Best 360 VR camera in $2000-$5000 price range.

[Lee M]

I have been shooting more and more with my Ricoh Theta meaning it's probably time to get something new. Looking to spend up to $5000.00. If someone can recommend a couple of them to look into that would be awesome, rather get reviews from the people

 

[Roberto Drilea]

The only rig I find worthwhile in that range is the GoPro Omni, which is not a bad purchase: good resolution, cameras are all synced, you get stitching software, etc. The downside: you're still shooting with GoPros, you still have to manage six different cards, it's monoscopic.

The upcoming Insta360 Pro looks pretty great for ~$3500, gives you the option to shoot stereo or at higher frame rates, and it's one camera/one battery/one media solution. They're shipping soon, and that's something I'm looking to purchase myself. If it rises up to the specs, pair that with a Sennheiser Ambeo mic for spherical audio and you've got yourself a great kit for ~$5K.

 

[Lee M]

hmm maybe the GoPro isn't such a bad option. Does GoPro footage still have the old GoPro footage kind of look? Fisheyeish?

 

[David Peterson]

In that price range I'd go for several Panasonic G7 cameras (usually I'd suggest the G80 over the G7, as IBIS is a very nice upgrade that is worth it. But for VR having IBIS is pointless, as would make stitching very painful indeed). Would give you even better quality than a GH4 rig.

These news lens are worth checking out to use with it:
https://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/prod...ptics_ve7520mftstblk_laowa_7_5mm_f_2_mft.html
https://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/prod...ptics_ve7520mftlwblk_laowa_7_5mm_f_2_mft.html

Another alternative is BMD Micro Cinema Camera, that rig would cost more than going with the G7 and you'd give up some resolution. But you'd gain raw/ProRess + greater dynamic range + genlock

 

[PatrickFaith]

Depends on the project and delivery time frames, but generally I think your better off shooting with red then projecting onto a 3d space using depth cameras. All those cheaper 360 camera's end up with some pretty bad footage when your actually done (i.e. not watchable for more then 5 minutes). With the new 3d point cloud to meshes, projections are getting real nice. A lot of people have fairly BS names for this, but the technology is now going mainstream http://www.roadtovr.com/googles-seurat-surface-light-field-tech-graphical-breakthrough-mobile-vr/ with this fairly easy to implement in things like unity3d.