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Lions and Tigers and Drones! Oh My!

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Visitors at the Jungle Cat World Wildlife Park saw a new attraction this week when PATIO’s newest 360 camera found itself the new desired playtoy of three curious african lions. Strapped to the bottom of a DJI drone in a rather macgyver-like fashion, our newest samsung gear 360 camera took a dive into the lions pit to film some exclusive 360 video footage of the magnificent animals.

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All of this was to aid in the efforts of the Lioness Woman’s Club to raise money for a new enclosure for the lions. Jungle Cat World Wildlife Park is funded through their official Charity, the Endangered Species Fund of Canada, and like many charities, the struggle to raise money can be an uphill battle. While this sanctuary has provided great rescue and rehabilitation services for these animals for many years, they are now finding themselves in increasing need for funds. A large part of this is due to the increase in animals arriving at the sanctuary in need of their services, as well as the current park enclosures needing to be upgraded to best accommodate the animal’s needs. A donations page has been created to facilitate in raising money for the big cats here: https://www.canadahelps.org/en/charities/endangered-species-fund-of-canada/  

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In learning about the plight of the big cats and the Lioness Women’s Club’s effort to help, PATIO was ready with our 360 cameras and drones to “fly” into action. Much like Batman.

Adventures In the Lion Pit

While undoubtedly powerful, the animals seemed almost docile and even playful in the care of experienced zookeeper Carl, who allowed us to enter the enclosure on multiple occasions for a up-close angle of the lions. Maybe a little too playful – in true cat fashion, one of the lions, Samira, took the first opportunity for batting practice with the novel ball-on-a-stick toy. If nothing else, it left us with officially the coolest excuse ever for owning a scratched up monopod.

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And of course; whats a trip to the wildlife park without a little exploring? Around the end of our trip we also got to say hi to some other fun mammals including a Bengal Tiger, a Ring-Tailed Lemur and (our favorite) a sassy Fennec. What do you think – new PATIO mascot?

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Meet: the Samsung Gear 360 “Virtual Reality” Camera

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Check out our latest cutting-edge addition to the PATIO tech line-up! The Samsung Gear 360 camera was announced at the 2016 Mobile World Conference in February as Samsung’s very first 360 “virtual reality”camera. Check out the specs on this innovative device:

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Camera Quality

The revolutionary camera holds two 180 degree 15-megapixel fisheye lens with a bright f/2.0 aperture and is able to capture 360 degree fully immersive photos and video, being recorded at a resolution of 3,840 x 1,920 pixels.

Battery and Storage

The Gear 360 is powered by a 1,350 mAH lithium battery, said to last up to two hours of continual shooting, and is replaceable with a spare for extended shooting times. The device also has the capability to support 128GB microSD cards, giving it the ability to shoot seven hours of high resolution video at a time.

Device Compatibility

The Samsung Gear 360 is compatible with any current Samsung Galaxy phone and VR headsets, as well as with recently released downloadable software for Windows. Rumor has it that Samsung is also considering writing software compatible with Mac, but this has yet to be confirmed.

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Upon the announcement of this camera, PATIO staff had been eagerly awaiting the chance to get our hands on this exciting technology to start creating some amazing 360 immersive content. To the anxious dismay of early adopters and tech-lovers alike, Samsung has remained relatively tight-lipped, refusing to discuss release dates at the 2016 Mobile World Conference or online for the baseball-shaped device. Although not currently available for purchase in Canada, PATIO was able to gain access to multiple Samsung Gear 360 cameras to start creating some seriously sweet VR content.

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Since the Samsung Gear 360 has joined the PATIO family, we’ve had many occasions to use the virtual reality technology to help clients capture and relive the full, immersive experiences of their special and unique events on camera. We’ve had the chance to capture experiences anywhere from up-close looks into a lion’s pit, to posh rooftop evening events in the heart of downtown Toronto. Here are some examples of our more recent 360 video projects:

 

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