Best 360 Cameras for Virtual Tours (and When to Hire a Professional Instead)

Most "best 360 camera" lists are written to sell cameras. This one is written by people who use them every working day, and it starts with the question those lists skip: what kind of tour are you trying to make? The camera follows from the answer.

Three kinds of camera

One-shot 360 cameras. Two fisheye lenses back to back, one press, one spherical photo. The Insta360 X-series, the Ricoh Theta range and their rivals. Fast, cheap, good enough for Google Street View, social media and a quick internal walkthrough. The limits are dynamic range (bright windows blow out), resolution once you zoom, and the stitch line where the two lenses meet, which runs through anything close to the camera. The better models shoot bracketed exposures and raw files, which closes some of the gap if you are prepared to edit.

Lidar 3D cameras. The Matterport Pro3 and Pro2 photograph the space and measure it at the same time, which is what gives a Matterport tour its dollhouse view, floor plan and measurements. They are slower, they are expensive to buy and to run, and the output only lives in Matterport's platform, but nothing else produces a measured model of a building in an afternoon.

A DSLR or mirrorless camera on a panoramic head. How a bespoke 360 tour is made: a full-frame camera and a fisheye or wide lens on a calibrated rotator, six to eight positions, each bracketed for exposure, stitched and edited by hand. It is the slowest method and the only one that produces a panorama you can print, with windows and interiors both exposed, no stitch errors and no camera in the floor. It is also a skill, not a purchase.

Which to buy for a DIY tour

If the tour is for a listing, a social post or an internal record, buy a current one-shot camera, a tall tripod, and learn three things: shoot at eye height, keep the camera level, and stand where the camera cannot see you. Shoot in raw if the camera allows and bracket in rooms with windows. Budget a day for a house and expect to redo the first attempt. How to create a 360 virtual tour walks through the whole process, and virtual tour software compared covers where the pictures go next.

What a phone can do

A recent iPhone will build a Matterport scan through the Matterport app, slowly, and several platforms will stitch a phone panorama. The results are recognisable as phone work: seams, uneven exposure, a soft nadir. For a small flat or a single room it can be enough. For anything a client will judge you on, it is not.

When hiring costs less

Add up the camera, the tripod, the software subscription and the day, then compare it with from £350 for a professional Street View tour or Matterport scan with no travel charge, and from £700 for a bespoke tour that is designed as well as photographed. For a one-off house or shop, hiring is usually cheaper than buying. For an agent shooting forty properties a year, a one-shot camera pays for itself and we would say so. For a school, a hospital, an attraction or a factory, the camera is the smallest part of the job: the design, the accessibility, the hosting and the updates are what you are paying for, and our price guide sets out what that costs.

We do not sell cameras or take commission on them. The models named are the ones we see most; check current specifications before buying.

Questions people ask

Can I make a virtual tour with my phone?

Yes, for a small space and a modest result: Matterport's app will build a scan from a recent iPhone, and several platforms stitch phone panoramas. The stitching seams, the exposure and the lack of a proper nadir show, and it takes longer than people expect. For a listing or an internal record it can be enough.

What camera do professionals use?

For Matterport scans, the Matterport Pro3 or Pro2. For bespoke tours, a DSLR or mirrorless camera on a panoramic head, shooting bracketed exposures that are stitched and edited by hand, which is why a bespoke tour looks the way it does. One-shot 360 cameras are used for Street View and for speed.

Is a 360 camera the same as a 3D camera?

No. A 360 camera records a spherical photo from one point. A 3D camera, such as the Matterport Pro3, also measures depth with lidar, which is what produces the dollhouse view, the floor plan and the measurements.