Sphere is a Lens That Turns Your DSLR Into a 360-Degree Camera

Sphere is a new lens that’s designed to turn any DSLR camera into a 360-degree camera. It captures a full 360-degree view horizontally and a 180-degree field of view vertically.

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Created by a startup called the Sphere Optics Company, which is also working on similar lenses for GoPro cameras and smartphones, the Sphere Pro lens is currently one of a kind in the world of DSLRs.

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“The (sphere) Pro lens employs a novel, toroidal design,” the company writes. “No other lenses with an equivalent capability are known to exist.”

“The Sphere lens allows users who are currently shooting conventional content to quickly and easily shoot immersive content with a low barrier to entry,” co-founder Rob Englert tells Newsshooter. “A shooter can shoot traditional content, then switch to the Sphere lens and quickly capture full spherical content.”

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Sphere Pro comes with a Nikon F mount, which can then be adapted to other mirrorless or DSLR cameras by other manufacturers. Specs of the lens include an f/8 aperture, optimal focus at 40 inches, a 35mm full frame image circle, a length of 198mm (~7.8in), and a weight of 1.8kg (~4lbs).

Since the development of the lens is separate from the sensor behind it, Sphere footage will improve as camera sensors improve.

Sourse: petapixel.com

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29 Comments
  1. Reply NuyaBizness December 29, 2016 at 9:17 am

    Set it up on stage with your favorite band and quality sound feed and THAT would be interesting.

  2. Reply Raghavendra Kopalle December 29, 2016 at 9:17 am

    Someone is trying hard to sell vaporware by jumping on the 360 bandwagon, this is not worth an article especially with all those tall claims. These mirror based solutions are re-invented with better packaging, so whether you mount it on a D800 or a 5DS or even a RED camera as the website claims, all you end up with is crappy footage. There are much better systems available there and many genuine 360 cameras are coming soon with in-camera stitching. So stop promoting this kind of crap.

  3. Reply Ben Eichinger December 29, 2016 at 9:17 am

    NOTHING was in focus, and the chromatic aberration is horrendous.

  4. Reply TinusVerdino December 29, 2016 at 9:17 am

    Footage isn’t convincing. Not better than a Samsung gear 360, which is probably a lot cheaper en certainly a lot more compact and managable than this lens.

  5. Reply Peter Kelly December 29, 2016 at 9:17 am

    That looks worse than Google streetmaps! Sorry, I’m not going to be jumping on this shortlived badwagon.

  6. Reply Carl Crumley December 29, 2016 at 9:17 am

    The chromatic aberration is noticeable but probably not as bad as my Theta S. The video quality is lousy, but that may be the fault of YouTube’s compression since I would think the DSLR being used (whatever it is) should produce better video than what I see in the demo video. The again, HD video spread over 360 degrees might get pretty lousy no matter what the camera can do. I’ve yet to see good quality video from a 360 camera except the VERY high end multi-camera arrays.

    • Reply Zos Xavius December 29, 2016 at 9:17 am

      its not going to happen because you are taking the output of one sensor and stretching it wildly. not like this at least.

  7. Reply snappyuk December 29, 2016 at 9:17 am

    “Optimal focus at 40 inches”? Whenever I shoot a (stitched) panorama, there aren’t many features that close to the camera.

    Why so close? Why not set the lens to a hyperfocal distance? Or is that what they mean and the focal point for the hyperfocal distance is 40″?

    • Reply Andrew Fritz December 29, 2016 at 9:17 am

      Probably because 40″ is hyperfocal… Everything from a little before 40″ to infinity will be in focus… or that is my guess.

  8. Reply Dest December 29, 2016 at 9:17 am

    I don’t think the blurriness nor the chromatic aberration are problems of the sensor behind it. Both are produced in the lens, so there is not much space to improve on the sensor side, but lots on the lens side. I’ve seen much better looking footage from a hand held 360 samsung cam.

