Meet the Panono: a camera to make you throw up

Panomo throwable camera
Just don't forget to catch it.

Most people's idea of panoramic photography involves a tripod, a spirit level, a fiendishly complex panoramic tripod head and copious amounts of time.

The Panono's approach could hardly be more different. It's the size and shape of a grapefruit, it weighs just 440g and the cameras trigger automatically when it's thrown in the air. All the tricky stitching is taken care of by the Panono cloud service.

If you're working indoors where there's less light, the makers recommend using a tripod instead and controlling the Panono with its companion smartphone app, which comes in iOS and Android versions.

These aren't small images, either. The Panono's 36 cameras create a 108-megapixel image. Even so, the camera can store up to 400 of them in its internal memory. You can transfer them via WLAN or a regular USB connection.

When can I get one?

Panono's maker says it will be available from Spring 2015 at an anticipated retail price of $US549/£340/AU$622. In the meantime, you can take a look at the camera and its specs at the Panono website.

You can also take a look at panoramic images which have been created with it – and some of them are quite breathtaking.

Check out more Panono samples on the website

Panono sample image

You view them within a regular browser window – drag your mouse to pan and rotate the images and use the scroll wheel to zoom in and out.

Rod Lawton is Head of Testing for Future Publishing’s photography magazines, including Digital Camera, N-Photo, PhotoPlus, Professional Photography, Photography Week and Practical Photoshop.