Backyard Autumn Nature in New Jersey.
Today, I continued evaluating a Garmin VIRB 360 degree camera. The first thing that I like about this camera is that it has external control buttons, and a small LCD screen on the top to display the camera settings. The other cameras that I am looking at all require a smartphone or tablet for set-up and use. The Garmin camera also has a rechargeable battery that can be swapped out with a fresh battery. Two of the other cameras only have internal batteries. The Garmin camera can also be run with an external power supply connected to the micro USB connection port for shoots lasting more than 1 1/2 hours.
I initially set the camera up on my patio to do interval shots for a time-lapse video. In the camera (photo) mode you can set the interval time ( 2, 5, 10, 30, and 60 sec). There is no setting for duration, which presumably means the camera continues to take images until the battery (power) runs out, the memory card is full, or the run is manually stopped. The camera also has an option to change the lens mode (360 degrees, forward lens, rear lens, and raw). The 360 degree mode provides an in-camera stitched 360 degree panorama image. The forward and rear lens modes provide a geometrically corrected 16:9 image from the front or rear lens. The raw mode provides separate fisheye images from the front and rear lenses. It should be noted that raw does not mean that the image is in a RAW format. All of the images are JPG format.
Garmin VIRB 360 – Out of the Camera JPG – Panorama View (1080p 24p)
The time-lapse video was created using Photoshop CC with no adjustments. The camera is automatically controlling the exposure, and white balance. The clouds are a bit blown out, and shadow areas a bit dark. I then connected an external power source which you can see in the next two short time-lapse videos while I am working on the garden in the patio. One converted to a “Little Planet” view and the other a “Tunnel View” using Photoshop CC.
Garmin VIRB 360 – Out of the Camera JPG – Little Planet View (1080p 10p)
Garmin VIRB 360 – Out of the Camera JPG – Tunnel View (1080p 10p)
I then left the camera running for the rest of the afternoon into the evening to see how long the external battery (GoalZero, Venture 30) would last. The camera was still running and taking pictures after 6 hours. For these time-lapse videos, I processed the images with Capture One Pro to decrease the blown out areas, and increase the shadow areas. This did take a lot of processing time.
Garmin VIRB 360 – Capture One Pro – Panorama View (1080p 60p)
Garmin VIRB 360 – Capture One Pro – Little Planet View (1080p 60p)
Garmin VIRB 360 – Capture One Pro – Tunnel View (1080p 60p)
