App of the Week: 360 Panorama Makes Creating Panoramas Easy

360 Panorama brings realtime panorama creation to your iPhone and Andriod by stitching photos together on the fly.

360 Panorama is really intuitive, though it does take a bit of practice to get the hang of it. Taking panoramic photos is simple with the 360° viewfinder. To begin shooting a panorama simply launch the app, line up the horizon on the grid and tap Start. It seems for the best results you stand very still while slowly panning the iPhone camera around the scene. It’s important to keep your arms as close to the same horizon and angle as possible, as the app captures your image in real-time.

The 360 PANORAMA has a handy in-app light meter, as you shoot the app will give you prompts based on the amount of light available in the scene. There’s no need to worry if you’re shooting in good light, however, this little feature comes in really handy if you are shooting in a dimly lit area as seams become more visible in these conditions. This light-sensing feature is a must-have for this type of app and provides a real benefit for the user.

Once you’ve shot the whole scene, tap Done to view the final panorama. If the finished product looks good to you, you can save it directly to your Camera Roll and/or share it via Facebook, Twitter, or email. There’s also an option to share an interactive pano shot so viewers can see what is around. You will need to set up a free account with Occipital, where you can upload photos to the 360VERSE (where others can view your panorama using any device).

Now one thing I really loved to have in this app is a few editing features…it would be great to have the ability to adjust the contrast, brightness, or saturation for a bit of fine-tuning. It would have also been great had the developer packaged it with a better cropping tool, since many of the final panoramas cropped in-app show smudges or halos.

Putting the those aside,the 360 Panorama is still the best panoramic iPhone app available today, especially for $0.99. The process of capturing and rendering images takes a bit longer than other apps but the quality is superior. This app could be great for realtors show casing properties and educators developing panoramic views of historical sites.

Here is a sample of my 360 view of Castilla de San Marco in St. Augustine, FL http://360.io/vwSJdG