Mystery 360 Photo source confirmed: Sigmawit SW-5

Sigmawit has now confirmed that the amazing photo posted by Nick Zhou is from Sigmawit SW-5, an advanced prototype 360 camera for prosumers!

OK so last week I posted this really amazing 360 photo with incredible resolution and dynamic range, and impossibly smooth stitching.  It had no optical weaknesses and besides the very high saturation and a few mysterious stitching artifacts, looked practically perfect.

I tried to pin down which camera it was from, and was told that it’s from the SW-4. When I asked Sigmawit for more samples from the SW4, I was disappointed because of the difference in image quality.

It turns out that there was just a miscommunication, which has now been cleared up. Here’s the good news:  Sigmawit confirmed that the photo is real. It’s not from a DSLR panorama. It’s from a prototype of the Sigmawit SW-5.

Unlike Sigmawit’s existing entry-level 360 cameras, the SW-5 will be an advanced model for prosumers.  It won’t be a low-cost camera.

Sigmawit doesn’t have any specifications for the SW-5 yet because it’s still a long way from being released (Mr. Zhou estimates that it won’t be released until 2018).  So far, the CG renders show that it is a somewhat slim camera, and the lenses are offset like the Insta360 4K beta and Insta360 Nano, instead of being back-to-back like most other 360 cameras.  There’s a button to switch between photo and video, and the power button seems to have another function that could be wi-fi.  There’s a USB port at the base.  The shutter button says “magnet.”  This may mean that it has a bluetooth remote that can be magnetically attached to the camera, which would be a cool feature.

I’m glad companies like Sigmawit are developing high end 360 cameras, not just entry-level cameras.  Assuming the Sigmawit SW5 is truly capable of amazing photos like the ones Mr. Zhou has posted thus far, this looks like a very promising camera that I’m very much looking forward to.