Recommendation for Street View camera and "invisible" tripod.

[PatricL]

If you think that looked good… This is the tour semi finished, a draft I will show on Monday, and see where we go from there.

About the hiding, yeah, that is a problem.

You have a 10sec timer and about 10meter reach of Wi-Fi.

Go as far as you can, then start timer and start running!

Usually works fine even without running, no worries.

Tripods are my specialty more or less.

A good tripod ad speed to the process.

Tour in question was done and uploaded in 10 minutes, including connections between pictures.

Remember 60cm, this is the magic number for a Theta.

Why? As this is the distance stiching is done at.

In a Restaurant you can bring an ashtray or something similar, with a 60-65cm stick on it, on top you have a 1/4" thread for the theta.

Result is an ashtray on the table/plate/vase or what ever you like.

If you’re inside and floor is even, a use super mini tripod with a 3/8" screw, you don’t need ball heads for the theta.

On that 3/8" I ad a mic boom, they are a perfect match for the theta.

If it’s windy or outside, mini light stand with 3/8" to attach the mic boom on.

Stormy weather I use a 3.6m high light stand, legs will stick out a bit, but it will not fall.

In a Mall you can use fishing line to hold it up in the middle of the big rooms.

If it’s upside-down or not, doesn’t matter.

A 2, 3 or 4 meter mic boom have a few more tricks up it’s sleeve in combination with a theta(only).

But that is for another day.

Forget about using a camera tripod for the theta, it will cover 20% of the screen and it looks awful.

Base should be heavy, as you don’t want it to fall over.

Look at the street view tour again, face down and you will see the mini light stands legs, and it ain’t much to hide.

I don’t like to edit pictures as it lower quality each time you render it.

Removing a nadir is about 2-3 extra renderings that will ad blur.

I will do it if customer ask for it.

If you use a theta, you really don’t need to remove nadir, your customer already selected a budget version of a tour.

Adding something to hide something else is a bad thing.

As all non professional cameras, a theta need even light, dawn and dusk are the perfect time for it.

[PatricL]

I order my sticks from ali-express, but this is because no store has it here, yet.

You will probably find it in a photo/video store that is a bit more specialized on video.

They will also have the mini light stand.

As long as tripod isn’t falling over, you will be fine.

Always a strait horizon if you take a photo from a non moving tripod.

Good hunting.

[SteinArneJ]

@PatricL wrote:

"A 2, 3 or 4 meter mic boom have a few more tricks up it’s sleeve in combination with a theta(only).

But that is for another day."

Today is another day!!!

Please share!

[PatricL]

A 1/4" and a 3/8" bolt, a 1/4" and a 3/8" nut, a few fat washers and a wrench.

A 1/4" to 3/8" Converter, or a few.

Depending how many mic booms you have and how high you dare/need to go.

These items are very good to have close by.

[PatricL]

@JoeCullity

Hera’s the 50MP test I did in PTGui.

20% and 1,17 MB, sky is a bit off.

50% and 1,83 MB, sky looks better.

80% and 3,20 MB, oops I’m not allowed to upload it, as it’s too big.

But it looks like the 97% and 15.5MP that I uploaded to maps.

As you can see, we waste a lot of time and bandwidth on badly compressed images and fuzzy pictures.

[LucioV]

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@PatricL wrote:

If you think that looked good… This is the tour semi finished, a draft I will show on Monday, and see where we go from there.

About the hiding, yeah, that is a problem.

You have a 10sec timer and about 10meter reach of Wi-Fi.

Go as far as you can, then start timer and start running!

Usually works fine even without running, no worries.

Tripods are my specialty more or less.

A good tripod ad speed to the process.

Tour in question was done and uploaded in 10 minutes, including connections between pictures.

Remember 60cm, this is the magic number for a Theta.

Why? As this is the distance stiching is done at.

In a Restaurant you can bring an ashtray or something similar, with a 60-65cm stick on it, on top you have a 1/4" thread for the theta.

Result is an ashtray on the table/plate/vase or what ever you like.

If you’re inside and floor is even, a use super mini tripod with a 3/8" screw, you don’t need ball heads for the theta.

On that 3/8" I ad a mic boom, they are a perfect match for the theta.

If it’s windy or outside, mini light stand with 3/8" to attach the mic boom on.

Stormy weather I use a 3.6m high light stand, legs will stick out a bit, but it will not fall.

In a Mall you can use fishing line to hold it up in the middle of the big rooms.

If it’s upside-down or not, doesn’t matter.

A 2, 3 or 4 meter mic boom have a few more tricks up it’s sleeve in combination with a theta(only).

But that is for another day.

Forget about using a camera tripod for the theta, it will cover 20% of the screen and it looks awful.

Base should be heavy, as you don’t want it to fall over.

Look at the street view tour again, face down and you will see the mini light stands legs, and it ain’t much to hide.

I don’t like to edit pictures as it lower quality each time you render it.

Removing a nadir is about 2-3 extra renderings that will ad blur.

I will do it if customer ask for it.

If you use a theta, you really don’t need to remove nadir, your customer already selected a budget version of a tour.

Adding something to hide something else is a bad thing.

As all non professional cameras, a theta need even light, dawn and dusk are the perfect time for it.

---

Sometimes running and hiding just don’t work, so i put myself in the shoot, the best way as i can

https://goo.gl/maps/Fja2ZqRND7C2

https://goo.gl/maps/Mna3ivdLL3s

[LucioV]

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@PatricL wrote:

If you think that looked good… This is the tour semi finished, a draft I will show on Monday, and see where we go from there.

This is cool, @PatricL ! All shot with theta? I think snow effect is a little outdated, but the overall quality is good!

