I am really impressed by almost everything about iGUIDE. The main thing I am missing is an option for better resolution. When the PLANIX came out I was hoping for a camera upgrade rather than a lower quality camera.
I realize higher resolution would mean higher hosting costs, and maybe longer loading times, but I would not mind paying a premium price for both the camera and drafting (or hosting) for a premium camera.
Any other operators out there that agree?
Agreed. I also enjoy using the Planix. But I noticed the yellows and blues are way more pronounced than they were with the Canon. I’m definitely making more adjustments than I was before.
Agreed. I’m surprised that the planix doesn’t have better resolution. I’ve been using the Theta Z for several years and the results are mostly fabulous.
Is it being used at a lower resolution then it’s capable of?
I’m glad I’m not the only one who noticed this. The images just aren’t very clear. I was thinking the novelty of exploring a space virtually might overcome the low fidelity of the images but if the camera is capable of doing better, we should make use of that. I have to adjust panos a lot to get them where I like them. I haven’t had any completed iGuides come back as I’m still learning the system. Does the quality increase on the finished iGuide?
The new Planix comes with the Ricoh Theta Z1 360 camera. Here’s the resolution specs:
It has two 20MP 1" back-illuminated CMOS sensors to support 23MP 360-degree stills and record 4K videos at 30 fps. The new THETA comes with a multitude of settings, including shutter, aperture, and ISO-priority modes, as well as a full manual setting when operating the THETA via smartphone. It has multi-aperture settings that now include the choice of f/2.1, f/3.5, and f/5.6 to adjust to varying brightness conditions. A four-channel microphone array, perfect for 360-degree spatial audio recording, complements your 360-degree footage for an immersive viewing experience when shooting virtual reality content.
Are there any samples showing difficult lighting conditions? I noticed the z1 images were noisy in its natural use, I’m just wondering if Planitar has been able to overcome this.
Hi all, thanks again for sharing your feedback on the new camera.
Could anyone share a link of a property done with the new camera, I haven’t received my new one yet and would love to be able to look at one of the tours done with the new equipment closely.
I’m also worried about this. Haven’t received ours yet, comes in Monday. But i’ve had experience with my Z1 in Matterport and its horrible quality wise. Hoping the Plannix has some sort of magic post processing to enhance this!
Resolution does not make the camera… IMO the Z1 is a huge convenience, but with this will come lower quality colour and distortions… There is no choice for me as I will always be correcting the images in photoshop…i’ve left the following suggestion in the proper area.
IMO, the images out of the Planix system will always need to be edited to better the colour. As it stands now, The H1 images are singularly located in a location folder…Wouldn’t it be great if all of these where located into 1 single folder for batch editing!!?..i know that this would be a structural change, but would be a fantastic advantage…
if you agree with it, maybe would be good for the concerned to add your support to the comment
If you are considering editing the jpg for any particular pano in Photoshop/Lightroom there is a convenient way to do it. Open the project folder in Stitch and right-click on the pano folder. Choose Open folder from the menu. This will quickly open the folder on your computer that contains the h1.jpg. After saving your edit in Photoshop/Lightroom right-click on the pano folder again and choose Reload to see the updated preview in Stitch. This isn’t suited to batch editing but can be much faster than searching the local folder structure for your desired pano when you wish to edit it in software other than Stitch.
I agree. I am just entering the market, and from what I am seeing, I am not sure if I can offer these soft, low-detail images to agents in this locale.
The Matterport Pro2 is producing much better images.
I think Planitar needs to go back to the drawing board and use a motorized head with a block camera from a good manufacturer, like this UMC-R10C
The Planix appears more aimed at taking photographers OUT of the picture and letting agents shoot their own mediocre tours.
Again though, I am new, so I’d like to hear what everyone else thinks.
In the Z1’s defence, it is the top dog when it comes to two lens 360 cameras. There isn’t anything else that comes close right now. 
Also, a large percentage of people are viewing on mobile which means that the resolution is not as important.
Stitch does it’s own sharpening and noise reduction. HDR also makes a big difference and reduces the amount of noise significantly.
Has anyone completed a tour with the plannix system that isn’t a demo tour on the website? Curious to see real world results.
Do you have as much control of exposure range (HDR)? The tour looks great, but a lot of shadows and super bright areas and color shifts. Maybe the auto white balance was confused by all the colors in the rooms. I also see something else that I don’t recall ever seeing before. If you make a line vertical by positioning the perspective and then swing to the center the perspective is no longer correct. I do not believe I have ever seen this with the IMS-5.
Following on from this, my h1 files are only ~8-10mb, is this normal? The pictures are a LOT lower quality than I was expecting so I’m hoping that it’s just on a low res setting somehow?
I’d like to see one property shot with an IMS-5 and with a Planix to be able to compare the results.
@Chris is this possible?
The important question is, did the realtor like the iGuide? Did he want still shots as well? I viewed the tour on an iPad and it wasn’t bad. The novelty of a walk through might overpower the quality question.
How did you find the speed of capture? I find IMS-5 quite slow, nowhere near the speed advertised.