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| Text Me 5 Minutes Before WGAN-TV is Live | WGAN-TV | MSP Home3D.us | Top 10 Gear Accessories for Matterport Pros | Guests: Home3D.us Virtual Services Consultant and Creator Kevin Dole and Home3D.us Photographer Eric Dole | Episode: 145 | Thursday, 12 May 2022 | www.home3d.us WGAN-TV | MSP Home3D.us | Top 10 Gear Accessories for Matterport Pros Hi All, [Transcript below: We actually did 31 gear and accessories for Matterport Pros (and included short-links for each within the show) ... ] What if you have been asked to do a Matterport scan of a: 1. construction site that has no lights and no power? 2. large space and your iPad will not last for a full charge? 3. warehouse and you want to speed up the shoot and reduce hand fatigue from holding an iPad? Watch WGAN-TV Live at 5 on Thursday, 12 May 2022: ✓ MSP Home3D.us | Top 10 Gear Accessories for Matterport Pros My guests are long-time Matterport Pros: 1. Home3D.us Virtual Services Consultant and Creator Kevin Dole (@Home3D) 2. Home3D.us Photographer Eric Dole Kevin and Eric will share their: Top 10 Gear Accessories for Matterport Pros This WGAN-TV Live at 5 show was inspired by two of Kevin's recent WGAN Forum posts: 1. Great Rechargeable 360° light for Matterport Pro2 or Theta Z/X scanning 2. Best iPad Pro battery I've found (for Large Matterport Pro2 Scans) Plus, Kevin and Eric have each previously been my guest on WGAN-TV Live at 5 (and shared gear/accessories during those shows), so, we thought it was time to do a WGAN-TV show solely about: Top 10 Gear Accessories for Matterport Pros. Here are the two shows: 1. Eric Dole: Transcript: WGAN-TV 25+ Tips for Scanning Large Spaces with Matterport Pro2 2. Kevin Dole: Transcript: WGAN-TV - Advanced Outdoor Matterport Scanning Techniques Got favorite gear/accessories for Matterport Pros? Feel free to either share here or start a new WGAN Forum discussion. Or, if you have a gear/accessory related question that you would like discussion on this WGAN-TV Live at 5 show, feel free to post to this WGAN Forum discussion. Best, Dan Transcript (Video Above) [00:00:03] Dan Smigrod: What if you've been asked to do a Matterport scan of: a construction site that has no lights and no power? Or, a large space, and your iPad will not last for a full charge? Or a warehouse and you want to speed up the shot and reduce hand fatigue from holding an iPad? Stay tuned! Hi all. I'm Dan Smigrod, Founder of the We Get Around Network Forum. Today is Thursday, May 12th, 2022, and you're watching WGAN-TV Live at 5. We have an awesome show for you today: Top 10 Gear and Accessories for Matterport Pros. Here to visit with us on this topic is Kevin Dole and Eric Dole. Hey, Kevin. Good to see you again. [00:00:49] Kevin Dole: Hey, Dan. [00:00:50] Dan Smigrod: Hey Eric. Good to see you again. [00:00:52] Eric Dole: Hello. [00:00:53] Dan Smigrod: Kevin Dole is Virtual Services Consultant and Creator, and Eric is a Photographer for Home3D.us. Coincidentally, you can find Home3D.us on the web at: www.Home3D.us That was an awesome thought naming your company Home3D.us, Kevin. [00:01:17] Kevin Dole: I like to keep it simple. [00:01:18] Dan Smigrod: Simple. Before we jump into Top 10 Gear and Accessories for Matterport Pros, Kevin, how about telling us about Home3D.us? [00:01:29] Kevin Dole: Well, I've been a lifelong photographer in various ways. Anything that's got a film or nowadays digital sensors and lenses and so forth, I'm into and I love following the trends and so forth. I spent 30 years as a television commercial director. A lot of it was focused on special effects. Then my latter years, I did lots of kids in advertising. I did commercials for toys, Mattel, Hasbro, Lego, K'Nex, all those kinds of things. Mostly boys' toys as opposed to the Barbies and things like that. About 15 years ago, I think I aged out of that business, which is a normal thing in that industry because most of the ad agency people are in their 20s and 30s. I turned about 10 years ago to shooting for real estate, both HDR photography as well as creating videos since I've been making videos all my life. [00:02:34] Kevin Dole: About six years ago, I discovered Matterport. I didn't know about it before then, and got a camera and started doing scans in 3D models. We now have five Matterport cameras. There's three of us on the team, myself, Eric, who's joined me in the last couple of years, and another gentleman named Gray Becker, who also is a Matterport scanner, and also in his own right, a lifelong photographer. He's taken an interest in this and virtual tours. But a lot of what we do is Matterport. I'd say probably about half of our business is traditional Matterport, particularly for high-end homes, Calabasas, Thousand Oaks, Malibu, California. [00:03:20] Kevin