CENTR generates 360° HD video in real time on a device that fits in your pocket. Pledge $199 or more and get a FREE waterproof case!
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CENTR generates 360° HD video in real time on a device that fits in your pocket. Pledge $199 or more and get a FREE waterproof case!
About this project
Check out an interactive 360° video by clicking on the thumbnail below:
CENTR allows you to capture your experiences and share them in a whole new way. Capture 360° video in real-time on a camera that fits in the palm of your hand. With decades of experience working on cameras at Apple, the CENTR team knows what it takes to bring beautiful design and groundbreaking technology together in one product.
Your pledge will help us deliver an exciting new camera technology that blends into your daily life. Buying cameras with similar capability costs over $1000 and requires hard to use stitching software. No need to handle several SD Cards or go through the difficult process of aligning images, CENTR Camera does all of the work for you.
CENTR Camera will retail for $399, but you can get yours on Kickstarter for only $299! Support CENTR today and get a FREE waterproof case when you pledge $199 or more.
CENTR Camera stitches videos together from four independent HD image sensors. CENTR footage can be viewed though your desktop, smartphone, or tablet in real-time via Wi-Fi through the CENTR interactive player. Create everything from amazing panoramic time lapses to the ultimate 360° selfie.
Beta Tester highlights:
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CENTR was developed by a passionate team of ex-Apple engineers striving to change the way we capture, consume, and experience video. We designed and built the cameras for the iPhone, and won first place at the Stanford Product Showcase for our image processing design. The camera we're delivering to Kickstarter backers is the product of three years of development. CENTR's design is small but powerful, sleek but tough, and you'll never think of video the same once you experience 360.
Delivering the highest quality panoramic video requires extensive and precise in-camera calibration. CENTR Camera processes 20 variables with each calibration, ensuring that your panoramic image is the highest possible quality. Each seam is scrutinized for key points and then matches are identified and vectored between adjacent cameras giving images that look like the one below.
Custom designed optics give CENTR the highest possible resolution with minimal distortion.
Learn more about the technology and the team behind CENTR below:
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Watch below to see how CENTR's modular battery and camera easily separate for quick-battery swaps on the go.
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We've embedded a digital bubble level so you can easily keep CENTR level for the best looking panoramic video. See CENTR's LED "bubble level" at work below:
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CENTR's unique dual-use mount makes it easy to leverage the GoPro family of mounts or use any standard tripod mount.
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Easily change camera settings and preview from your mobile device.
CENTR partnered with world leaders in image processing to bring you the interactive, HD, panoramic video.
Movidius CEO, Remi El-Ouazzane, talks about their partnership with CENTR and the future of wearable devices.
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Three years in the making... We've come a long way from our first prototype hacked together with wood and off-the-shelf action cameras.
Risks and challenges
Our team is looking for the support of the Kickstarter community to kick off tooling and pay some of the required manufacturing development costs to bring CENTR Cam to life. To deliver a level of unmatched quality in our cameras, we need funds for injection molded tooling, a unique optical system, and a world-class supply chain. Tooling and high-precision fixture costs will approach $500,000. We must also account for the cost of development materials, scrap, third-party certification, and engineering resources. Our team has managed complex tooling and challenging development cycles before at Apple and has a track record of success.
Due to the incredible power of this device, some of CENTR Cam's components are only available from one supplier. We have close partnerships with each of our sole source suppliers, but ultimately they are responsible for delivering their components on schedule. In full disclosure, unforeseen changes to the supply chain or delays in the tooling process may impact our delivery schedule.
We are a small team without big investors. Over the last few months, we devoted all of our resources towards building prototypes that could demonstrate the power of 360° video in a portable camera. The support of the Kickstarter community is critical to make CENTR a reality. Thank you!
Learn about accountability on KickstarterFAQ
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Yes! We stitch then save the videos (or time-lapse images) directly on to the SD card so that you can view them immediately. You can also swap out SD cards to take more videos.
The videos will be saved in the .mov format and the photos will be saved as JPEGs.
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On batteries, CENTR will record panoramic HD video continuously for 2 hours, or shoot 5 hours of time-lapse panoramic photos. Standby battery life is 6 hours.
The CENTR battery pack uses custom-made, curved LiPo batteries so that you can quickly and easily swap it out in your CENTR Camera. These batteries are specially made to work with the unique CENTR Camera design.
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Yep! You will be able to connect to CENTR as a wireless hotspot from your phone so that you can see what CENTR sees and frame your videos.
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CENTR has four independent 5MP image sensors. This means you can shoot up to 20MP for time-lapse photography.
When shooting video, we pull either 720p or 1080p RAW video data from each camera. When each camera is shooting at 1080p resolution, we are processing 4K of panoramic video data in each frame. The effective resolution after image stitching is 1080 x ~7500 pixels. The final panoramic width for each video actually varies slightly based on the calibration parameters automatically set by CENTR.
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Sure, check out this link: http://centrcam.com/panorama-images
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CENTR outputs .mov file format so you can use standard editing tools to cut videos. We wanted to make sure CENTR users could easily create amazing movies.
We’ve cut all the movies on our website and Kickstarter page using Adobe Premier and Final Cut. You can also easily crop standard aspect ratio HD videos from CENTR footage using Premier or Final Cut as well as iMovie. You can even trim panoramic clips using Quicktime!
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CENTR has investigated spherical and hemispherical camera arrays. For the initial product, we felt that the additional field of view reduced image quality to an unacceptable level. The additional amount of HD image data, and the increased number of pixels that need to be stitched together created very high image processing requirements that would not have been possible on such a small, light device.
Our beta testers have used CENTR prototypes in a wide variety of applications to create some incredible footage. In the vast majority of cases, CENTR's panoramic video allowed testers to create incredible video experiences and said an additional camera would not have added much value. We acknowledge there are some applications where spherical video may have value, but CENTR is not able to provide that functionality in this product.
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We intended to simplify the process for international backers by adding both shipping costs and an estimated import duty for each unit. Our intent was that this approach would cause less work for backers since they would not have to account for individual duty on each pledge. We have confirmed with our shipping partner that CENTR will pay import duty for packages shipped to international backers. We have been advised that the import duty will likely range from 5-9% of the cost of goods (However, our research showed this could be as high as 14% depending on how CENTR Camera is classified for import). This is why shipping cost increases for higher pledges.
We do not have the ability to vary international shipping costs by country on the Kickstarter platform. If your country does not charge customs duty for CENTR Camera, we will be happy to return the savings to you once CENTR ships. We are not trying to charge extra or profit from shipping the product, we simply want to be sure our total shipping/duty costs are accurately accounted for.
Kickstarter does not charge VAT when you pledge. In most cases, VAT will be handled on the receiving end for those backers living in countries that apply additional VAT.
If you have specific questions about shipping, please send us a direct message.
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Yes! Just add $50 to your pledge (and send us a message that you want an extra battery) and we'll ship you an additional battery module with your CENTR Camera.
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CENTR uses the GPS data from your smartphone to give you location data. When CENTR Camera is paired to your smartphone via Bluetooth, CENTR stores location metadata in sync with your videos. Most people have their phones with them all the time and we were able to make excellent savings in size, power, and cost by leveraging the location data that is already collected by smartphones.
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Funding period
- (30 days)