Samsung Gear 360 How Long to Record Time UPDATED

Samsung Gear 360 How Long to Record Time

Editors' Note: This review has been updated to reflect improvements to the Samsung Gear 360's accompanying iOS app, which addresses several bug we had when we first reviewed this iteration of the production earlier this year. The rating has been increased from 3.5 stars and the Gear 360 now earns our Editors' Selection designation.

Samsung's first Gear 360 video camera was a promising product, but one that cruel short of expectations in real-globe utilise. Despite capturing pretty decent 360-degree video, it was hampered past limited smartphone compatibility and shoddy software support. Samsung took note of criticisms when creating the 2017 edition of the Gear 360 ($229.99). Information technology addresses those problems, adding support for iOS and macOS devices. We originally recommended the photographic camera only for desktop editors and Samsung phone owners, merely improvements to the iOS app take broadened its appeal, making it our Editors' Choice amidst 360-caste video cameras.

Blueprint

The original Gear 360 was a fist-sized earth with a tripod mount. This one ($249.95 at Amazon) has a smaller camera globe, set up atop a finger-length stalk that contains the battery. Information technology measures 3.9 past 1.8 by one.eight inches (HWD) and weighs iv.half-dozen ounces. A rubbery ring can be placed around the base to keep it in identify, where the quondam camera would take rolled away without a tripod. There's besides a standard tripod socket, and then you can use the back up of your liking—a GorillaPod or other support with flexible legs is a good match, as it will let y'all attach the camera to places where a normal tripod wouldn't have a leg to stand on.

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The camera is IP53 rain resistant, but not waterproof. It charges and syncs via a USB-C port, and records to a microSD memory carte du jour. The bombardment is sealed in, but you lot tin apply it while it'south plugged in and charging. In our tests the battery was practiced for 90 minutes of recording in 4K, but you tin can expect longer apply if y'all opt for a lower resolution—most two hours when shooting in 2K.

Wireless file transfers also accept a cost. Transferring a vii-minute clip dropped the battery by most 15 percent and took 25 minutes if you utilise a recent smartphone similar the Galaxy S7 or iPhone seven Plus. If you lot take an older phone, expect the transfer to accept longer, as video processing is part of the procedure—the aforementioned clip took virtually an hour to transfer to an iPhone 6 Plus.

You can use the photographic camera without an app. It has a modest monochrome information LCD that shows the current shooting mode, as well as Menu, Power/Back, and Record buttons. Information technology's easy enough to kickoff and stop video with Record, and you tin switch between image and video modes using the concrete controls. Pairing the Gear with your phone gets you a Live View feed, besides as more than robust controls, including exposure and white balance.

The 2 lenses are closer together on the new model, reducing stitching problems, and they tape 4,096-by-two,048 4K video at 24 frames per 2nd; no other frame rate options are available at full resolution. At Samsung'southward HQ in Korea, product strategy VP Robert Kim said that the company is focusing on the 360 existence a video rather than a however camera, so the 2 image sensors have dropped from xv megapixels each to viii.4 megapixels each, producing 15-megapixel, 360-degree notwithstanding images.

Samsung has also added live streaming to the 360. The camera doesn't live stream directly, merely it'll relay through the Gear 360 app on a phone to stream to Facebook Alive or YouTube. Alive streaming requires a Samsung phone running Nougat—information technology worked fine on a Milky way S7—or a estimator running the dekstop software with the Gear connected via USB. You can't stream using before versions of Android or iOS.

Software

The new Gear 360 is compatible with Galaxy S6 or later flagship Samsung phones, the Galaxy A5 and A7, recent iOS phones, Macs, and PCs, but not not-Samsung Android phones. Nosotros've tested it with a Galaxy S6, Galaxy S7, iPhone 6 Plus, iPhone seven Plus, iPad Air 2, and MacBook Pro.

The Android companion app is solid, much improve than what we saw with the commencement Gear 360. The camera still records in H.265 format, which enjoys ameliorate support today than it did a year agone, but when you transfer video to your phone information technology's automatically stitched and converted to the ameliorate-supported H.264 format, all at full resolution. The fact that y'all tin work with full quality video on your telephone is a big plus, and unlike the original Gear 360, we didn't experience whatever overheating issues when transferring lengthy clips.

When nosotros first looked at the Gear 360, the iOS app simply didn't piece of work. But apps tin can exist updated, and to Samsung's credit it pushed out a new version that works very well. I tested the app with an iPhone 6 Plus and iPhone 7, and both were able to receive and run up video files from the camera, albeit at varying speeds. A 1-minute clip takes virtually 8.five minutes to re-create to the older phone, just the elapsing cutting to three.5 minutes with the much faster iPhone 7. The iOS-based workflow does take a slight pace back in quality, reducing video resolution to 3,840 by one,920, but it's fine for quick sharing. Serious editing should exist done on a desktop.

