DSLR vs 360 Camera (like Samsung Gear 360)

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I’m wondering if I made a mistake.

I just purchased a panoramic head and 8mm Sigma EF lens ($650!) to go on either a Rebel or Sony a6300 with adapter (I have a variety cameras to choose from).

I also have a Samsung Gear 360 (original) that I’m now finding may actually work for business 360 photo tours.

The promo (https://www.google.com/streetview/hire/) shows a “professional trusted photographer” using just a Theta S camera and his phone. Which makes me really wonder if I just wasted a bunch of money that could have been more easily (and cheaply) and more efficiently been done all via a small camera and my smartphone?

Here’s my dilemma:

  1. what’s faster to actually finish and upload a tour? 360 cam or dslr route?

  2. for small businesses - can I actually do it all from my phone and a 360 cam? Or will I run into issues requiring reshoots etc?

  3. is it too late to get in the game with the old DSLR route?

It seems to me like most people only charge $200-600 at most for elaborate business shoots in my area. That’s a LOT of photos if bracketing with a DSLR, importing to lightroom, rendering, seperating them out and uploading…

I need to get started ASAP

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I use a Theta S for 360 photosheres and for your average business these would be ok. If you were doing a large premises or an upmarket business and you’re seeking to be paid (I’m assuming you’re a Trusted Street View Photographer) then the DSLR is going to yield better results.

The 360 cam is going to give you faster results right there in the premises if you want to, you will need to do post processing and stitching before you can make the tour. @LucioV can give you a good idea of the workflow.

Regards

Paul

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Hi @travis thanks @PaulPavlinovich for tagging me in.

I own a Ricoh Theta S and I’ve used a Gear 360 from the SV loan kit.

I shoot 360 VT using my Nikon D300 + Sigma 8 mm + Ninja NN R10 since 2013 for SV program.

I tried to sell VT done with Theta, but, the customers recognized the low quality and the Tour I made with that camera become only a “preview”.

Using a All In One camera let you certainly be more fast in producing VT, you shoot, you upload with your smartphone, you connect, and you are done but, sometimes, as for me, the most expensive part of the work is going to the customer, so, if I’m there, there is no difference in shooting 30 minutes with the Theta or 1 hour with my DSLR.

You can be pretty quick with the DSLR, with some practice, more quick than an Iris 360 (I’ve tried in some businesses, and the quality/price ratio is really lower…), i did 300 pano in 3 hours, once, shooting standard HDR.

A huge difference, now that the Pano editor is not active anymore, is that you need stitching after shooting, using a DSLR, but you can easily transform this into an advantage, as this give you more control on quality and let you mask undesired details and correct nadir.

That’s why, after more than 280.000 shutter actuations, i changed my equipment, and i bought a new Nikon D500, instead of investing in a new All In One 360 camera, and bought new licenses for Kolor Autopano Pro and Adobe CC suite.

So, if you wanna be quick, and not focused on quality, you could easily sell low prices tours, but if you prefer to keep high standards, and get paid 3-4 X, and you have a lot of spare night time (as like me) for stitching, i suggest you to work with DSLR.

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Has anyone use

ORAH 4i Live VR Camera?

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  1. what’s faster to actually finish and upload a tour? 360 cam or dslr route?

Nothing beats a 1-click camera, i shot 30 spheres at Union station in under 30 minutes…
BUT the quality is lagging and if it had been a paid gig, I would have shot on DSLR.

  1. for small businesses - can I actually do it all from my phone and a 360 cam? Or will I run into issues requiring reshoots etc?
    YES you can, but the quality is low.

  2. is it too late to get in the game with the old DSLR route?
    YEs and no. we are still waiting for a DSLR quality 1-click camera solution at a reasonable price point.
    (The Pnono do not count as its got some stitching problems up close)

Maybe you are asking the wrong questions here. because you are looking at it something like this… “im becoming a general contractor, should I get a pickup truck or a hatchback”

My point is, there are probably 2-3 major customer groups.

  1. Bubba at the local liquor store won’t notice the gear360 camera image quality, and will be thrilled…
    as you said he expect to pay you $200 for the shoot, if that much even. (some restaurants fit in this category)

  2. Restaurants, car dealers and most hotels, are far more image aware,
    and have people on staff who WILL notice poor dynamic range, color issues etc.
    you are probably looking at $500-1500+ for the tours.
    (upper price point is typically depending on the number of nodes etc… never work for less than $40+ an hour of ACTUAL work)

  3. Art-directed tours, think hotel chains, top restaurants, etc.
    These will take time, and you can find yourself shooting “polaroids” with the gear360 then after conferencing with the art-director etc…
    relocating and repeating, you shoot with the DSLR or similar. I aim for $2500 day-rate as shooter on these gigs, adding on expendables,
    travel, lodging etc. (don’t forget insurance and weather days, it all ad up)

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Thanks!!!