Dole: About 50 percent of our business is a combination of commercial work. We've done a dozen Best Buy stores. We've done Equinox health clubs and Petco stores and lots of big things. A lot of auto dealerships too. Those can be pushing 100,000 square feet. Most of what we do is with the Matterport Pro2 3D Camera. We occasionally use the BLK360. We've never bought one yet because it just hasn't been enough work, but fortunately, in Los Angeles, there's a big enough market that there's several sources and we'll check and rent a BLK360 when I need It. [00:03:57] Dan Smigrod: That's Leica BLK360? [00:04:01] Kevin Dole: BLK360. Exactly. That's pretty much what we do. We've also gotten in the last two years, a big growth area has been doing 3DVista [virtual tour platform], what we refer to as hybrid [virtual] tours, where we, for example, www.OreanaWinery.com is a site for a winery vineyard in Central California. They have 1,000 acres. It's a large ranch. They have a huge winery barrel buildings where they age the wine, six guesthouses spread around the acreage and big vineyards, and so forth. We capture all that with aerial and ground panoramas, combine it all in 3DVista along with, in this case, 12 different Matterport models of the different buildings, and create a virtual tour that really expresses and allows people to explore the entire 1,000 acres. [00:05:01] Dan Smigrod: Is Home3D.us doing these 3D virtual tours for your company as well as other photographers across the United States? [00:05:11] Kevin Dole: As well as others, yes. Another active WGAN photographer, Matterport creator, Ross Zanzucchi in Grayslake, Illinois, not far from where I grew up, has over the past, I don't know, five years or more made a very elaborate 360 tour of the Village of Grayslake. I think, at this point, there's about 60 different businesses that are represented by Matterport tours. He came to us about a year-and-a-half ago and said I'm at my limit of what I can do with: www.ThreeSixty.Tours I want to convert this over to 3DVista, which we did for him. Actually, we're going back to work on it and add some more features in the next couple of weeks. We've done things for a number of WGAN Members in: Idaho, Virginia. [00:06:09] Dan Smigrod: Let me do this because you've been on WGAN-TV Live at 5 a number of times, it refers our viewers, our listeners to previous shows where you do deep dive in 3DVista best practices, examples. Ross Zanzucchi has been on WGAN-TV Live at 5 talking about his awesome project. [00:06:35] Dan Smigrod: I think what I want to do is jump into today's show, but just to tee it up that [00:06:43] Dan Smigrod: today's show is inspired by two of your posts in the We Get Around Network Forum: Great Rechargeable 360 Lights for Matterport Pro2 or Ricoh Theta Z/X scanners and Best iPad Pro Battery That You Found for Large Matterport Pro2 Scans. That was really the impetus. What other gear and accessories are you using? Just for context for our viewers, Eric has done an awesome previous show, WGAN-TV Live at 5: 25-Plus Tips for Scanning Large Spaces with a Matterport Pro2. Eric, you and I had started to talk about some of the gear. It seems like it would be great to do a show focused on gear. I know, Kevin, you did a previous WGAN-TV Live at 5 on: Advanced Outdoor Matterport Scanning Techniques, and that incorporates some of the gear that I think you're going to talk about today. Again, today's topic: Top 10 Gear and Accessories for Matterport Pros. Kevin sent me a list that it turned out we couldn't limit it to 10. He came up with 15 and I'm going to round it up and make it 20. I could even imagine while we're talking, there will be even more than that. Since I do have your list from you and Eric, why don't I just introduce the name of the item and the URL where people can find it and then tell us about it? The first item on your list, Eric's list is a Manfrotto 4-Section Tripod. The tiny URL to find that in Amazon: www.WGAN.INFO/1 That's: www.WGAN.INFO/1 [00:08:39] Kevin Dole: Let me credit where credit is due. I learned about this tripod from you Dan because you've talked about it before as a piece of gear. I've used a lot of different tripods since we've been doing Matterport. This is the most useful one I find because it has four sections, so it collapses smaller when you're not using it. With the four sections, it's very easy to make little adjustments. For example, if this was the height being used for shooting out an entire house when you get to the stairway, of course, you've got to start adjusting legs because you can't have it on wheels at that point and you get it off and by having many different ways to adjust, it's easy to put it on a stair, just open one of the extensions that you're not already using, making one of them a little bit