Skip to main content
  1. Home
  2. Photography
  3. News

Reuters to produce VR news content with Samsung Gear 360 cameras

Daven Mathies
By

reuters samsung focus 360 st giles hotels gear
Image used with permission by copyright holder
Samsung is outfitting 50 Reuters photojournalists across 25 countries with its new Gear 360 cameras in a new global initiative to drive 360-degree journalism, Digital Trends has learned.

The cameras and new content will fuel Focus 360 – Reuters’ new virtual reality and 360-degree video and photography worldwide news portal, which launches online and on Android August 2 and on iOS August 5, the company told us. Users of newer Samsung Galaxy phones, including the S6 and S7, will also be able to watch Focus 360 content on the Samsung Gear VR headset. The news was part of an official business partnership announced Thursday.

Recommended Videos

“Our agreement with Samsung allows us to enhance our visual journalism and provide a more absorbing experience for our viewers,” Stephen Adler, Reuters Editor-in-Chief and President, said in a statement. He added that VR and 360-degree content will help viewers gain a new perspective and better understanding of the context of a news story.

Related

The eye-shaped Samsung Gear 360 uses both front- and rear-facing cameras to record seamless, 360-degree videos and photos. Each lens sees a full 180-degrees horizontally and vertically, creating a truly spherical field of view when combined. Videos are recorded at 3,840 × 1,920 resolution, while still photos are captured at roughly 26 megapixels.

The camera is intended to be taken nearly anywhere and is certified IP53 for dust and splash proofing, making it a good choice for photojournalists in the field.

Naturally, the Gear 360 plays nicely with other Samsung products. Galaxy phone users can control the camera remotely and even stitch and edit 360-degree videos right from their phones. Videos can be played back through a VR headset or online through YouTube in supported browsers, including Chrome, Firefox, and Edge.

The Reuters journalists will be among the very first people to use the Gear 360. While Samsung has sold the camera in limited numbers at a few events, it still isn’t available to the general public.

Editors' Recommendations

Topics
Daven Mathies
Daven Mathies
Former Digital Trends Contributor
Daven is a contributing writer to the photography section. He has been with Digital Trends since 2016 and has been writing…
DJI Mini Pro 4 leak appears to reveal the drone’s specs
A retail box apparently showing DJI's upcoming Mini Pro 4 drone.

DJI appears close to unveiling the Mini 4 Pro, the successor to the Mini 3 Pro that launched in May last year.

First, as a reminder, DJI’s smallest and lightest “Pro” drone tips the scales at just 249 grams, a carefully considered move as it’s just 1 gram below the drone weight category that involves having to register it with the authorities. Sure, that’s no great hardship for most folks, but the fewer hoops you have to jump through to get your bird in the sky, the better.

Read more
GoPro unveils its latest action camera, the Hero 12 Black
GoPro's Hero 12 Black action camera.

GoPro: Introducing HERO12 Black | Everything You Need to Know

GoPro is back with the latest iteration of its popular action camera. The new GoPro Hero 12 Black is the kind of solid piece of kit we’ve come to expect from a company that’s been in the game for years. That’s actually created a bit of a problem for GoPro, with many customers happy to hang onto their current model rather than upgrade. So it'll be hoping the latest version will be attractive enough to prompt a wave of purchases among current owners, while at the same time attracting a bunch of first-time buyers, too.

Read more
How to hide photos on your Android phone or tablet
Google Photos

While modern smartphones are quite secure as long as they remain locked with a passcode or biometrics like a fingerprint, by default those features only protect the front door. If someone picks up your phone while it's unlocked, there aren't typically any barriers that will keep them out of exploring everything from your contacts and emails to your photos.

This can be particularly challenging when it comes to photos, since those are the things we like to show off the most from our phones. We've likely all had those moments when we want to show a friend or co-worker a funny cat meme, so we hand over our phone and trust that they won't swipe right and see the photo of the hairy mole that we sent to our doctor that morning.

Read more