Photography

Lomography Spinner captures 360-degree panoramas with a flick of the wrist

Lomography Spinner captures 360-degree panoramas with a flick of the wrist
The Lomography Spinner 360-degree camera
The Lomography Spinner 360-degree camera
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The Lomography Spinner 360-degree camera
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The Lomography Spinner 360-degree camera
The Lomography Spinner 360-degree camera
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The Lomography Spinner 360-degree camera
The Lomography Spinner 360-degree camera
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The Lomography Spinner 360-degree camera
The Lomography Spinner 360-degree camera
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The Lomography Spinner 360-degree camera
View gallery - 17 images

Who said film photography was dead? Definitely not Lomography, whose Lomography Spinner 360-degree camera lets shutterbugs take a full 360-degree photo with a flick of the wrist. The camera uses standard 35mm film to capture super-wide-angle images that are four times longer than standard landscape pictures, with a standard 36-exposure roll capable of capturing around eight shots.

Unlike other more expensive 360 degree shooting options, such as the robotic camera mounts from GigaPan Systems, the Lomography Spinner takes a decidedly more low-tech approach. Holding the spinner in one hand and pulling the ripcord with the other will set the camera spinning around its axis to capture a 360-degree panorama in a split second – much quicker than taking a stitched panorama by lining up previous shots on a digital camera’s display (although it must be said, sweep panorama functionality has come a long way in a short time – the new Sony NEX for example, is incredibly smooth).

Since the images are four times as long as regular images and take up the entire width of the film – sprockets and all – you might have problems getting the film processed at photolabs with any kind of automated system. But for photographers with their own darkroom this device could produce some interesting images for those willing to experiment. You can check out some more examples in our gallery.

In addition to the 360-degree horizontal view, the camera features a 66-degree horizontal view with a 25mm fixed focus (1m ~ inf.) lens. It has a relative shutter speed equivalent to 1/125s ~ 1/250s and two aperture settings (f/8, f/16) for indoor and outdoor shooting. One thing it doesn’t have is a viewfinder since it is designed to be held at a distance... and pulling the ripcord while pressed up against a viewfinder would likely result in an injury.

The Lomography Spinner 360-degree is available from the Lomography website for GBP125 (approx. US$180).

Via Gizmodo.

View gallery - 17 images
2 comments
2 comments
Bas Klein Bog
Sony has a camera which includes what is called sweep panorama - a mode that captures 224-degree horizontal or 154-degree vertical panorama\'s by moving the camera in a continuous sweeping motion. The resulting automatically stitched image has a maximum resolution of 7152 x 1080. That´s done by stitching several exposures, rather than a continuous exposure through a slit while the camera rotates and the film is forwarded, as in lomography. Undoubtedly one of the manufacturers will come up with a digital version of lomography sometime soon as its a simple trick to do this electronically. All new cameras are able to take a series of photo´s in quick succession, and by selecting only a strip of each photo, then stitching them together, while a motor rotates the camera in synch you get a digital version of lomography.
DH
A regular lens/aperture would result in great amounts of blur. This appears to be a vertical slit aperture which allows for movement of the subjects without significant horizontal blur, though moving objects will be distorted. At least one of the example shots shows vertical banding, however even there the overall effect achieved is very dynamic and stylish, even dreamlike.