OK... FINALLY got my lense (4 months later!)... had a few problems with my camera, however KAIDAN was incredibly helpful and supportive... can't say enough good about them.... and FINALLY... Voila!

Here's my first attempt.... and, believe it or not someone in Texas saw these today and are flying up to look at this house ($1.25M sale!)..

http://rudymayer.com/featuredprop/MaxcyFisher/360Tours/KITCHEN-qtcubic.html

Wow that looks great RealEstateWebGuy! Best of luck on the sale!

How much were the lenses and what camera do you use it with?

David

The lense was $700 ish... I needed a bracket... another $200. Camera is Nikon Coolpix 8400.

Took awhile to get it figured out... hopefully I'll get better!

Wow hefty price! So I suppose you still need a tripod and then stitch the photos together?

You do need a tripod, but no stitching. It takes everything in ONE shot. You just need to pop it into your computer and 'unwarp' the donut shaped image.

Honestly, since REALTORS don't seem to like to spend money on much, I don't see any business model selling high quality virtual tours to agents. They won't pay for the time involved.

The quality is better if you stitch them together. Most realtors would rather shoot 1 crummy picture for the MLS and be done with it then pay someone for professional, high quality shots.

At least with this contraption, the quality isn't as good as a stitched tour, but my time is minimal. No stitching, no touchup. I'm hoping that I can make money on this by keeping my price in the range that realtors MIGHT want to pay.. without devoting 3 hours of my time. They just wouldn't pay what I would have to charge - even for a million dollar property.

Wacky priorities in my mind, but that's why I'm not a realtor....!

My Dad has a lense like that. He loves it. They come out pretty nice.

I agree with the time vs. money issue. As long as you can see the house clearly I don't believe buyers would mind.

I'm curious of the quality. Do you have any sample pictures available on the web? I remember seeing some pictures created from, I believe, the Kaidan and they came out quite nice!

Also, what is the format type of the photo? Does it have to be in Apple Quicktime?

Thanks in advance,
David

Hello, All...

While new to this forum, I have been using a french made EggLens for almost 4 years now. Uploading the 360s to my website, I shoot .jpg format but I think an uncompressed image could provide better and sharper clarity.

I have not spent a lot of time using it or fiddling with my Sony DSC-85 but learned just enough to set it up and take the shot to load on website. I must say finding a good, stable tripod, capable of taking the loads...is well shopping at Sams or Costco has help find it yet. It shows too, what with my tri-focals and all...but I'm in RE doing REOs and not a pro photog. Pro photogs and Egglens are good investments for my money though so I do recommend them.

Here are some samples from the Kaidan lense and Nikon 8400:

http://www.rudymayer.com/featuredprop/MaxcyFisher/360Tours/KITCHEN-qtcubic.html

I use Quicktime for several reasons: 1) The quality is much better than java and flash... flash is horrible. Very distorted. 2) Quicktime is on most computers these days, as iTunes as increased the number of people on Windows who have it. I offer a large slideshow for people who don't have QT or don't want to download it. But I think blurry, distorted pictures for the sake of compatibility does a disservice to the seller and doesn't put their home in the best possible light. Just my 2 cents....

I'm using Nikon Cooplix E5600.
And I'm satisfied, very good quality.
It's cheaper then Nikon 8400, a little worser, though good enough.

Just thought i would let you know that i was looking at your tour and a software error occured while i was scrolling around.

I have my set up done, and done a quicky tour for an agent. I still need to learn the camera and learn what settings needed to be adjusted for different condition. I might be driving out to Phoenix as some kind soul out there said they would show me and a friend how to do them properly.

Anyway, heres my first attempt (auto settings, bashed up in a few mins so not a proper/serious attempt):
Link to tour

I do virtual tours for myself, for my office and other agents. I use Tournow.net. I use regular digital camera, with stitching software to create the 360 degree tours. I also sell them a domain name with the address listed. And a yard sign! See a sample at www.306TysonGlen.com

Just thought I would mention another option for virtual tours.

Some people don't like 360 spinning tours and a lot of times, the java based technology will crash the web browser.

I would like agent opinions on these virtual tours:

http://closingvideos.com/storeus.htm

Check this out:

http://podcasts.yahoo.com/series?s=d5512...d ominiums&ut=0

RealEstateWebGuy,

Do you still think Flash is terrible for VT?

I find that it's more compatible than quicktime and the quality is there now.

Your doing good, I like your tours.