Hello to all.
This is my first post.
I am using at this moment 2x Theta V.
Would like ask members about three option from subject.
Which will be the best for photo tours.
I be doing virtual tours on hotels and restaurant .
Regards Adam
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Hi there,
I am also looking for same but unfortunate still very confuse. i have purchase Insta360 One to test but not happy at all with image quality. I am not happy with Insta360 one is 24 MP but image quality but no idea about theta Vā¦ i am going to buy Insta360 Pro but really confuse what to do ā¦
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I whose using Theta S last year 2016 . That my first 360cam. Then I got in 2017 Theta V and is really good for me. After last update improved more Theta. That camera is good for small business where budget is low. But in new year 2018 I would like to improve my workshop on Nikon 7200 + NN6 w/Nadir Adapter (F6002) + Nikon AF-S FISHEYE NIKKOR 8-15mm f/3.5-4.5E ED. So if any of member using already that set please share your experience. Happy New Year
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Thank you for your reply @BlueteamGsm . i have a project for a large community where we will cover streets and retailers area including exterior and interior. we have calculated approximately 1200+ spots to take photos for retails, villa streets, roads, golf, beach and then upload to google street view to enhance that area visibility. Because i have to take allot of photos so impossible to stitch DSLR photos and maintain this much data and then upload them. I am planing to go for Insta360 Pro which can take 12K photo 90 Mega Pixels and process all these photos inside camera. with GPS module, it will take coordinates and easy to post to google street view. But i also like to see result of IRIS360 PRO which is also 90 mega pixel. so what you think what is best choice.
Insta360 Pro 3800 USD with GPs + Tripod and accessories = Approx 4500 USD
Iris360 Pro 2800 USD + accessories = 3200 USD
I must buy full equipment so, I would really appreciate if you guys can comment with your experience. Thankx in advance @GaborBi @MahabubMunna @user_not_found @PatricL @iDepp . If anyone has experience to do such a large scale project then please do assist me for hardware and software selection.
Thank you
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Instapro is the best choice in all in one cameras, and will get you also Street View Trusted Car workflow, when ready.
If you need quality the choice is still a DSLR, anyway.
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Thank you @Naseer132 for tag me, iām using Ricoh Theta S, but i think @LucioV will explain better in this Topic.
Thank You 
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Thank you @LucioV for your reply, what you think is best way to shoot 1200+ photos and upload them on google street view? Can you please suggest me something?
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@Naseer132 wrote:
Thank you @LucioV for your reply, what you think is best way to shoot 1200+ photos and upload them on google street view? Can you please suggest me something?
You will have to use an all in one; the Theta V could help being supported directly by Street View App.
I did shootings with more than 200 pano using a single DSLR, but itās not for low budgets 
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This is a huge projectā¦
Good landing.
What have you worked with so far, sounds like this is your first big project?
Do you have some equipment today, or previous experience?
Some of this tools you donāt learn over night.
What is your main target?
Except earning money
Fast and easy?
Acceptably quality?
Good Quality?
Nice workflow?
Large MP spheres?
Awesome spheres?
Next big pieces in the puzzle are;
Access to area when itās closed?
Is it close to where you live/work?
What time of the day is this going to happen?
Is it a constant movement in the area?
How is the lightning, do you require a high dynamic camera rig? Indoor with a lot of windows and strong lights?
Odd but very important information, how is the mobile internet plans in the country, if itās unlimited with full speed, great, if not, we have a problem.
Why Iām taking this is up, 1200 pic is a lot of MB for any mobile internet plan, and those are your main viewers.
Donāt fixate on large MP solutions, focus on creating clear noiseless pictures.
I noticed that 100MP spheres show up better on map in crowded areas, but if this are the only spheres in the area, 32-36MP is a smoother option.
With all this in mind, letās go through a few of your options.
Theta V;
Very easy to work with, need no experience.
Effective time capture 1200 spheres ~3.5h (~10h with HDR), leveling not required.
