VR360 Lighting for Virtual Tours

Lighting has always been a challenge for shooting VR360 panoramic video and images especially when working indoors and natural sunlight is not available. If you are creating a virtual tour within a property it is nice to be able to display each image with a similar lighting level and colour balance. Of course this can vary an awful lot when comparing the lighting of a say brightly lit kitchen with that of the ‘smallest room’!

A lot of virtual tours are shot with small VR cameras in order to keep the minimum working distance as small as possible, and not forgetting the comparatively lower cost! Many of these cameras utilise small 1/2.3″ sensors with a very high pixel density meaning that light sensitivity is a problem. Why? – because the size of each pixel is only 1.55 microns, meaning that light photons have a very small target to hit often meaning that the image is under exposed. Even if the sensor is larger with bigger pixels, indoor lighting conditions still vary from room to room. Of course you could bring in some lighting equipment to illuminate the scene but where would you hide it when capturing a 360° panoramic image?

All this is solved by the unique Bushman Halo 360 Light which we think is an indispensable tool for 360° real estate photography. The HALO is compact (just 62mm diameter) and is designed to fit directly beneath a camera, so it should never intrude into any scene you are shooting. It features five selectable levels of brightness ranging from BRIGHT, BRIGHTER, REALLY BRIGHT through the #%$ˆ$@ BRIGHT!! Additionally there are three selectable colour temperatures 2800° / 3600° / 5300° to help set that scene perfectly. The light is evenly diffused and normally projected 360° from directly beneath the camera.

Gerald Blondy, the creative genius at Bushman Panoramic, is an avid panoramic photographer so every detail in the Halo 360 is designed with ease of use in mind. For example it includes a choice of standard cable connectors to enable the HALO 360 battery to connect to and power the camera. The designed battery life between recharging is 70 minutes at full power. The Halo also includes standard 1/4″-20 UNC tripod threads on the top (male) and bottom (female) allowing it to seamlessly fit between the tripod / monopod and the camera, plus a rubber ring around these threads helps prevent the equipment vibrating free. A spacer piece is also included to raise your camera away from the light and reduce its foot print in the nadir point. Of course the Halo works seamlessly with other Bushman Panoramic products such as the Bushman Monopod and Counterweights. If the scene is not bright enough with one Halo 360, no problem, simply attach a second and daisy chain them together!

If you shoot 360 panoramic images your ISO will be lower and any muddy shadows will be reduced. The HALO 360 can also be used remotely from the camera to illuminate a hallway or add ambience to any scene. We recommend the Bushman Halo 360 as an essential tool when lighting virtual tours. BUY the HALO 360 HERE or CONTACT US for further information.