Is it made with Kolor Panotour Pro?

[PatricL]

Yes, kolor and theta, and it’s something between snow and rain, tried to make it fit to the music.

If you calculate the time it all took, shooting 10-15 minutes.

Editing in Kolor 1 hour.

And for gods sake, don’t allow kolor to fix horizon on theta spheres when you ad them to your project, will look like a GEAR360 tour then.

If I can’t hide, then it’s big enough for the phone, as you’re always behind it, you don’t need to hide.

[ZayedK]

I am using Samsung Gear 360 with Noston Professional 65-inch Camera Aluminium Mono pod with Folding Three Feet Support Stand Tripod Balance Stand Base.

I bought this Mono pod from Amazon and I am pretty happy with result.

[MoG]

I use an app called small world and it’s very easy to use. I just make a few adjustments, save, then import to movie time on my phone add some music and upload to IG…

[Enjoy3]

To hide you into 360 instant shot (by theta, gear 360 etc.), you can take two (or more) shots from the same position, but moving the position of the photographer between shots, then mask the photographer with your favorite stitching software, else you can try by an App, for example Vanish360

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@LucioV wrote:

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@PatricL wrote:

If you think that looked good… This is the tour semi finished, a draft I will show on Monday, and see where we go from there.

About the hiding, yeah, that is a problem.

You have a 10sec timer and about 10meter reach of Wi-Fi.

Go as far as you can, then start timer and start running!

Usually works fine even without running, no worries.

Tripods are my specialty more or less.

A good tripod ad speed to the process.

Tour in question was done and uploaded in 10 minutes, including connections between pictures.

Remember 60cm, this is the magic number for a Theta.

Why? As this is the distance stiching is done at.

In a Restaurant you can bring an ashtray or something similar, with a 60-65cm stick on it, on top you have a 1/4" thread for the theta.

Result is an ashtray on the table/plate/vase or what ever you like.

If you’re inside and floor is even, a use super mini tripod with a 3/8" screw, you don’t need ball heads for the theta.

On that 3/8" I ad a mic boom, they are a perfect match for the theta.

If it’s windy or outside, mini light stand with 3/8" to attach the mic boom on.

Stormy weather I use a 3.6m high light stand, legs will stick out a bit, but it will not fall.

In a Mall you can use fishing line to hold it up in the middle of the big rooms.

If it’s upside-down or not, doesn’t matter.

A 2, 3 or 4 meter mic boom have a few more tricks up it’s sleeve in combination with a theta(only).

But that is for another day.

Forget about using a camera tripod for the theta, it will cover 20% of the screen and it looks awful.

Base should be heavy, as you don’t want it to fall over.

Look at the street view tour again, face down and you will see the mini light stands legs, and it ain’t much to hide.

I don’t like to edit pictures as it lower quality each time you render it.

Removing a nadir is about 2-3 extra renderings that will ad blur.

I will do it if customer ask for it.

If you use a theta, you really don’t need to remove nadir, your customer already selected a budget version of a tour.

Adding something to hide something else is a bad thing.

As all non professional cameras, a theta need even light, dawn and dusk are the perfect time for it.

---

Sometimes running and hiding just don’t work, so i put myself in the shoot, the best way as i can

https://goo.gl/maps/Fja2ZqRND7C2

https://goo.gl/maps/Mna3ivdLL3s

---

[MarkCullen]

Very similar to our technique, we use a selfie stick with a locking screw. The small footprint can then be edited in the phone using Google’s snapseed photo editing app using the Healing tool. Example here: https://goo.gl/maps/bF3HVnBNpbu . Snapseed has lots of other functionality for tidying up 360 images without destroying panoramic the data.

[Chris_Arndt]

How far apart do you place your shots?

[MarkCullen]

Hi, good question!

Google recommends 3m outdoors and 1m indoors. I imagine there is some future-proofing going on here for technologies in development.

In reality this can make tours a bit slow and cumbersome, especially when you/visitor want a visitor to reach a particular image/point quickly.

Try taking at recommended intervals and using only those that provide a good user experience. This may mean several tests.

Remember to delete all images after testing and also from the maps app. Otherwise you may end up with multiple chevrons that go nowhere.

It can be quite time consuming to get right. Do also stick within the designated boundaries, alse tours may not be published.

Check also the meta data is as expected if images are appearing out of area due to signal loss. This can be corrected with an app.

I’ve found that tours are pretty uncommercial. There is often a point of failure and little guidance about where the issue lies. This becomes much more of an issue when your app has 1000 + images.

[LucioV]

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@MarkCullen wrote:

Hi, good question!

Google recommends 3m outdoors and 1m indoors. I imagine there is some future-proofing going on here for technologies in development.

In reality this can make tours a bit slow and cumbersome, especially when you/visitor want a visitor to reach a particular image/point quickly.

Try taking at recommended intervals and using only those that provide a good user experience. This may mean several tests.

Remember to delete all images after testing and also from the maps app. Otherwise you may end up with multiple chevrons that go nowhere.

It can be quite time consuming to get right. Do also stick within the designated boundaries, alse tours may not be published.

Check also the meta data is as expected if images are appearing out of area due to signal loss. This can be corrected with an app.

I’ve found that tours are pretty uncommercial. There is often a point of failure and little guidance about where the issue lies. This becomes much more of an issue when your app has 1000 + images.

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Hi, just a quick correction, the 3m/1m rule is not valid anymore, and you can place your panos at any distance you want, keeping them in line of sight and without any obstacle in the middle.

There is no more need to shoot thousands of pano to cover a large area that don’t deserve such detail level

[RicardoCastel]

Alguien sabe como quitar el tripode de las fotografias utilizando el programa ptgui ?