Photos are just below OK in quality and ready to publish.
Great for areas where itās crowded and a lot of movement, get a 3-5 meter light tripod. Amazing result as long as light is balanced.
Easy to work with, I would check every pic before uploading them and remove tripod, itās less then 1 minute with PTGui and photoshop.
It is OK to leave tripod without edit when you shoot from 3-5 meter above, hardly visible and peoples movement is not going to bother you for 1 sec during shooting. ā this is very important facts.
In areas with a lot of movement you shoot without HDR, every pic take less then 10 sec, ~1 minute with HDR.
Downfall with no HDR, only good for even lit areas.
If area is free of movement, either HDR or bracketing(Not shore if the V support bracketing, not used it yet).
Battery life sux, but can be upgraded with a external USB battery pack.
Overheating, here it might have a problem if you work fast.
Works in your favor if youāre a smoker and need a break now and then.
Can be used in combination with a DSLR where quality is not required, where a lot of photos is required.
IRIS 360;Example
This rig has itās limits in speed capturing photos, 5 sec to snap a sphere and 60sec of stiching.
Effective time capture 1200 spheres ready for upload after ~20h.
During inside camera stiching you can move it to next locaton and level it, very useful.
I find the noise in pictures a bit annoying for this priceclass.
Photos are OK, not superb, leaves a bit of a footprint at nadir, gives me mixed feelings for this solution.
It sounds good on paper, but is it?
Footprint could be used in a commercial purpose with logo or other info, be creative here, camera has a few good options here, as they noticed this flaw and tried to fix it.
As a viewer if would be annoyed after the 10th picture with a logo at nadir, can you imagine after 1200 pictures.
If nicer footprint is required, a lot of time could be lost here.
Batter life 6-8h, use replacable batteries.
It has itās niche, are you in it, I think so?
If area has nice mountains and great views in the far, this camera might not do a good job.
D7200 Sigma 8mm;
Takes a while to get into the flow, when you get there, you never think of a 1 snap camera again.
Effective time capture 1200 spheres ~5h, excluding moving camera and level it.
Editing time ~ 250h (~30 days), if itās not a well paid job, this is not the kit for you.
A sloppy batch editing can be done in 20h, but then IRIS is a better option.
I really donāt notice much of a time differance in editing 3, 5, 7, 9 leveled bracketed images, only result is visible advantages.
Donāt use a zoom lens, calibration will be off and you might have to spend hours fixing alignment or reshoot a lot of pictues.
Photo quality is excellent. Captures ~72MP/25MB, but can be rendered at either 50MP/20MB or 32MP/3MB without noticeable differance, if size do matter.
If lightning is bad, it has a 9 level bracketing option, great for editing later on in workflow.
Taking picture is less then 1 minute, problem in areas with movement.
This option need some computer/editing skills.
Battery life ~2000-3000 singel shots per battery (4-12-20-28-39 for a sphere, depending on bracketing), with a spare battery you will never be without power.
Everything is fixable in editing if you use atleast 3 levels of bracketing, 5 levels (240MB/sphere) is optimum for speed and quality.
With 9 levels of bracketing you can make a scrapyard look like paradise, or fill a HD very fastā¦
Time differanse using 0 or 9 levels of bracketing, less then 30 sec per photo, in your case itās 600 minutes.
3TB required for the project before edit. 12GB in a 36MP/10MB resolution/compression solution.
I would offer them the DSLR solution, with the IRIS as a low budget option.
As it sounds like a lovely resort.
The one snap cameras have one thing in commen, not the best dynamic range.
This usualy will show if you try to capture great distant views with them, here they usually fall short.
I have seen 2000m high mountains look liking like a horizon, haze just white them out.
This doesnāt allow you to take all pictures at once.
With a one snap camera, I normally take first photo after sun just gone down, then it goes fast untill light is to dark.
This is where the bracketing of the DSLR comes in to play, it can be used all day long.
