Advice on camera purchace / equipment advice

Q&A about the latest versions
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SHjelle
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Joined: Wed Apr 08, 2020 10:57 am
Location: Longyearbyen
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Hey, I hope it’s OK to ask about equipment here.
I’m working on a large guide for Arctic Biology, that can be checked out here:
www.360.learningarcticbiology.info

We are thinking on investing in a new camera, as the one we have now (Insta One X) has a low battery life and is a bit beat up. Do people have any good experiences with other brands of cameras / something to avoid? Ideally high resolution, so we get as much detail in the image as possible.
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360Texas
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I did look at your site. Great layout... navigation is simple and easy to use to quickly move to learn useful information.

Color scheme is good... sea ice green. I like the use of people in the images... adds to visual perspective.
Very professional work.

Regarding camera types.

We too use insta360 One X because hardly any post processing.
Have you tried taking camera RAW .dng file format ? That format creates 35 Mb file size images.
Open in photoshop ( see LEFT AND RIGHT Lenses) make color corrections, remove chromatic aberrations and white balance using Adobe Camera Raw converter.
Save to tif and then stitch with PTgui ver 12. Output to an 2:1 ratio equal - rectangle image (108 Mb). LOTS of color and detail.

I am sure there are other forum members that use different cameras.

[edit] Many years ago I lived at Fairbanks Alaska USA. I flew a small single engine aircraft up to Fort Yukon Alaska which is above the Arctic Circle. From the air the terrain below was very FLAT.
Dave
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zap
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following

Was thinking on the theta but again at this moment I think still nothing beats a DSLR or least mirrorless with proper lens.

Especially mirrorless cameras seems to be a future option for me.
If I find a nice fisheye that produces 180° I could end up with 2 pics per standpoint which would be great
Adding then proper Photoshop + PTGUI Workflow can certainly beat actual "onthefly" cameras..

but as mentioned following advice from others here too
cheers
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SHjelle
Posts: 20
Joined: Wed Apr 08, 2020 10:57 am
Location: Longyearbyen
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Hey,
We ended up with a new Insta360 One X2. And apparently some sort of cold resistant battery, as I think the cold here was what killed the camera before.
I tried to look at some of the more expensive models from Insta360, but the quality improvement doesn't seem worth the investment really. I like the idea of a DSLR with a fisheye lens. Might be something we will look into.
Though, we need it to be easy to use as we are kind of sending the camera along with people going on expeditions - so they need to be able to capture in 360 with little to no training.

But thanks for the replies!
Cheers,
Simen
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