CES has loads of interesting tech previews and new releases but one of the most exciting for us here at fxguide was surprisingly from Nikon (yeah we know, Nikon – who knew!?).
While there are many new cameras being announced at CES the one that we did not see coming is the Nikon KeyMission 360. We had expected the Nikon D5 (with warm memories of our F2 Nikon SLR)…and while it is great it is an extension of their high end and not something revolutionary…unlike the KeyMission 360, which is, let’s face, it “darn sexy”!
360 action camera: KeyMission 360
The surprise is the incredible new KeyMission 360. Shockproof to 2m, waterproof to 30M and 4K VR ready in-camera stitched video. This camera is exactly what we have wanted. Think of it as the lovechild of a Ricoh Theta and a D600 – adopted by a lovely GoPro couple doing VR capture in the country!
- Waterproof to 30m/100ft, without a housing
- 360 Video: 4K
- Good audio recording
- About the size of a GoPro in a housing
- HDMI port
- Bluetooth / Wifi
- Electronic vibration reduction
- Tiny form factor (single GoPro sized)
And the biggest plus is that while Nikon has not named the price it is expected to be under $1000.
This camera if it works as we expect it will – could be a huge game changer.
First of all, while the new Theta and GoPro rigs are great for VR video they suffer from a series of issues:
- GoPro rigs need 6 GoPros – so they are not cheap
- GoPro rigs have to be stitched and the stitching seams are not invisible
- Right now you can’t sync 6 GoPros – so the video will all be up to 1/24th out of sync – just by how lucky you are with the button press. Sure it is possible to sync the footage in a lip sync sense but the individual cameras have no sync signal or sync lock to each other
- Ricoh Theta are great but the video is only so so and Nikon do know how to make lenses
- The Ricoh Theta is not waterproof at all without a housing
- The apps that run these rigs and cameras currently are not very innovative, we hope the Nikon apps that will service this camera will address this – given Nikon’s recent encouraging comments about such tech in their DSLR launches.
5 questions we’d love answered:
- Price?
- Shipping?
- Base ISO and low light capabilities, (is there any ‘log’ type format that records less of a harsh “Rec709 style baked in gamma” ?)
- Record time and slow mo options – can this film at 60, 90 or 120 fps?
- How seamless is the stitching software? (It is done in the camera)
Nikon has said “The KeyMission 360 — the first of Nikon’s range of action cameras — along with a variety of dedicated accessories, will be released this spring.”