Fishball 360: An inexpensive way to shoot 360° photos and video with your iPhone

Although I’m not a fan of crowdfunding projects right now (I’ve got well over $700 invested in two campaigns that may never ship…), I saw one today that caught my attention because it’s inexpensive and it has to do with my fascination with 360° spherical VR photography and videography. It has the fun name “Fishball 360” and it’s at 107 percent of its funding goal on Indiegogo with 11 days to go.

Unlike many of the VR cameras out there, the Fishball 360 requires no charging, no memory cards, no pairing and no firmware updates. The Fishball 360 clips onto the iPhone 7/7 Plus, 8/8 Plus or iPhone X, and then uses a proprietary system of fisheye lenses and mirrors to create a 360° capture. A free app then lets the user film photos and videos as usual…but with the ability to view them with a VR headset (not included) later.

Fishball 360 currently starts as low as $49 and will have an expected retail price of $99 once it’s available in June of 2018.