The Sphere Lens Makes Your DSLR Into A 360 Video Camera

NY based company Sphere recently introduced a unique looking 360 lens which can transform almost any DSLR or mirrorless camera into a 360 degree machine with a single lens.

Shooting 360 videos is still pretty much a niche thing but this industry has been evolving over the past few years and what was very complicated if not impossible to do just several years or required large budgets and sophisticated equipment now can be done with consumer level products at a fraction of the cost.

Shooting 360 degree videos used to require several cameras which combines their collective video streams into a single 360 video. This is complicated and the result isn’t always perfect. The guys from Sphere wanted to make the process simpler and let people use their own cameras (with large sensors – up to FF) to shoot 360.

The Sphere lens – bulky but gives you a single solution for shooting 360 videos on your camera

Now there is a few things that you do need to understand about the solution Sphere is offering – it is quite bulky and heavy and you will only get about 5/8 of the resolution (even 4K doesn’t sound like much with these numbers but keep in mind that you can adapt it even to 8K RED cameras and you will get over 6K of output so its not all bad).

Here is what the company had to say about the lens:

Compatible cameras: RED, Canon, Nikon, Sony, Panasonic, and virtually any video camera with detachable lenses.
Mount: Nikon F mount; adaptable to most others
Aperture: f/8 (fixed)
Focus: fixed, best focus at 40″
Format: 35mm Full Frame
Field of view: 360° horizontal x 180° vertical (4π steradians)
Resolution: dependent on the image sensor of the camera (the entire sphere is recorded as a circle on a single sensor, so resolution is based on the smallest dimension of the sensor)
Dimensions: 198mm L x 150mm W, 1.8kg

We are not aware of pricing for the lens at this moment but you can approach the manufacturer here if you are interested in more details.

In the past we have looked at several 360 degree products and projects which you can check out here.

Iddo Genuth

Iddo Genuth is the founder and chief editor of LensVid.com. He has been a technology reporter working for international publications since the late 1990's and covering photography since 2009. Iddo is also a co-founder of a production company specializing in commercial food and product visual content.