longer. There you go. Like so, and it's very easy to level it up quickly. We'll get to other leveling tricks as we go. But this has been a fabulous tripod, so we're all equipped with all three of us. Eric, I, and Gray. It's been a really fine piece of gear. [00:09:59] Dan Smigrod: Kevin, Eric, anything else that you like about that particular tripod? [00:10:04] Eric Dole: Personally, something I want to point out is the fact that it has rubber grips here because there's a lot of times when you've got to carry the camera from a longer distance other than just moving to my Matterport or carrying it over rough concrete or something. Just being able to carry it with these two handles. More comfortable. Much more and also you just have a firm grip and you can even carry it like this or anywhere is comfortable. You're not going to feel like you're not going to drop it. [00:10:39] Kevin Dole: It also has a center column that goes up a little shy of a foot and for example, when I'm doing a house, oftentimes I'll find myself in the kitchen where maybe the counters and a center island is taller than the height that I think is the best viewpoint for most of the house. But I need to get higher so that the dollhouse will fill in solid. In those countertops, because they're shiny, then you need to – [00:11:06] You can't shoot them like this on the Matterport. [00:11:08] Kevin Dole: You need to get down: scan down. This is an easy way to get an additional height for counters and bathrooms. Whatever it requires a higher view without having to change the legs and so the legs you can drop it right back down and you're ready to go. [00:11:25] Dan Smigrod: I would add one other reason that I like this particular tripod with the four sections versus the three sections, is that it fits into a roller board suitcase going on an airplane. [00:11:41] Dan Smigrod: When we all started flying again and we have an opportunity to travel. That was an important feature for me, was just being able to take it with me in onboard luggage: not to check my gear. I think as we go through the list, Kevin, I'm going to also just mention that nearly everything is priced out on Amazon, all these links, Thursday, May 12th, 2022. Today's price, Amazon, is $274. Prices may vary, but at least as we go through the list, you'll have some sense of pricing. Eric, was there something else you wanted to say about this tripod? [00:12:24] Eric Dole: No. We covered it. [00:12:28] Dan Smigrod: Item number 2, a tripod dolly, the short link www.WGAN.INFO/2 and this is $64. [00:12:41] Kevin Dole: For $64, this is a pretty nicely made; sturdy tripod from a Chinese company. This company, Neewer, is seeing pretty impressive gear. Things I like about this: it gives you a little carrying case to keep it clean when you're not using it. Also handle. Handle? Yes. You can throw it over your shoulder. There's a Velcro strap that keeps the thing collapsed, stored in the case. You pull that strap off, just like that and it's up, ready to roll. I take the Velcro strap and just curled around itself so that it's not dangling in the way of the wheels or anything. [00:13:25] Kevin Dole: Each of the arms can be extended. A fair amount depending on how wide the spread on your tripod is, depending on how high your tripod is. There are clip latches so that it's very quick to do that. The legs of the tripod get locked into their sockets on the end of the arms by a screw thing. You have to tighten it up.... We'd have to extend it anyway. But anyway, it's a great little tripod. The wheels lock. Step on them with your foot there and then they won't roll. If you're on an incline or any place that it's going to move around, it's very easy to lockdown. When you want to lock one or all three. You're done. You pull those two pins, collapse it up, put the Velcro around, stick it back in the bag. [00:14:26] Dan Smigrod: What caused you to buy this? What was the problem you were trying to solve? [00:14:32] Kevin Dole: When you do something like a Petco or Best Buy and you're going to be scanning 60,000 to 70,000 SQ FT you don't want to carry that thing around on your arm. Or most of these stores are just one flat level. You roll it around all day. Adjust the height. This adds about four inches, maybe. Just adjust the height accordingly and you roll that thing and it saves you. You'd be dead by the end of the day if I had to pick up and move that tripod every time. [00:15:04] Dan Smigrod: I've heard two benefits. One is it keeps you alive because you're not killing yourself carrying a [6.5] pound Matterport Pro2 3D Camera on top of a heavy-duty tripod for 10 hours. Two; it sounded like speed. You're just able to do the job that much faster. [00:15:27] Kevin Dole: I wouldn't do those jobs without wheels. You got to have wheels doing those