Sean Heddle is using a new kind of camera to capture news in Kelowna.
Image Credit: Contributed
January 16, 2016 - 11:30 AM
KELOWNA – A Kelowna man is bringing a brand new, immersive form of video to news events across the city.
For the past several weeks, Sean Heddle, 43, has been following a frequency scanner to find breaking news around Kelowna to record or photograph them then submit them to local news outlets. But this week, he produced two breaking news packages in 360 video. If you aren't familiar with 360 video, chances are you will soon. It's a video that records action spherically around the point of the camera. They are best viewed on smart phones, because they allow the viewer to look left, right up or down in a moving video. We've attached the video here, though not everyone will be able to see it. They are native to Facebook and Google Chrome. It also works on laptops and desktop computers but smartphones give the best result.
Heddle is a trained audio engineer but says he decided to get into news “for the adrenaline”. He says he comes across a lot of accidents and police incidents and decided to make the $500 purchase of a 360 camera.
“No one is doing this in news yet,” he says. “It’s either a cool new fad or it’s the future.”
When Heddle arrives at a scene, he picks a spot as close to the action as he can get, raises his Ricoh Theta S 1080 HD 360 degree camera as high as possible on a monopod and the multiple lenses capture everything going on around him.
For interviews he uses a canon T3-I HD camera and when time is a factor, he simply uses his smartphone.
Heddle says he’s not doing it for the money, but admits he’d be open to turning it into a career if it were profitable.
“I’ve got student loans to pay.”
What do you think? Fad or future?
Sean Heddle's 360 degree camera allows him to capture everything that happens around him.
Image Credit: Contributed
This may be more viewable Ty Marshall Jones Accident at KLO & Gordon 360 degree view accident scene.Quality seems less than Youtube.
Posted by Fivebyfive Feed on Wednesday, January 13, 2016
To contact the reporter for this story, email Adam Proskiw at aproskiw@infonews.ca or call 250-718-0428. To contact the editor, email mjones@infonews.ca or call 250-718-2724.
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