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Camera giant Olympus has been recently playing with the idea of a 360-degree camera lens.  The company believes that it could be marketed for surveillance purposes. 

This makes sense, as most cameras are only designed to shoot at one angle, and perpetrators can easily get around the ones that can swivel.  However, a 360-degree horizontal image cannot be avoided. 

The image in the vertical is only 180 degrees, which may not be enough to see anything of interest on the ceiling, but it is enough to get more of a view than normal. 

Another obvious application is video conferencing.  Now a room filled with many people can be easily pictured without an automatic focus. 

Of course, this leads to a question my source didn’t address, the playback function.  How can a two-dimensional screen possibly see what a 360 camera could?  It’s like trying to put a globe on a flat map.  Of course, map companies do that all the time, but the image always gets distorted.  In case you aren’t aware, Greenland is about the size of Mexico, not five times its size. 

I suppose that you could set up several monitors around you in a ring formation, and then watch the footage that way.  It reminds me of an exhibit at EPCOT center with a 360 degree movie theater.  Instead of seats, the audience watches the film standing.  The theater has these bars that they need to grab because watching a film with a 360-degree view can result in a very dizzying effect. 

In short, there is easily a market for a 360-camera, but it would certainly change the market of picture taking and viewing as we know it.  Then again, it has already been turned upside down by the age of digital photography, so what’s another advancement? 

Via [DVICE]