360 Photography
Years ago I had a job as a “Virtual Tour” photographer. I went all around Massachusetts and photographed virtual tours for homes for sale. I have to say it was an interesting experience - so much so that I have the equipment still and experiment once and a while with it. (Unfortunately I don’t have the really high-end equipment I had from the job!)
Here’s what I do have.
The equipment
In this photo is an old 2 megapixel (I said it was old) Sony CD Mavica. I use this because of the large lens size and ability to adapt to the 360 lense. The actual lense sits on top with the camera aimed up.
The photo it takes looks like a donut (see second picture)
On the computer, the 360 software interpenetrates this donut-shaped image and unwraps it giving you the illusion of image all around you, but in reallity you’re just looking at transformed sections of the donut. It’s actually a very easy process.
You do need a precision camera though, my Mavica doesn’t really cut the mustard. The 10 megapixel that I used to take a picture OF the mavica has much more horsepower but I don’t have an adapter… yet.
In any case, you get the idea - here’s the final product (again remember my camera is old and crappy: http://www.metalbabble.com/360/metalbabble%20360/)
Donut Image