Can I get a 360 degree camera for my car? Good question!

360 cameras can indeed capture a full 360 spherical view of everything around them, but they still have to be in the right place. They can see everything, but only from one fixed point of view.

So if you put one on the dashboard of your car, it can see the road in front of you and the inside of the car, but not have any view through the rear window. If you put it in the rear window, it can’t see out.

As tempting as a 360 camera sounds like a car security device, it’s not going to work. To cover both the front and rear views, you need cameras in two modes. In principle, a 360 camera could cover the interior quite well, but you still need front and rear cameras to cover the road front and back.

For complete vehicle protection, you need cameras in two or more locations. Nowhere could you put a single 360-degree camera that would have a good all-round view – except maybe on the roof! Credit: Amy Davies/Digital Camera World

Insta360 ONE X2 — However, a 360-degree camera is perfect for capturing dynamic action footage, especially mounted on the motorcycle handlebar. (Image credit: Insta360)

The best dash cams also offer better resolution than a 360 camera. Remember, even if you have a 5.7K 360 camera, that resolution is spread all over the spherical image. If you imagine a ‘viewport’ through the care windshield, that will only use a small fraction of that resolution, so even a simple 2K dashcam will give you a sharper view of the road ahead.

If you’re looking for an all-round security system for your vehicle, the best front and rear dash cams will do the job better, and many have additional interior camera options as well.

But you can also use a 360-degree camera for your car in another way, either to capture your surroundings as you drive – this is how Google does its Street Views – or to record dynamic driving footage. Remember it’s all about the camera position so you should mount it externally and ideally a foot or more from the car so it doesn’t block half the view. Check out this cool video from Insta360!

A 360 camera like the Insta360 ONE X2 or ONE RS would be ideal. Insta360 offers a stick/boom extension and the in-camera stitching software will hide this in the finished video – but you’ll still need to find a way to mount it securely to your vehicle. This sounds great for a bit of inventive and dynamic filmmaking, but not as a car security device!

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