Question

Is there any type of camera that can have a 360 degree field of view with just one single shot, without using any stitching algorithms and post-processing steps? Or, is it possible to have one such camera with the appropriate use of lenses and other optical components?

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Solution

I think that the closest you can get to a one-shot panorama is using a mirrored ball - there are a number of resources on how to use them scattered across the web. The short version is that you set up the mirrored ball and shoot its reflection, then post-process to unwrap the image. If you shot vertically down (or up) into the ball, you would get a 360 degree view of the scene; however, owing to the shape of the mirror, the resolution will drop off as you approach the ball's horizon.

Though the mirrored ball images are cool on their own, you will most likely still want to post-process the image. I've used panotools before and can vouch for them. They have a built-in ability to remap mirrored ball images to latitude-longitude (what we're more used to seeing as panoramas).

To really get it right, you could build a custom mirror rig and do the math to remap the mirrored images to your panorama. This is e.g. how the Google Street View cars do it - they have what looks like a cone of mirrors on the car, and they post-process the image from the mirrors. Of course, this is moving heavily toward the post-processing effort, but it is a true one shot one camera 360 degree panorama.

OTHER TIPS

I'm not aware of manufactured cameras for such a thing. But you can rig 2 fisheye cameras into one unit. I'm not sure why you don't want software. Unless your using a hemisphere screen, you have to correct for your screen. There are open source switchers but I like Microsoft's ICE

http://research.microsoft.com/en-us/um/redmond/groups/ivm/ice/

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