| EQUIPMENT USED:
360 One - shot optic 'real estate kit' with the Panasonic FZ-50 digital camera.
In late 2006 Panasonic released the 'FZ-50' model digital camera.
It soon became apparent that if a manufacturer had set out to produce a camera to be an ideal match for the 360-One Shot, then this was as close as we had ever seen.
The FZ-50 is a 10 megapixel compact digital, with flip-out LCD screen and a permanently attached lens which remains at a fixed physical length regardless of the 'zoom' setting.
The FZ-50 can focus close enough to use with the 360 One shot by just attaching by meand of a 'step ring' thread adapter - similar to the set-up shown alongside.
Set up is straightforward, the 360 One Shot attaches to the FZ-50 using a 55mm to 67mm step ring, we then set the camera to shoot at the highest resolution, and chose from the on screen menu to diable the 'Focus Assist' (this pops up an enlarged image of what is seen in the centre of the viewfinder, but with the 360-One attached, this is in fact just the centre of the reflector mount).
Shooting should be done manually, with a high 'F-Stop' (allowing the FZ-50 to focus across the entire depth of the reflector), then take the photos by using the built in timer function on the camera (this ensures no camera shake, and also sufficicent time for the photographer to get out of shot!). Also set the white balance manually to match the lighting situation.
Thats it! - the kit is now set up and ready to go.
As an example we shot an apartment tour, set the equipment in each room, pressed the timer, stepped out of the room for 10 seconds, then collected the equipment, moved to the next room and repeated for the rooms to complete the remainder of the tour.
Our real world samples are available to view above. Checking the times on the original images these reveal that the total ltime photographing on site was 11 Minutes (ELEVEN MINUTES).
Back at the office, we simply download the images from the Secure Digital Card onto the computer and 'UnWarped' the images with the software supplied.
At this stage we output all the images as a 100% resolution JPEG strips, which can be taken into Photoshop, or other imaging software should any retouching, sharpening, colour correction be felt necessary. (alternatively the images can be output directly to your chosen format).
(the software does the outputting of all the images as a 'batch' - dead easy, drop the images into the PhotoWarp software, click the 'UnWarp' button and in few seconds the whole batch is complete.
Once we checked and were happy with all the image strips, it is then as simple as opening a new window in the PhotoWarp software, selecting the Format(s) we would like the finished movies [QTVR, FLASH, JAVA, SMOOTH MOVE etc. are all available], clicking the button and Bingo! multiple movies, multiple formats - all done and nested in a folder with basic 'HTML' pages to present these on the internet.
Processing time to unwrap as movies - less time than it took to make a Coffee!
You (or your web team) can take the tour further, by customising your own HTML template pages, or even taking the images into a tour building software package such as TourWeaver and create a fully integrated Virtual Tour with maps, plans, sound, hotspots, text etc.
CAMERA COMPATIBILITY | FULL 360 ONE VR USER MANUAL [PDF]
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1 shot panoramic virtual tour equipment 
