EKEN VR360 CAM: H360, R360, K360 & G360

EKEN is entering the 360° video market with the EKEN VR360 lineup consisting of 4 different models: H360, R360, K360 & G360.
I don’t consider it a real 360° camera, as you don’t get a full view on all axes, but you could use 2 of them and stich the video together. A similar method is used for the Kodak SP360 camera. Other manufacturers released cameras with two lenses to solve this, like the Nikon KeyMission, Samsung Gear, Elephone ELEcam 360 or Amkov AMK200.

To get you an impression how the video will look like: This is a video shot with a similar built Amkov AMK100 camera. Be sure to watch it within the YouTube app or with a Google Chrome browser for best viewing experience!

EKEN VR360 lineup: H360 vs R360 vs K360 vs G360

These are the published specs so far, I put them together in a list to compare:

EKEN H360 – R360 – K360 – G360

*EKEN writes 16 or 32GB in most of their manuals, also for EKEN H9, as they can’t guarantee every 64 GB card to work. Although most of them do.

Currently not more specs of the EKEN VR360 models are published, there is also no price set. I’ll update this article as soon as I get more information.

Body Buttons & Ports

EKEN G360 Specs

Dimensions, buttons & display are the same for all 4 EKEN VR360 models. It seems that the ring surrounding the lens has different colors.
There are two noticeable differences:
– K360 doesn’t have HDMI, in contrast all others do.
– The MicroUSB port for the 1440p models (H360 & R360) is placed next to micro SD card slot. Whereas I don’t know where it is for the 4K models (K360 & G360), as it is not shown in this diagram.

Functions

When long pressing the power button you turn on the camera. When short pressing it you circle the operation modes: VR video – 19:9 video – VR photo – Playback – Settings.

You can enter the settings by pressing the shutter button and you will find the following options:

Video Resolution:

• VR 1920 x 1440 – 4:3 resolution (H360 & R360)
• VR 1440 x 1080 – 4:3 resolution (H360 & R360)
• 1920 x 1080 – 16:9 resolution (H360 & R360)

All resolutions are available with 30 fps only.

Photo Resolution:
5 MP (H360 & R360)

Looping Video:
on/off – when turned on the camera will overwrite the oldest files first. This is useful when using it as dash camera.

Metering:
Center / Multi / Spot – you can set where the camera should measure exposure.

Time Stamp:
Off / Date / Date & Time – which will be displayed in your recordings.

Exposure:
to fine-tune exposure settings of your camera.

Time-Lapse:
2s / 3s / 5s / 10s / 20s / 30s / 60s – which will be individual photos taken to be put together in post production.

Continous Lapse:
On/Off – you have to set it on, to actually do the time-lapse, not just the time.

Power Frequency:
50Hz / 60Hz / Auto – you can match the light frequency in your country to avoid light flickering.

System settings:

Language:
English / Chinese / Italian / Spanish / Portuguese / German / Dutch / French / Czech / Polish / Turkish / Russian / Japanese / Korean / Thai.

Date & Time:
To set it and the displayed format.

Sound Indicators:
set how loud and when the camera should beep.

Screen Saver:
Off / 1m / 3m / 5m – to change time if and when the screen should turn off to saver power.

Power Saver:
Off / 1m / 3m / 5m – to set a time when the camera should turn off when in standby and not used.

Format:
where you can format your SD card.

Reset:
to restore factory settings.

Version:
here you can display the current firmware version.

Conclusion

As I wrote at the beginning, to me it is not a 360° camera. You get a nice video to look around during playback, but you can’t fully turn around. Although it would be possible when using two cameras, similar to the Kodak System. I would prefer a camera with 2 lenses similar to Nikon KeyMission, Samsung Gear or Elephone ELEcam 360. Still, if the price is as good as for the other EKEN cameras, 2 cameras in a cage might be an interesting 360° video option!