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Casio has announced a 360° camera that features a detachable lens unit and a mode that allows the body to control two cameras at the same time. The Casio EX-FR200 is equipped with a 1.35mm lens that offers a fisheye capture with the angle of view we’d expect from a 13.4mm lens on a 35mm film camera.
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The lens can be used in four different modes to either capture a 180° 3888 x 3888 pixel fisheye spherical view, an unwrapped 360° 7456×1864 panorama, a super-wide 208° image or when combined with a second camera it can join two images shot in opposite directions to create a 360° ‘omni-directional’ image.
The camera consists of a body unit and a detachable lens/camera unit that can be used separated from the body, or folded for ‘normal’ shooting or selfie shooting while connected to the body.
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Casio has also produced an accessory that mounts a pair of FR200 or FR100 lens units back-to-back so that they can shoot in both directions simultaneously to create images that can be merged in Casio’s Exilim Album app or Exilim 360 Viewer desktop software to form a navigable YouTube 360 Video file. The camera can also control dual lens units in sequence from different perspectives while pointed in the same direction.
The FR200 is waterproof, freeze-proof and drop resistant for use in tough environments, and communicates via Bluetooth 2.1 and Wi-Fi. The camera also has a 4K video function.
Beyond Japan it isn’t clear where the camera will be sold, but the company plans to make 5000 a month from the time it is released in mid-September.
For more information see the Casio press release (translated version).
Articles: Digital Photography Review (dpreview.com)