Gene51, Thanks! I have a DJI Spark and I just read up on the features. Looks like it will do the Sphere capture, and I'l have to give that a try. However, this process is specific to drones, although the author does mention a couple pieces of software that might work for regular photos (PTGui for example). I will search for a PTGui tutorial.

I take real estate photos, and want to include interactive panos in my offering. There are tons of videos showing the results, and a few piss poor videos explaining the process, but they often use software that is no longer available, or outdated cameras, or require a dozen steps that aren't well explained, etc. There are some new 360 cameras out now that greatly simplify the process, but their tutorials focus on action shots and teenager type videos. Anyone out there who does these photos? Any advice how to learn the process?

I know how to create a 360 pano using my DSLR and Photoshop, but I don't know how to make it interactive. I also plan to buy an Insta360 One X soon, which should be much easier. The part I'm confused about is converting the pano to interactive to send to a real estate agent.

I have 30,000 photos, mostly from travel. I no longer know where many/most were taken, other than a state or country. Now I have a Pentax K1 with GPS and I know the specific location where every photo was shot. Why is that important? When I want to find a photo, or when someone asks, or when I want to return to a location. Also when I post somewhere, including my online galleries, folks usually want to know where.

How did I get these? I can tell you the simple part. I darkened my office, and used a black poster board as a background. The smoke came from an incense stick. I had a speed light on the side to light the smoke. A few trial and error shots to get a few descent shots of the smoke.

The processing is the fun part, the creative part. I usually start by isolating the best parts of the smoke photo, and often black out extraneous portions. Then I use various filters on the resulting image. I love Topaz Glow, and also Smart Photo Editor. They are easy and give some interesting results. I sometimes change something with Photoshop, and nearly always tweak things with Lightroom. I never do the same thing twice, and I usually go through several steps to get where I end up, so I can't really tell you the details of any particular one. The last photo, the Twirlie, started as usual. I used Topaz Glow to bring out some of the colors, and then I put it through the Twirlie process. Finally, to get the symmetry, I simply duplicated the best half of the photo and dragged as a mirror image to the other side. I've attached a photo of the smoke that I started with, and another photo with the Twirlie process I used. As you can see, the unprocessed smoke photos are rather bland.

Playing with smoke photography...

These all came from photos I took in my darkened office using an incense stick for the smoke. The last one is a combination smoke photo twirlie.

Sorry, all are sold.

Great shots. I love #3.

Cameras are now like cars - they are all good. Often it's more a matter of which one feels better in your hands. Ie, how easy is it to find/use the features you use most, etc. I have not used Canon, but I have used several others including Nikon. I started with Pentax for years, but moved away because I was sucked into the Canon or Nikon argument. Most recently I used a Nikon D750. A very nice camera indeed, but after a year, we just didn't get along. So now, after all these years, I am back to Pentax and happy again. The K-1 is the master, but I also use the K-70, a very good camera for less money. You really should check it out before deciding.

We had a similar thread last year. We put our hearts and souls into our photos, and folks constantly tell me they love my photos. But when we leave this earth, all our digital pics will likely leave with us. I still have boxes of photos from my grandmother and mother, photos of days gone by the I cherish.

One rule of thumb for me is "the fewer the better". One cigar box of photos will be much more valuable to future generations than a hard disk with 30,000.

I do two things to preserve my "best". I have a 13x19 printer. I print the "wow" photos and store them in binders. By the time I go, I expect to have maybe 4 such books each with 50 pics. Second, I agree with those who suggest books. Most of my photos are from my travels. I have started creating photo books with the highlights. I'm not talking about a book for each trip, but one book summarizing many trips. This involves selecting maybe 5 or 6 photos from 1500 for each trip. Not easy, but does follow the less is better philosophy. Again, I expect to create maybe 5-10 such books. I have also created a family history book which has been quite popular. It has the family trees with photos and stories and recipes from each branch.

Finally, I have about 30,000 photos fairly well organized on my hard disk. My kids won't care about most, but they may want to keep the disk because it has all the family pics as well.

I just returned from the Southern Rock Cruise. I have a good camera (Pentax K70) and a great camera (Pentax K1 full frame). I decided to take only the K70 for 2 reasons - it's lighter and less valuable. I think that was the right decision. I brought only one lens, 28-105. That was also a good choice, although in retrospect I wish I had brought my 50mm f1.4 as well. Many situations were in the ship, photographing bands in darker venues. Other than that, I think I made the right choice. Getting on and off the boat is a hassle, and you don't want to lug around heavy equipment. Plus the room safe is very small.

You say you bought it online. With credit card? If so, most of my credit cards extend the warranty by one year. Just a thought.

sold

New prices...

Yes, I also added the Tamron 28-300 like new, $425.

Like new but no box. Includes the 18-55mm lens and a spare battery. $300, plus $15 insured shipping