‘Ball camera' could set a new 360 travel trend?

IFA GPC 2016, Hong Kong: Crowd-funded Panono could turn travel photography upside down … and all around

Shooting panoramas is quickly becoming a travel trend thanks to smartphones, but a new camera in the shape of a ball is set to make 360 degree travel photos the way to go.

Spherical photos

Demoed to TravGear at the IFA General Press Conference 2016 in Hong Kong ahead of the inaugural CE China exhibition in Shenzhen, China, German startup Panono showed-off its ball-shaped Panono Camera that can shoot shoot spherical panorama images using 36 built-in cameras.

Trend-setting

However, priced at a whopping US$14,999, Panono is for trend-setters and photography pioneers rather than casual travellers. “LG and Samsung are making 360 video cameras, but no-one else is making 360 cameras capable of shooting in such a high resolution, which is remarkable,” said CEO and founder Jonas Pfeil in Hong Kong.

All-seeing eye

Pfeil took the camera around the IFA GPC 2016 event; attached to a tripod-cum-staff, it looked like some kind of all-seeing eye, although it also resembled the remote lightsaber training ball from the original Star Wars movie. It connects to phone apps, but it’s the camera’s own unique algorithms that stitches together the 36 individual shots into one enveloping image. Could this be the start of a whole new trend in travel photography?
IFA 2016 will take place from 2-7 September 2016 in Berlin