Damodar Loc: Hiding

Looking for some Suggestions and Guidance in the arena of 360-degree photography. Any recommendations or suggestions are sincerely appreciated. Thanks.

ronichas Loc: Long Island

I have a 360 degree camera. The Insta360. I have been using a 360 camera for a few years. I have done videos with it. There is a learning curve, there are several people who use it for real estate.
Here is a link to one I did a while ago on a train.
https://youtu.be/3eycgFD2A98

jerryc41 Loc: Catskill Mts of NY

Look for the same cameras appearing in different lists.

https://www.digitalcameraworld.com/buying-guides/best-360-cameras
https://www.pcmag.com/picks/the-best-360-cameras
https://www.tomsguide.com/us/best-360-cameras,review-3737.html
https://www.techradar.com/news/best-360-degree-camera

Bobspez Loc: Southern NJ, USA

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TOd_VYOKMm0

Covers all the basics for creating virtual tours with a 360 camera.

Chadp Loc: Virginia Beach

I owned an insta 360 a few years ago. I played around with it some for some sports action video. Once the novelty wore off I sold it. There are probably much better cameras out now. But I remember having a lot of distortion in the photos. Most have corrections for this in their software. Also, 4K or 5.6k may sound like a lot but when you spread that over 360 degrees that is not really high resolution. I forget what the photo megapixel is on the insta360 but I remember it not being high enough for me. But most importantly, make sure you have a good computer with a good graphics card to run software to create 360 tours or process 360 video.

billt1970 Loc: Gambrills, Maryland

Well, I don't have much guidance, but a LOT of experience with 360 photography that I'm happy to share with fellow Hoggers.

I've been a Google Street View Certified Trusted Independent Photographer (TIP) for over 5 years now. I have incorporated it into my real estate photography business and have made considerable incremental income with those adopted talents. I have learned 360 photography both with a DSLR and 360 camera.

On the DSLR side, the lens is the critical element. I use the Sigma 8mm f3.5 fisheye that is highly recommended from all sides. The DSLR is less important as Sigma makes the lens for Nikon, Canon and Sigma DSLRs. I can't find the reference now, but when I started an APS-C crop frame was preferred over a Full Frame DSLR. I have been shooting successfully for years with the Nikon D7100 with the Sigma lens. I just shot two well paying jobs last week in the New York City area with this setup.

On the 360 camera side my only experience with with the Ricoh Theta S and now Theta V cameras. There are plenty of others out there, but I can only speak of the Ricoh's, with which I have been very successful. I regularly shoot Zillow Walkthrough Tours with the Theta V. The interesting part is that my most successful 360 tours (in terms of online viewing) have generated ZERO income. I did them for fun and apparently folks like to look at them. The most "famous" one (linked below) has over 1.65 million views as of this morning:

https://www.google.com/maps/place/Chesapeake+Bay+Bridge/@38.9929259,-76.3754845,3a,75y,287.79h,98.32t/data=!3m8!1e1!3m6!1sAF1QipNxClr3dFhpnngpind9u7Yb4TxX0nN6LASFdbQp!2e10!3e11!6shttps:%2F%2Flh5.googleusercontent.com%2Fp%2FAF1QipNxClr3dFhpnngpind9u7Yb4TxX0nN6LASFdbQp%3Dw224-h298-k-no-pi-24.243303-ya117.6799-ro0.3237821-fo100!7i5376!8i2688!4m7!3m6!1s0x89b81cc20db81ed5:0x9e85634483602d81!8m2!3d38.9906626!4d-76.3711646!14m1!1BCgIgARICCAI

[NOTE: You'll have to copy the entire URL to make the link. When it comes up I'm in the Hawaiian shirt.]

It was taken in a neighbor's sailboat directly under and between the twin Chesapeake Bay Bridges in July 2016.

The bottom line is that 360 photography can be fun and profitable. The technologies between the DSLR and 360 camera methods may be very different, but they BOTH have a role to play in successful 360 photography.

Best Regards,

BT

edmixon Loc: Orange County CA

I also have both Theta cameras. They do. Great job and quality is really nice.

Only problem o had was trying to get imported to the real estate MLS.

Some use the Matterport, but it costs a lot more.

gessman Loc: Colorado

I have a couple of 360* cameras and they're fun to play with and make videos for goggles but if you want to get serious about real estate tours you will want a Matterport https://search.yahoo.com/yhs/search?publisherid=58020&type=BIZM_3010510139_33_$58020_000000$&hspart=Lkry&hsimp=yhs-SF3&obt9bpdyed=0&p=camera+matterport&param1=mT_B1Dq_iNJWU1wrYKE06KpHXB48YODt9MKeRoELIcelvWK3sgn17dCpxvhA2DeYwq-Pla9gN2i_i1zVkE2BiM4HD0u9eQaf_Gjx3827SHactMBsgcCydiNCWgFuc_kBWNpsElvWFMzM4TsY_DsYMj0u7OZnI2-idX44RUd5i27J51BiMiSQr7dY3Kav8S8Ne3eg_wDld4mvKARiVbm-Sotwm-m6eNy0faz7i_JkcNkav1lA9kV3sHqfcXa_iFgq1V5dL2PXpvBG2gpeAoPB1muW86eqEdReuSOAY73VruTpeYhEWQlvm1r4sw%2c%2c&guccounter=1

billt1970 Loc: Gambrills, Maryland

[quote=gessman]I have a couple of 360* cameras and they're fun to play with and make videos for goggles but if you want to get serious about real estate tours you will want a Matterport

Thanks for that input, gessman. While I won't dispute the outstanding quality of the Matterport products (cameras and resulting images), I haven't been able to figure out how to get a return on investment in a reasonable time for the almost $3,000 purchase price. What am I missing? Seriously.

Best Regards,

BT

gessman Loc: Colorado

[quote=billt1970]

Well, I wouldn't go out on a limb and say you're missing anything but, depending on your purpose, if you're in a large enough market so you wouldn't be shooting yourself in the foot, you might think about selling your service to a cross section of realtors who might benefit from having good images and videos of their listings or perhaps rent them the camera with a hefty deposit.