terrible and made everything look like I was in a fishbowl... not fun. So you'll have to shoot au naturale for optimum image quality and possibly find it cheaper to just buy another Gear 360 for about the same price of two lenses, or get the ONE underwater case available for it - which sucks, by the way - and have all of your footage be viewed from within a blurry fishbowl very prone to scratches.

It's not a bad sink into introductory 360 video... but just be wary of what you're getting into. =)

NOTE: I had issues getting an microSD card to work with this. Bought a PNY 32GB microSDHC card to go with it... and it wouldn't recognize it as NTFS. You have to format it as FAT32 in a PC and then LEAVE it alone... if you try to use the camera itself to format the SD card, it will try and then give you an SD card with an exclamation mark symbol and you won't be able to record to it. Just format the card itself in a PC for FAT32 and then stick it in there and start recording.

Additional note: The camera will shut off automatically if you eject the SD card.

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