  9. Reply Ray Dennis December 29, 2016 at 9:17 am

    What’s wrong with the focus? I feel like the mirrored cone inside there that makes this work, must be that cheap silverized plastic rather than real mirror and it’s distorting the final image. And since the top of this lens is opaque, yet we can still see the sky, there must be more than 1 cheap mirror in there to make that possible. I’ll keep my eye on this, but the 0-360 lens has mostly been able to do this with good clarity for years.

  10. Reply Jason A. December 29, 2016 at 9:17 am

    “No other lenses with an equivalent capability are known to exist.”

    Surely the capability they refer to isn’t the ability to capture a full hemisphere shot without stitching multiple images, because people have been using the Nikon 8mm/2.8 to capture 360×180 degree shots for years… I use one myself for a live, full sky Aurora webcam.

    • Reply Joseph Alukka December 29, 2016 at 9:17 am

      Yes there are lenses with similar capabilites

      https://uploads.disquscdn.com/

      • Reply TSY87 December 29, 2016 at 9:17 am

        you can’t look “up” with that lens. But I guess similar is a subjective term.

    • Reply Jason A. December 29, 2016 at 9:17 am

      No doubt that more options are a good thing, and the VR market is going to create a demand for these kind of lenses that has never existed before – consequently the demand is going to outpace the supply of lenses like the 8mm/2.8. It’s just… what’s wrong with an honest ‘this lens fills a role previously only addressed by rare, expensive lenses that are no longer in production’

  11. Reply Alan Klughammer December 29, 2016 at 9:17 am

    Very innovative lens, and I am sure it will have some interested buyers. Still not convinced on the “360” fad though….

    • Reply Josh Zytkiewicz December 29, 2016 at 9:17 am

      When it’s done well, and with purpose it’s amazing. But there needs to be a reason for the viewer to want to look around. I saw a skydiving 360 that was great. I’ve also seen a Q&A 360 that was just someone sitting outside that would have been better if shot on a two year old iPhone.

      • Reply Alan Klughammer December 29, 2016 at 9:17 am

        I think something like an Omnimax experience is fun and interesting. Not sure about moving my phone around to see all parts of the scene is as immersive.
        In other words, I am not against an immersive experience, I am just not convinced youtube, or a phone/tablet screen works…

      • Reply pincherio December 29, 2016 at 9:17 am

        I can just imagine skydiving with a DSLR and that thing attached to it.

        • Mads Olsen December 29, 2016 at 9:17 am

          Considering they been skydiving with all sorts of huge cameras in the past, someone will most likely bring something like this into the sky aswell.. I would love to try it!

  12. Reply Zos Xavius December 29, 2016 at 9:17 am

    Why not just buy a Ricoh theta??

    • Reply Ezzy December 29, 2016 at 9:17 am

      Because Theta is trash…

    • Reply Andrew Fritz December 29, 2016 at 9:17 am

      Because all the dedicated 360 cameras are crap IQ wise, especially in low light. My D810/D3s/D700 are not. … Even at f8 this would be usable at night.

      • Reply Joseph Alukka December 29, 2016 at 9:17 am

        Well, even if your camera could do 4k, the longer side will be shooting 360 degrees of video on this lens, so lets say a 360 viewer like youtube provides a 120 degree view at any point, that is still less than 720p HD after post processing and image correction and cropping.

    • Reply Hafiz Zainal December 29, 2016 at 9:17 am

      because i already own the dslr.

      • Reply Andrew Read December 29, 2016 at 9:17 am

        But a theta might be cheaper than the lens. =P

        • Zos Xavius December 29, 2016 at 9:17 am

          much smaller too…

        • Hafiz Zainal December 29, 2016 at 9:17 am

          but that 4k thooooo..
          but that 120fps thooooo..

          tbh, this lens could do some big impression to the clients.
          couple of time, got the job just because my camera could do wifi instant transfer lol.

  13. Reply sturmen December 29, 2016 at 9:17 am

    This is the most innovative lens I’ve seen in a long time. Hopefully it will become very affordable!

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