Creating 'Regular' photos from Theta Z1

Hi there,
Sorry, I’m new to my Theta Z1.
I have been using a Matterport Pro for virtual tours and a DSLR for photos. The process has been very time consuming and Matterport customer service is the pits.

I am currently trying RicohTours and like the efficiency. I am wondering, how can I use the 360 images for regular photos? How can I create images for online etc?

Thanks in advance,
Andy.

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You can post the 360 images to Facebook, Google Photos (it can automatically sync with your mobile phone), or a number of other photo galleries.

If you want to use a section of the picture for a 2D “flat” image, you will lose resolution compared to a DLSR. You will get better 2D “flat” images with a mobile phone.

However, if you want a wide angle or have the 360 images already, you can get usable images by cropping out a section of the 360 image manually with a screen grab. This quality is probably not sufficient for the final real estate site.

You can also experiment with this plug-in and see if it meets your needs.

Let us know if you want the 360 view or the “flat” view and if you’re looking for “good” quality shots for a real estate site or just something quick to share on social media.

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Hi Andy, we will be releasing a feature which allows you to extract 2D / still images from a 360 image.

Thanks./Martin (RICOH Tours)

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That would be a great feature. Are those “still” 2D extraction shots intended to help showcase the real estate property? That would be a great way push the limits of the Z1 still image technology. I look forward to this update from RICOH Tours. :slight_smile:

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Thanks for the replies.
Martin, when will this feature be released?
I know using a DSLR is best (Which i do 99%) but I have also pulled 2d pics from Matterport which usually turns out fine.
To do this with RicohTours would be great too.

Apart from RicohTours extraction, is there no other way to take a 360 photo and make a 2D other than what Craig says

Thanks again,
Andy.

Hi Craig, besides the 360° virtual tour realtors are required to submit a minimum number of still images of the listed property to the MLS ( Multiple Listing Service).
With the ability to extract a still image from RICOH Tours the Ricoh Theta 360 camera will eliminate the need for a high-end DSLR camera to create the necessary visual content.

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Hi Andy, we’re not far off a release. With RICOH Tours the mobile app performs exposure bracketing in camera to create a high dynamic range image in a couple of seconds. Pulling stills from RICOH Tours because of this will turn out great too.

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And that’s exactly what I want. Perfect.
I don’t want to spend several hours flipping between equipment and software if it can be a little simpler.
Now all I need is a reasonable floor plan alternative…

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@Britner, I’ve been waiting for other people to list their techniques as I think there are simpler solutions out now days. However, almost 3 years ago, people were still using Hugin. I’m still looking for something more automatic. Three years ago, the camera technology wasn’t as good as it is today. Using a camera like the Z1 with HDR, you may be able to get usable stills that are fine for business use. The software to convert 360 images to still 2D flat images may still be new. Seems like it’s really a time for innovation now in the 360 image space. Professional companies like RICOH Tours can also improve the quality of the extracted stills by using auto-correction of the spherical distortion and adjust for image sharpness and color.


BTW, the RICOH Tours floorplan is quite good.