Google Virtual Tour Equipment, Quality and the Photography Process

We Don’t Use Consumer Level 360° Cameras

There are a lot of consumer level single shot 360° cameras now available. We don’t use them.

Single shot 360° cameras like the Ricoh Theta series, the Insta360 One X, the GoPro Fusion and many others have their place. They are useful if you need to capture the entire 360° scene simultaneously or for basic 360° video. But they don’t offer the same quality as a professional DSLR camera setup with a high quality lens. How could they? They have much smaller, cheaper lenses, smaller, cheaper sensors and are not built for professional use.

For all our business 360° shoots we use professional gear – DSLR camera, quality lens, quality panoramic head. We photograph multiple angles and exposures and these are all stitched together in post processing to get a high quality, high resolution result which at this point in time cannot be matched by a single shot 360° camera.

The Photography Process

Please have your business ready for the photoshoot to start when your photographer arrives.

This is the process:

  • Your photographer will discuss with you the best way to capture your business with particular emphasis on where 360° photos will be taken and how people online will be able to virtually navigate around the business (a few minutes)
  • Camera gear setup (a few minutes)
  • Photoshoot – typically takes around one hour but is heavily dependent on business size
  • Post processing starts – we believe in delivering quality over speed. We aim to have your virtual tour live on Google within 7 days