360 Camera News and Info 360 Camera Techniques

Ascend with David Blaine to 25,000 feet in VR: guess which 360 camera he used?

David Blaine Ascension floating in VR
David Blaine Ascension floating in VR

What’s it like to float 25,000 feet in the air on balloons?  Ascend with David Blaine in his latest feat, which you can experience in 360 VR.  Capturing this unique stunt in 360 video required a very reliable 360 camera that can record in sub-zero temperatures without losing power, and would also be small and light enough.   Can you guess which 360 camera he used?

First, here’s the video:

 

Although the stunt has a simple concept, it requires extensive preparation to ensure that it can be done safely, and David Blaine assembled among the best experts in the world in a variety of disciplines.  Here’s the full 3-hour long Youtube special that shows the intense preparation required for this stunt.

For an event like this, there are no do-overs, so they needed a 360 camera that would be very reliable.  Which 360 camera did they used?  It turns out that they used at least two 360 cameras – an Insta360 One R ($479, reviewed here) and a GoPro MAX ($499, reviewed here) :

David Blaine's team used an Insta360 One R
David Blaine’s team used an Insta360 One R as one of their 360 cameras
David Blaine's team used a GoPro MAX
David Blaine’s team also used a GoPro MAX 

These are two of the best 360 cameras for 360 videos and they can be powered with a USB power bank for extended recording times.  They may have used a third 360 camera, which seems to be a GoPro Fusion:

The team appears to have used a third 360 camera
The team appears to have used a third 360 camera, which seems to be a GoPro Fusion, with a possible USB power bank above it.

Although these are “merely” consumer 360 cameras, you can see that they can provide video quality that can be used even for high budget projects, and they are affordable and available to you or me.  Watch the 360 video carefully (look above and below it) so you can see which parts were shot with Insta360 One R and which ones were shot with GoPro MAX.  And as a side note, if you simply watched the video without looking at the zenith or nadir, you probably couldn’t tell which video was shot with which camera, which indicates that they are both about equally excellent.

What do you think of the video quality and how David Blaine’s team used 360 cameras?  Let me know in the comments!

About the author

Mic Ty

Add Comment

Click here to post a comment

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.