When it comes to recent technological advances in consumer video cameras, two of the big ones have been 360-degree interactive video, and 3D video. Kandao's QooCam is a three-lensed 4K/30fps camera that does both, plus it allows you to change the focus in photos that have already been taken.
For readers who don't know, 360-degree videos are those ones where the camera simultaneously films everything all around it, in a complete panorama. When viewers are watching the footage on a computer, they use their mouse to look left, right, up and down within the video, instead of being stuck with one fixed point of view.
Well, the QooCam can shoot those.
It can also, however, shoot stereoscopic 3D videos with a wide-angle 180-degree field of view (we're assuming you need 3D glasses to view them). As an added bonus, thanks to the camera's depth-mapping technology, users can change the field of focus in stills that have already been taken in 3D mode. This means that someone could take a photo in which a foreground object was in focus, but afterwards change it so that the background was in focus instead – the same thing is possible using the Lytro camera.
Other features include the option of shooting 2K/120fps slow motion in both modes, gyroscopic video stabilization, time lapse, live streaming, and the ability to edit and share videos using an iOS/Android app. That app is also used to set up and review shots, as the Wi-Fi-enabled camera doesn't have a viewfinder.
One charge of the 2,600-mAh battery should be good for up to three hours of continuous shooting.
If you're interested in getting a QooCam, it's currently the subject of a Kickstarter campaign. A pledge of US$299 will get you one, when and if they reach production. The planned retail price is $399.
Source: Kickstarter
