These 360-Degree Cameras Capture Everything Around You

When you're feeling like king of the world after a vertical mountain hike, a phone snapshot might not do the moment justice. How about a virtual-reality selfie instead?

I climbed in Yosemite National Park this month with a selfie stick and backpack full of new cameras that capture literally everything. Thanks to VR tech, cameras have made the leap to 360 degrees—every direction, front and back, up and down. It happens in a single snap, no spinning like a human merry-go-round to make a panorama.

In 360, my photos and videos could take it all in. Yosemite's epic El Capitan and waterfalls didn't need to compete for space with my own epic mug. In New York City, I captured the buzz in all four corners of Grand Central Terminal at once. And my favorite camera of the bunch, Samsung 's Gear 360, posted my oh-my-goodness spherical shots via my phone right to Facebook and Google Street View.

These first-generation spherical cameras, which the industry calls 360 cams, don't have the image quality or controls of traditional digital cameras. When you zoom in, the image gets fuzzy fast. But they're inexpensive and simple enough to appeal to photo buffs and travelers curious about how tech can change the art of capturing a scene, and how we end up remembering it, too.

We experience life in the round, so why shouldn't our pictures work that way, too? This sunk in while watching the sun set on Half Dome from a meadow: The camera tech Ansel Adams used cropped out at least half the story. My 360 shots let me go back and reframe the moment: I see a climber teetering on a distant ledge, a squirrel angling for my backpack. Imagine using one to relive a wedding or a toddler playdate.

It's a futuristic concept, for sure. Few of us have VR goggles to view 360 photos and video as like-you're-there immersive experiences. But Google, Facebook and other tech giants are putting VR content on the fast track, and these shots are accessible with gear you already have.

On your smartphone, apps such as Google Street View let you upload 360-degree images and look at them just by changing the angle of your phone. On computers you can get the same effect in Web browsers and programs like Kolor Eyes by mousing around. And Facebook just announced it's rolling out the ability for all members to post and view 360 photos, along with video, right in the News Feed. But be prepared for giant files that require ample bandwidth—and patience.

What's remarkable is how quickly this tech has become simple enough for me to take on vacation. Two years ago, creating spherical stills or video required a hefty rig and powerhouse computers to process the images. I tested eight new consumer 360 cameras, most pocket-size and requiring no more than a smartphone.

What's bringing spherical photography to non-pros is the ability to make multiple lenses work together. Traditional panorama shots require the photographer to slowly spin around, taking a new shot every few degrees. These new 360 cameras pack in two or three or up to 36 wide lenses that capture images simultaneously. (One exception, the 360Fly 4K, uses just one super-duper-wide-angle lens. It can't see what's immediately beneath it.)

After the camera grabs all the imagery, software stretches and stitches the data into a single shot. Laid flat, the picture resembles one of those Earth maps that makes Greenland look giant. But viewed through a 360 app, it's a decent facsimile of what you'd see with your own two eyes.

In theory, the more lenses on a spherical camera, the better the image. But on the trail, I learned there are a lot more factors to weigh.

All-Seeing Eyes

My most-detailed spherical shots came from the Panono, the largest and, at $1,500, most expensive of the cameras. It's the one with 36 lenses that looks like a grapefruit-size Death Star. The Panono captures so much image information at once—108 megapixels—that the camera has to upload it to the cloud (via your phone) for a supercomputer to stitch together. If any photo is worth 1,000 words, Panono must be worth 10,000.

Yet I wouldn't recommend the Panono as a starting place for 360 photography. It's only capable of still images, and its stitching is so complicated that it sometimes faltered when objects were too close.

The best-looking video came from the Kodak PixPro SP360 4K, which is actually two wide-angle cameras sold together with a clip for $900. Using a remote control, they start recording at the same time—but you need to stitch the video together on a PC or Mac, and still photo capabilities are limited.

The spherical camera that best balances image quality and portability is the Samsung Gear 360, which combines two lenses into an orb that resembles WALL-E's pal EVE. The Gear 360 camera I tested, announced in February, just went on sale in South Korea for $350. Samsung says it will soon announce a U.S. price.

It's worth the (hopefully short) wait. The Gear 360's shots were bright and colorful, and its video only slightly lower in resolution than the Kodak's. And the Gear 360 is also much less trouble to use. Your phone serves as a wireless viewfinder and the computer to stitch and instantly share online, or view in a Gear VR headset. One huge caveat: It only works with recent Samsung Galaxy phones. You can still download and stitch the files on a Windows PC.

Its biggest downside: The space required for the Gear 360's higher-quality lenses makes it a little too large—and heavy—to fit easily in a jeans pocket.

If the Gear 360's orb is too bulky for you, try LG's teensy $200 360 Cam, a 4-inch stick with two smaller, spherical lenses on the end. To use it, just hold it up and press the shutter button, like the memory-eraser in the "Men In Black" movies. It's a good option for many people, since its companion app runs on both Android and Apple phones—that's how you preview and stitch finished shots. The 360 Cam's pictures and video look OK, though they're a noticeable notch lower in quality than the Gear 360.

The 360 Shooting Challenge

The biggest challenges of using a 360 camera aren't technical, they're creative. Many famous spots are quite boring-looking outside the frame of a traditional camera. Nobody wants to see the parking lot right next to Yosemite's Glacier Point.

And you the photographer are pretty much always going to be in these shots. A few times I tried using a timer and quickly running to hide behind a tree, but then I accepted that my presence is part of the story. Unless you use a tripod, your hands are in it, too, looking giant holding the bottom of the camera. Props to the Panono for one creative solution: It shoots automatically when you toss it up in the air—of course, you also need to be around to catch it.

Video complicates matters further: If you move around too much while you're filming, watching the footage—particularly using VR goggles—could leave your audience seasick.

I quickly learned I needed to throw out my ideas about framing. I put myself in the parts of the scene that were less interesting. For one sunset shot, I stuck a 360 camera in a tree. Viewing it makes me feel like I'm a bird.

I suspect we're not far from a future where it's normal to assume photos have another side. That means we're going to need a new term for 360 selfies where everyone's in a circle. I nominate "globie."

Write to Geoffrey A. Fowler at geoffrey.fowler@wsj.com or on Twitter @geoffreyfowler

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