Another option is to team up with an already equiped and skilled DSLR photographer and do the job together.
You get training and experiense, donāt have to pay for the equipment or education.
Might earn less, but get more in the pocket in the end.
Not to mention a lot wiser for your next project.
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@PatricL this is an amazing answer. I agree 100% with you!
I could add that I really did a 240 photoshoot with a DSLR, taking HDR shoots +2, 0, -2 (stitching done via old street view editor) in less than 3 hrs.
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If Iām not mistaken, youāre a D300 user, less pixels speed up the process.
D7200 generate twice the size pictures, this is where the speed and MB come in to play.
But does it make the picture look worse or better? I would say no! 30MP DSLR spheres kick ass with any one snapper camera today.
Everything was better in the past!
Iām just allergic to the blurred out nadir, it looks so $0.01
Iāll rather spend some extra time removing it.
Dear @PatricL ,
I really thank you for your very detail answer for my request. Well I am running a small 3d animation and video production company. i personally has experience in video and photography and one of my client just request us to do this walk-through. I donāt have previous experience at all VR walk-through but i recently purchase Insta360 One for practice. This is a paid job so yes i will purchase all this equipment so in future i am pitching more client for same.
I donāt like to have noise in my photos but reference picture what you have share from IRIS360 looks very good to me until you check noise in sky and i think that can be fix by lightroom. I have read so many reviews and video about iris360 and people are not satisfied with it but they do refer me to Insta360 Pro which is 12K (90 mega pixels) and create stunning photos as they provide reference images on their website.
This is an luxury villas and retail area with water front luxury property. it has amazing golf on beach and my scope of work is to cover retailers outdoor, villas road outdoor, Golf area, beach area and there is a mall so we will do Interior coverage with for google business inside. DSLR is a must do option but i have short time to cover this area and area is approximate 2 x 2 KM residence and commercial with 7km long golf and beach front houses. I am planing to shoot this area in maximum 4-5 days and thatās the reason i would like to use all-in - camera so we donāt have to do allot of stitching. I am planing to use Pano2VR for walkthrough and uploading to google street, Lightroom to enhance colors and reduce noice if there will be and Photoshop to remove tripod.
I am canon user so i can use 5D Mark III with 8mm tokina f2.8 with panoramic head but it will be allot of allot of stitching. Thatās why i am planing to go for Insta360 Pro with V2 firmware and trying to find an RC type of car that can carry we we can remotely drive car and take photos every 5-10 meter for outdoor.
I am afraid itās one go project so donāt want to take any risk, thatās why i am planing to invest 5000 USD for all equipment and accessories. Also i wanted to do few Ariel shoots with drone but i found some amazing photos has been done, can you tel me what the hell is this, good quality amazing photos with which drone?
Dear @LucioV ,
Thank you for your feedback as well, can you tel me how you can finalize 240 x 6 x 3 = 6120 photo stitch and color grade in 3 hrs? i would love to know they way, if so they i will give a try to my canon setup for all 1200+ shoots.
Thank you in advance guys
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Great, your half way there already.
As your camera is full frame and have 9 levels of bracketing, you might wanna go with a 12mm lens and tilt camera 90Ā°.
This will enhance the sphere about 200%, happy new year!
Why Iām stressing on the bracketing, itās because when you shoot indoor, all windows are whited out in a normal exposure or with 3 bracketing.
With 9 levels, everything will be crystal clear and correctly exposed.
3 is not enough, 5 is ok, 7 rocks, 9 is amazing.
Iām so angry at myself that I didnāt bring the 9 bracketing camera at this time, this is done with 3 bracketing, and you can clearly see the flaws, lamps has a soft edge around and is over exposedā¦
With 9 level bracketing, everything will be crystal clear.
As I mostly shoot giga panos, I donāt have a standard google tripod head. Takes a while to calibrate mine. Probably have to order one, but google photos I just do for fun.
Guess the time I spend on editing each pictureā¦
Every little detail I can avoid during shooting, saves me hours.
