GigaPan Tours

Hi-Res Photo Generated Tours:

The best way to get top quality photo generated virtual tours is with a manual camera system. There is no other way around it. The human eye has yet to be replicated. Point and shoot cameras are getting better, but there is a wide gulf when it comes to the imagery, especially when you want to zoom into a scene.

Dark and light areas pose the biggest challenge, inside and out. This requires a skilled, knowledgable photographer using light meters, multiple exposure settings and post-production software, but to name a few.

Another benefit to a manually shot photosphere is the depth of field capabilities. You may be shooting a large area and want to zoom in to see distant objects. The only limitation is the number of images and the file size. I typically shoot 12,000 pixels wide for interior tours, which is about 75MB). That is also the file size limit for Google Maps and Facebook.

Roundme.com

But if you host your 360’s on a platform like roundme.com you can push it up to 50,000 pixels wide. Roundme.com is a good fit for a VR headset. All you have to do is look at the floating orbs for a few seconds, and they will transition to the next tour point! Here is an example of what that looks like. This old opera theater was shot at a 24mm focal length with the GigaPan Epic Pro robotic camera mount. The panorama took about 20 minutes to shoot, produced 390 images and is 32,000 pixels wide. The zoom function is able to cover the entire length of the theater. From the tour point, to the furthest surface is about 35 feet.  See the 1969 Antoinette Hall in Pulaski, Tennessee.

Why is a manually shot photosphere superior?, There are probably at least 4 reasons to consider an independent photography service like mine:

1. Window shots will look better.
2. Inside and outside shots will have a high dynamic range (HDR) of imagery.
3. They can be integrated into Google Maps to transition from the street view to the interior (not available on Google for residential realty).
4. You can embed the tour on your website with a simple line of code.
5. A longer zoom function (for zooming in on distant objects).

MTSU Floyd Stadium

@ 37,000 pixels wide

Manual 360º Photography by Bob Henderson