14 DAY TRIAL // Only iPhone users seem to get all the cool things these days. A group of friends in Spain seem to have managed to Kickstart a VR-meets-social project thingy. Called simply "Shot," the whole thing is basically a camera adapter and app that promises all iPhone owners to create VR content.
VR content-ready portable cameras aren't really currently available, except maybe GoPro's 360 Hero. However, when it comes to smartphones, the prospect of finding VR kits that would fit existing smartphone chassis are even scarcer. Well, this is where these Spanish guys actually come in. By building the "Shot" camera adapter and app, they want to make iPhone VR content easy to film and share with friends.
The way they did it was by designing a camera adapter for the iPhone 6 and 6 Plus, allowing them to capture 235-degree videos and 360-degree photos. To do this, they used two fisheye lenses in the adapter, and by taking two photos with each fisheye camera placed on the front and the back of the smartphone, the app will later on stitch them together into a high-resolution panorama.
Seems these guys went ahead of Apple in creating iPhone VR cameras and headsets
Although camera adapters for the iPhone is something that the world has seen before, it's the VR element that draws the attention, and of course the fisheye back-to-back layout of the two cameras that makes the project simple and pretty efficient. Or in other words, it's simple and it does the job right.
What's nice for the app, and that's something that could potentially grow to some Instagram-level of popularity, is that it takes the photos you make on the street or anywhere else, and uploads them in your "Shot" app account so you can share them with whomever you want. So it may easily turn into some Instagram for VR. Additionally, everything you film and shoot with your "Shot" app people will be able to enjoy with their Google Cardboard VR headset.
The lens kit with Cardboard will cost you $55 on their Kickstarter page, and if the project goal is met, they might be sending their first kits in April next year.