Ane of the downsides to moving 4K, 360-caste video to your phone is its size. Stitched video boasts a stiff 60Mbps fleck rate, but that also means you're going to spend nearly 450MB of storage for every minute of video you shop on your phone. And phone-based workflow is not practical if you own a phone with only 16GB of storage infinite. For more serious video work, you'll want to use the desktop stitching tools.

And thankfully the desktop software is a lot ameliorate than it used to be. I installed the Gear 360 app on my MacBook Pro. Y'all need to enter the camera'due south series number to actuate it, only once you do you lot'll be able to stream live video to YouTube, Facebook, or to a Gear VR headset, and import and stitch video and images from the Gear's memory bill of fare.

Importing and stitching video is also improved. It takes a while—a 12-second clip requires about 2.5 minutes to stitch together using a 2.8GHz Core i5 CPU from 2014. I'd wait a newer, faster laptop to cut that fourth dimension down. The dekstop app doesn't take whatsoever editing tools, just once you've got video stitched you can edit clips using Premiere Pro CC or your preferred video editing suite.

Video and Epitome Quality

The video from the new Gear 360 has more pixels, but not by a huge margin. The first Gear 360 captured video at 3,840 by one,920; this one ups the resolution to 4,096 by 2,048, virtually a 13-percentage increase. But with spherical video, where everything is stretched out to encompass a navigable 360-degree frame, every actress pixel helps.

At full resolution you're locked into 24fps capture, which is platonic if you want your footage to take a cinematic look. Just it's not groovy if you're an action sports junkie, as more frames are better for sports videos. A 60fps capture rate delivers smoother, crisper motion, and can exist slowed down for fluid half-speed playback.

Live streaming is done at a much lesser quality, 1,920 by 960 at 15fps, and so expect soft results. Only that's the cost you pay for real-time stitching and broadcast.

Faster capture rates are available at lower resolutions—y'all tin can shoot at 30fps at 2,800 past 1,440, at 30 or 60fps at 2,560 by i,280, at 30fps at i,920 by 960, and at 120fps at 1,440 past 720. Oddly, 24fps capture is but available at the maximum resolution.

The Gear 360 also sets itself apart from the crowd past allowing traditional, flat 16:9 footage at 1080p using either of its lenses. That'due south something the $500 Nkon KeyMission 360 doesn't let you lot practise. You can shoot at 30 or 60fps at 1080p, and at 30fps at 720p. Once more, 24fps isn't bachelor with single-lens capture.

As far as video quality goes, it's slightly stronger than what you get with the first Gear 360 or the Nikon KM360 ($249.95 at Amazon) , merely not significantly and so. Details are decently crisp upward close, although distant subjects are a bit blurred. That'south par for the course with the across-ultra-wide scope of a 360-degree photographic camera.

There are some bug inherent in the format, including exposure differences beween the 2 lenses—point one at the sun and yous'll become a flare in half your video, and visible seams at very close distances. Only you can adjust your framing and photographic camera positioning to sidestep those. Chromatic aberation is fairly well controlled; we've seen serious imperial fringing around tree branches in other cameras, but it's non overt here. Nosotros'd liken the quality to a 720p 16:nine video. We'll need to wait for 8K 360-caste cameras, which are on the horizon, to net significantly better quality.

Photo resolution has dropped from 25MP to xv.7MP. It'southward a large drop, but since you'll be viewing images on a screen rather than making prints, it's non a huge bargain. Like about cameras with modest image sensors, the Gear delivers photos that are on par with what you get from a flagship smartphone camera. Image quality is strongest when subjects are closer to the lens—the ultra-wide nature of the camera means distant subjects aren't going to wait great, regardless of how many pixels are behind the glass. HDR image capture is likewise an option, as is time-lapse recording.

Conclusions

The new Gear 360 is a solid, affordable piece of hardware. It's priced at $229, but has been selling for less for some fourth dimension at present, enhancing its value. Nosotros'd love to see it work with Android devices exterior of the Samsung brand, but improved iOS support is a large plus in its favor, and y'all can edit video on either of the 2 major desktop operating system environments.

While a lot of folks look at a 360 photographic camera as something you use with a smartphone—and some competing models require a smartphone to piece of work—the Gear 360 can exist used as an autonomous recording device. The computer, whether it be a handheld phone or a powerful desktop, is there for video editing and finishing, only as with traditional video cameras.

The Gear 360'south video is the best we've seen from a consumer-oriented 360-degree camera, and it comes in at less than half the toll of the Nikon KeyMission 360. Information technology doesn't have in-camera stitching like the Nikon, nor is it submersible, so there are some trade-offs. Nosotros still see 360-degree capture as a niche application, only if you're keen on getting a camera that does it, the Gear 360 is our Editors' Choice.

Samsung Gear 360 (2017)

The Bottom Line

Samsung'south 2d version of the Gear 360 improves on the original, delivering better video and a more than refined user experience.

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Samsung Gear 360 How Long to Record Time UPDATED

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