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Comparing 360° Content Production

An quality comparison between three production options

Mariel Tavakoli avatar
Written by Mariel Tavakoli
Updated over 11 months ago

There are three options to capture new 360° content for your virtual tour:

  1. Full Service Package: The Circuit team is on-site for production at your location to capture 360° photos and 2D images. Following that, Circuit's editor handles post-production of content and adds all content into your Circuit CMS.

  2. Post-Production Production (you capture, we edit): The Circuit team loans you a professional equipment kit (if required), you capture spaces, and Circuit handles the post-production process and imports content into your Circuit CMS.

  3. Do it yourself (DIY): You capture your own spaces with your equipment, handle post-production, and upload content into the Circuit CMS.

For options 1 and 2, Circuit will handle post-production, which involves stitching the image together to create the panoramas, editing the panoramas, and getting them ready for your virtual tour.

Full Service Production

Post-Production (with optional equipment kit)

DIY Production

  • 360° photos taken with DSLR Camera by professional

  • 2D images taken by professional

  • 360° photos and 2D images edited and prepared for tour by a professional

  • 360° photos taken with DSLR Camera by you

  • 2D images taken by you

  • 360° photos edited and prepared for tour by a professional

  • 360° photos taken with your equipment, likely an all-in-one camera

  • 2D images taken by you

  • Photos edited and prepared for tour by you

The biggest difference between these two package options is the production quality, which is determined by who is taking the photos, when the photos are taken, and the equipment used. Production quality with a DSLR camera is always better, whether that is Full Service Production or a loaned equipment kit from Circuit.

A helpful primer on image quality

Knowing that your tour imagery will live online for a long period of time, we recommend always steering towards the highest quality option available. It can be tempting to reach for the all-in-one 360-degree camera to save time and cost in the beginning, but before you do that, consider the output quality you're seeking on your finished tour site.

Images and 360° content taken with a DSLR setup are more crisp, clear, and bright than those taken with an all-in-one camera. All-in-one cameras handle varied exposure levels poorly, and are often grainy in quality. They are much quicker and convenient to shoot with as they do not require manual stitching.

Check out this sample tour to see the difference yourself.

Quality Comparison

Click the image below to explore a tour that compares different production capture options and shows the results of a high quality process vs. all-in-one camera image editing. 👇

A side-by-side comparison of a space captured by an all-in-one 360-degree camera and a DSLR setup.


Production Guide

Now that you have a grasp of production options and differences, check out our articles on how to prepare your spaces for production, our production training guide, as well as helpful tips and tricks for production and post-production.


💡 Need more help?

Send us a message and we will be happy to assist you.

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