360 Photography

[bill schuman]

R
Just thinking out-loud of taking this technology and instead of taking shots of rooms and buildings do this with a model standing or laying down and shoot 12 shots from low front to low back or left to right pan around the model in 12 shots. Then stitch them together and you can view the model completely as if you had walked around the model looking her over.. just a crazy concept.

-Bill

[Raven]

R
Just thinking out-loud of taking this technology and instead of taking shots of rooms and buildings do this with a model standing or laying down and shoot 12 shots from low front to low back or left to right pan around the model in 12 shots. Then stitch them together and you can view the model completely as if you had walked around the model looking her over.. just a crazy concept.

-Bill

Not so crazy as you might think. If you check out Anything3D.com you'll find just that. The software I use can be used to create 3D Virtual Objects (as seen on my website) and they sell a big motorized turntable that you hook up to you studio lights and camera (for about 3 Grand...) and it does all the shots automagically with the model holding pose.

If I could find enough models interested in doing it and in coughing up some upfront $ i'd get that setup in a heartbeat!

Raven

[JCI]

I also shoot 360 tours on a regular basis. I built my own head with raw materials from the local hardware store for about $6.50. It was difficult to get things to hold enough weight using nuts, bolts, and lockwashers, so I ended up braising things together with a map torch.

I also sell a 360 degree lens that is great for small online tour windows, but obviously if you are using your sensor 12 times instead of one, you will get better images which is preferred for full screen display modes.

[Raven]

I also shoot 360 tours on a regular basis. I built my own head with raw materials from the local hardware store for about $6.50. It was difficult to get things to hold enough weight using nuts, bolts, and lockwashers, so I ended up braising things together with a map torch.

I also sell a 360 degree lens that is great for small online tour windows, but obviously if you are using your sensor 12 times instead of one, you will get better images which is preferred for full screen display modes.

Then you are handier than I am. I can make things with wood or plactic, but working with metal is something I am not too good at. I used a BeHere lens for a while which shot a full 360 in one take then had to unspool the donut shaped image later. It worked ok, but as you observed the 12 shots makes for Higher quality. I have actually had a customer print one of my 360's (Special request before I shot it so I did it in HiRes to begin with) as an 16X80 print!

So what kind of lens is it you sell?

Raven

[JCI]

Actually, it was quite easy - something likely anyone could do with the help of a handy hardware store employee. Only the braising/soldering is something the average person doesn't do, but it wasn't necessary, I just took that route to make things sturdier.

The lens is called the egg lens. You can see an example of a tour here:
hometour360º(TM)

It was taken by a real amateur realtor with only a point and shoot camera, but still not all that terrible. It speeds things up alot since its only one frame per room to shoot, but like I said, its not 12 frames of 6-12mp coverage.