Shooting during the right hour and I have 15 minutes of editing, miss it and get a shadow from me and my rig, I just ended up with a few hour of editing.
Sometimes this canāt be avoided, but in your case, you can select when you shoot.
Learning when to shoot 1200 pictures with minimum interference from shadows and other obstacles will be your biggest enemy in this project.
You might have a wish to shoot it for 5 days, but you might save time doing it slower at the right time. Food for thoughts.
Golf cart or a small gray car, with the camera mounted on top, is a great solution.
An ATV with a homemade tripod on top could also do the job, if you make it high enough, ATV might not be visible at all, tons of hours saved there.
Shadow might be a problem, suggestion is to shoot at noon for a few days, saves you hours in editing time.
Experiment before you start to shoot for real.
360Ā° is a tricky business.
Sphere from above is done with Phantom and a special iPad app.
(Saw one guy in this forum a while back with a special designed DSLR rig drone, and itās for sale.)
Fly the Phantom to a position and activate the automatic 360Ā° shoot, it start to spin and shoot as fast as it can.
Problem is the dome, as camera cant shoot in this direction. You can see the brighter dome circle in the photo.
Solution is usually a clear day with no clouds, otherwise a lot of editing time.
Think Kodak can have a solution for you.
They have two 181Ā° cameras you can join, one below and one on top.
This might even work for the roads if quality is good enough for you.
Set a cruise speed and how frequently to take a photo.
As google maps support a 30sec movie they say, I only managed to make 8sec so far, but I havenāt try the upload already done video option yetā¦
Why not make a fast movie with a drone, 4-5 seconds each in a few places.
Longer version for the webpage.
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@Naseer132 wrote:
Dear @LucioV ,
Thank you for your feedback as well, can you tel me how you can finalize 240 x 6 x 3 = 6120 photo stitch and color grade in 3 hrs? i would love to know they way, if so they i will give a try to my canon setup for all 1200+ shoots.
Thank you in advance guys
Nope, i canāt. 3 hours refers only to shooting!!!
I consider shooting the risky part of the business, so Iām happy when it donāt take lot of time.
Then I have nights and nights for post and stitching: in that case, as i mentioned, stitching was done with old Google Street View Editor.
30 sec per sphere, capturing with 9 bracketing is my average, on a stable flat floor, 10 sec per sphere.
Just as a reference.
I also was stunned by this speed of LucioV, but now we know better
Outsourcing stitching is another option.
A 50MP Spheres done correctly will not take more then a minute or two to stitch.
Iām never inside the box!
Iām in the sphere
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Sorry to all of you, I missed this post
I wanted inform yjou guys that Iām moving it in the photography board
Ermes
Anyone of the newer DJI Phantomās can do automatic spherical panoramas. you need to capture the straight up manually, Ive been shooting that with my iPhone on the ground while shooting the sphere.
This was shot with the Mavic, 20,000px wide file resized to 6000px for streetview use https://goo.gl/maps/Qd2DJmmPxc32
I have the P4pro for the camera, but find I use the mavic a lot more because its so compact and portable,
Also shoot the inspire2 X5s combo for commercial jobs, but again the mavic is much more enjoyable on an average day.
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Well I have only purchase my insta 360 Pro and I am very happy with the quality. This camera is such a versatile camera either using for the video of the 360 images.
Your gear choices point towards two very different streams, I would like to call them
- All Rounder
- Specialized
Nikon D7200 is a very good low light DSLR camera for stills and even for videos. You are going to get undoubtedly crystal clear pictures (stills) and videos from it and yes, you can publish it on Google maps as well. You can also use it for High Resolution 360 photos but you need a DSLR 360 rig in order to come up with decent looking 360 photos.
Whereas the other two cameras are specialized cameras and designed for one single purpose only (360 photos & videos). If you love taking 360 photos/videos and enjoy the ease then you must pick the later options. Out of those, I believe Iris is way better than Insta 360.
I hope that helps