360 degree experience - Shark feeding frenzy

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Summary:	The Oceans film team test the 360° panoramic video camera in shark-infested waters.
Location:	Diving in the waters off Bimini in the Bahamas, during the filming of the Atlantic Ocean episode.
Clip length:	Two minutes, 27 seconds
Description:	This video shows Scott Tibbles and Mike Pitts filming a close encounter with sharks. Around 40 species of shark have been recorded in the Bahamas, the most common being the Caribbean reef shark. Scientists have been studying sharks in these waters for more than 25 years. These sharks are not known to be aggressive towards scuba divers but the crew are still vigilant and well versed in possible signs of aggression. The film team captured the sharks on camera in order to tell the story of ground breaking research. A project to develop shark repellents involves experts from the Bimini Biological Field Station.
Camera:	The 360° panoramic video camera has 11 individual video lenses which record simultaneously. The lenses are housed in a "dodecahedral" camera head, encased in a waterproof plastic surround. The camera is kept on the sea bed using dive weights and is permanently connected to the boat. A cable feeds images back to a viewing engine where the "blending" of all the camera image streams takes place in real time. Once this process is complete and the film is captured on a hard drive, stitching software creates "sphere movies" showing the whole environment in motion at once. Visit this specialist camera website to learn more about the technical specifications of this 360° camera.