Which 360 Camera should I buy and how much will it REALLY cost?

We will add more camera rigs over time, so check back often if you want to know more. If you have a specific rig you want me to review that you do not see on the list, let us know and we will try to review it and post our findings. Basically in our blog, we will review cameras as we can, but in this specific post, we will link to those blogs so you can have an overview and bottom line here, but get more information on whatever rigs you want to know more about.

Also, there is no "one camera solves all" purpose. Most professionals have at least two rigs, and some of us have more. Think of it as having the best tool(s) for the job.

The better way to decide is to educate yourself on everything that you can, and then make the best decision based on what you decide is right for you. Feel free to give us details of what you are looking to use the rigs for and we'll give you our opinions. At the end of the day this is nothing more than that, our opinions based on what we have learned. Many others have different opinions and as long as they can tell you why they have those opinions, you should definitely consider them all. 

Yeah, but how much will it REALLY Cost

Before we jump in, remember that each camera you add to your rig, exponentially raises the total cost in the long term. The difference between a 4 camera rig and a 7 camera rig might only seem like $1,500, but the amount of space you will save on hard drives, extra sd cards, etc, is huge and should be factored in. 

In addition to the rigs and cameras, you also have to figure in stitching software, editing software, power solutions, sd cards, disk space and accessories that you might not have considered before.

The stitching software is going to set you back about $1,000, no matter which program you go with. For more about which stitching software to buy, read this blog.

For editing software, I personally like the Adobe CC suite. That's $50 a month, but in addition to video editing tools it also gives you programs for sound mixing and mastering, color correction, motion graphics and more. You can just buy Premiere Pro (the video editing app), and for that you'll fork out $20 a month.

Sd cards are about $55 for one 64gb card, if you have 10 cameras, that's $550 and you should have extras. External hard drives are much more affordable than they were years ago, but we have at least 15 terabytes just for our 360 videos (and backups of course) in the last year. This is without keeping all of the videos that we used uncompressed. That's another $500 or so depending on which hard drives your buying.

Also, you will need power solutions, either a power bank that attaches to your tripod, or a ton of extra batteries. We will touch more on this with each setup as they all have different numbers of cameras/etc. But plan to spend at least $100 in this department.

For accessories, there are a bunch that are helpful, but not really needed, but I would highly recommend getting some sort of stable tripod that looks like a mono-pod. That sentence may sound strange, but if you check out the nodal ninja and this Gear Pack 2, from Freedom360, you'll find a great solution for a stable setup that allows you to have as little in the shot as possible. This route is $600, but you can find cheaper solutions. My personal philosophy, is buy once, cry once. Get the best gear you can afford and you'll be happier with it. If you're not shooting professionally, sure get something else, but make sure it's stable because if you're rig falls over, you risk damaging the cameras and if just one camera fails you, suddenly you don't have spherical footage.

Traditional tripod, leaves a big footprint at the bottom of your footage. 

The purple part is a backpack so you can get an idea of the scale.

Nodal ninja with stackable weights at the bottom, leaves a small footprint and is easy to clone out. The light grey is actually a small sound recorder, so you can get an idea of scale.

A powerful computer is an obviously important factor. I have a custom built workstation that I got half off for $3,000. Expect to spend at least $1,000 in this category, and more if you want a performance laptop or mobile work station.

Lastly, one expense that's often overlooked is buying an extra camera or two, but as I said before, if you have one camera fail, you don't have spherical footage anymore so having a spare camera to substitute becomes important.

Particularly for GoPros, I've heard so many horror stories about them failing for no apparent reason. We've been blessed and haven't had any issues with our GoPro Hero 4 Blacks, but we have the backups just in case.


So, let's sum up these costs.

$1,000 for stitching software
$600 a year for Adobe Suite (primarily for Premiere, After Effects, Audition and Speed Grade)
$100 (at least) for power solutions
$500 hard drives for a year (if you don't keep uncompressed files)
$600 for one of the best tripod solutions
$1,000 for an entry computer

That's $3,800 before you even think about buying a 360 camera setup. Of course you can get away with cheaper solutions, but this give you a ballpark of entry.

If you have a computer and don't get the nodal ninja, we're still talking $2,200 before the camera.


Before you go forward, if this is too much for you, consider two things
1. Hire an existing 360 production company to shoot your projects.
2. Buy a camera system that either auto stitches or doesn't require stitching such as the Ricoh Theta S or the Entapano. This will still set you back, but at least you can get started in 360 video and don't have to buy/learn stitching software.

Ok now let's jump in to the camera rigs.

Freedom360

Cost: $499.95 for the rig

6 GoPros - Approximately $2999.94 for Hero4 Black

6 sd cards (at least) - $479.94 for 64Gb sd extreme

Power pack - $194.95 See below for details

$4174.75 plus tax and shipping

Bottom Line:

This rig is currently the work horse of the industry right now and you can't really go wrong with this rig if you can afford it.

Read the full review here.

iZugar - Z2X

Cost:

$1699 - Z2X Rig with 2 GoPro Hero 4 Blacks already modified

$159.98 - 2 64gb sd cards

$79.95 - 4 extra GoPro batteries (you could do a power pack instead)

$1938.93 - Plus tax and shipping and potentially customs.

The bottom line:
This is a cost effective rig that is great if you want to get your feet wet in 360 video, but don't want to commit too much time or money. It's also a great second rig if you already have a 6 or 7 camera rig. Think of it as another tool in your belt, one that you can shoot objects right next to the camera.

Read the full review here.

Next Cameras I plan to write about:

360 Heros

Ricoh Theta S

Elmo 360

Entapano

Orbcam VR

Sphericam2

Nokia Ozo

Jaunt?

Custom Built