360 Degree Camera/Device Suggestion/Recommendation

[AbdullahAlAmin]

I earned Level 3 Local Guide badge earlier. Now, I want add more photos specially 360 Degree photos of places. Now, could you guys please suggest me what'll be the best and budget device for that?

Thanks in advance!

[OmerAli · Accepted solution]

@AbdullahAlAmin

                    Congratulations on reaching out this far. 

You can find the complete list of recommended Google 360 cams here

https://www.google.com/streetview/publish/

When you say Budget camera, I believe you can try LG 360 Cam, you can get it under $200 and it does pretty nice job in creating 360 photospheres. 

My personal favorite choice is Samsung Gear 360. It is a little high on price (around $350) but it does 4K videos and very high resolution photospheres. 

Towards the professional high end, people use multiple camera rigs (mostly using multiple GoPro cameras) but that costs a lot of money (at least $2000 to start with) and I believe its not possible for an individual to invest that much money. 

Having said that, I would again recommend you to use Samsung 360, its worth it. 

I hope that helps

-cheers

[AbdullahAlAmin]

Thanks for your recommendation and suggestion! I wish I could consider Samsung Gear 360 but I think, I'll go for LG 360 Cam for now. 

[Afzal]

I had owned an LG 360 Cam. But I sold it off because I was unsatisfied with the quality of pictures. The chromatic aberration is too much on the corners which are clearly visible in outdoor in the sun pictures. I recommend Ricoh Theta or Samsung Gear. If you can afford NCTech, its the best single unit 360 Camera 

[Anonymous]

The just released Xiaomi MiJia seems to be the one with the best still image resolution at the moment.

• Xiaomi MiJia 360°: 6912x3456 (23.9k) [Link]
• Yi 360 VR: 5760x2880 (16.6K) [Link]
• LG 360: 5660x2830 (16.0K) [Link]
• Samsung Gear 360: 5472 x 2736 (15.0K) [Link]
• Ricoh Theta V, S and SC: 5376×2688 (14.5K) [Link]

[HugoMM]

Top quality is APS-C + 8mm fish eye (better but expansive full frame + 15mm fish eye) (sigma or canon or nikon) + head pano (R10 is good and cheap)

Also important to shoot in manual hdr or raw + post treatment... 

An example : https://goo.gl/maps/3vugLRVRqBm

<iframe src="https://www.google.com/maps/embed?pb=!1m0!4v1501582422216!6m8!1m7!1sF%3A-_2ydmz7RLlk%2FWX-Vgzax5xI%2..." width="600" height="450" frameborder="0" style="border:0" allowfullscreen></iframe>

[Anonymous]

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@HugoMM wrote:

Top quality is APS-C + 8mm fish eye (better but expansive full frame + 15mm fish eye) (sigma or canon or nikon) + head pano (R10 is good and cheap)

Well, I thought we were talking about affordable solutions for everyday use <500€.

[WetCoastCanuck]

For Streetview, it is rather silly to shoot with full frame because you will be discarding a lot of pixels during post processing, which basically means you need more computing power for naught. You want to be efficient in your work flow, especially if you are doing this for free.

Any good camera with an appropriate wide angle lens with the least amount of aberration you can afford (so if you are using an APC sized sensor, stick with an APC specific lens). Good lens hood + an appropriate mount and stand.

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@HugoMM wrote:

Top quality is APS-C + 8mm fish eye (better but expansive full frame + 15mm fish eye) (sigma or canon or nikon) + head pano (R10 is good and cheap)

Also important to shoot in manual hdr or raw + post treatment... 

An example : https://goo.gl/maps/3vugLRVRqBm

<iframe src="https://www.google.com/maps/embed?pb=!1m0!4v1501582422216!6m8!1m7!1sF%3A-_2ydmz7RLlk%2FWX-Vgzax5xI%2..." width="600" height="450" frameborder="0" style="border:0" allowfullscreen></iframe>

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[WetCoastCanuck]

 @Anonymous

With your 4 choices only the LG and Ricoh are Streetview app compatible.. i.e. you can remotely control from Streetview app. The Samsung 2016 was able to do it but the 2017 not anymore.

Remember a few things:

1. These cameras are geared for convenience over quality, so when you look at the final product, the edges will be blurry. That's the limitation of 2 sensor fisheyes.

2. All the cameras' software are gimped one way or the other, it seems the manufacturers improve things with the next iteration of the product.

3. If you take pictures with your hand, your head / hand will be on the image.

4. LG and Ricoh are so cheap it is as close to disposable as you can get.

5. They need BT + Wifi.

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@Anonymous wrote:

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@HugoMM wrote:

Top quality is APS-C + 8mm fish eye (better but expansive full frame + 15mm fish eye) (sigma or canon or nikon) + head pano (R10 is good and cheap)

Well, I thought we were talking about affordable solutions for everyday use <500€.

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[Anonymous]

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@WetCoastCanuck wrote:

4. LG and Ricoh are so cheap it is as close to disposable as you can get.

"Cheap" is relative. For someone not doing 360° photography as a profession or main hobby, $330 (current Ricoh Theta S price on Amazon.com) is not cheap. (Okay, the LG with $112 is more what I'd call "cheap".)

And for better quality PhotoSpheres, you'd need a rig of multiple cameras, e.g. GoPros, (plus a PC and proper stitching software) which goes well into the $1000's.

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@WetCoastCanuck wrote:

5. They need BT + Wifi.

How are you supposed to operate the shutter if not via BT or WiFi? Via timer or cable? That's ancient technology! 😉