large scans. [00:15:35] Dan Smigrod: Eric, what time savings is this? Does it make it half the time? Twenty-five percent less time? [00:15:44] Kevin Dole: It's 50 percent less exhaustion. That's for sure. [00:15:48] Eric Dole: Yeah. You'd save a few seconds every time. I mean, all that adds up. [00:15:53] Kevin Dole: It adds up a little bit in terms of time, but the major thing is that strain on your body. [00:16:01] Dan Smigrod: I have the same one. I've been totally happy with it. Before we move on, was there anything else to say on that item? [00:16:09] Kevin Dole: Yes. I learned about this from you. [00:16:15] Dan Smigrod: It's funny. Well, that must be why I have the same item. I thought the price was right. There are a number of options when it comes to these tripods, but for the price and it works and is fully reliable. Item number three is a 15 inch riser. The tiny URL is: www.WGAN.INFO/3 and I don't have a price because this item is not presently available on Amazon. Do you recall how much it is? [00:16:53] Kevin Dole: It was available when I looked last night. [00:16:55] Dan Smigrod: Interesting. [00:16:59] Kevin Dole: It's made by an independent company called Glide Gear. I think Glide Gear probably started as a company that made these sliders for photographers. You put your camera on a slider and shoot a very smooth thing from a tripod. The product itself is unscrewed as you can see it by itself. It is two metal plates with three steel bars in-between. The head here is separate, but it's just that piece that you don't have to take it off. Well, I actually do, why not. What you get is this. [00:17:43] Dan Smigrod: That's actually very helpful to see it solely by itself. [00:17:48] Kevin Dole: It's got an embedded 1/4 inch screw on one end. It's 15 inches. [00:17:58] Kevin Dole: In the movie business we call these risers. Sometimes it's called a tripod extender and on the bottom it's got a 3/8 hole so that it is perfect for going into that. You put it on there, spin it on and whatever head you would normally have on the tripod, you simply put on top and that's it. It's a 15-inch riser [00:18:22] Dan Smigrod: What problem was that solving for you? [00:18:25] Kevin Dole: What it does is a couple of things. One, it means that I have height. Oftentimes, like when I'm scanning Matterport, I like to keep this down as much as possible because it's a little bit wobbly on that center column, but when I'm shooting Matterport on this tripod, I usually take the bottom one and I extended about 7 inches or so depending upon the house, depending upon the height of the ceiling of a particular house. I'll put this down flat, get those all even and that plus the Matterport camera about the height that I find ideal. Puts the Matterport lens about 5 feet, maybe even a little bit lower if it's a low ceiling house. [00:19:15] Dan Smigrod: You could do that same height just with that four extender leg tripod? [00:19:19] Kevin Dole: Yes, but if you did, the spread would be considerably wider. If this was removed and these were extended, the distance between the bottoms would be a lot greater. [00:19:31] Eric Dole: The riser creates a much smaller footprint for it. It's easier to navigate through tight houses or hallways. [00:19:38] Kevin Dole: Exactly. Tight hallways, sometimes you have to have a door. Scan something yesterday, a fraternity house at USC, yesterday scans and there were communal bathrooms that were so tight and they wanted to have a scan, it was for construction. They wanted to scan even inside the shower stalls and the stalls and the bathrooms and stuff. All these doors propped open with. What are you trying to say? I'm trying to say this. Doorstop. Doorstop . Doorstops stuck in the hinges to keep the things apart. We have very narrow spaces to move between and the tripod was spread large. You just can't do it. Also on stairways, if the tripod legs are not as far apart, it's easier to work up a narrow staircase and extend one down and accomplish it. I just find that number one, much easier to work with a narrower spread on the bottom. It's still all the stability you need for the Matterport. Also, this is great, you just push your hand under there and lift. It's a very easy way with center of gravity, center to lift up and move around the tripod as opposed to grabbing this to move it to the next spot. [00:21:11] Dan Smigrod: I've heard two solutions. First, I know I've had the exact problem you've described, three doors at the end of a hallway and which door you're going to keep open and the tripod is too large and it's creating a problem. Second is narrow staircases. Then third would be just making it easier to move around. Are there other reasons why this 15 inch riser has been helpful? [00:21:50] Kevin Dole: Now there is. [00:21:51] Dan Smigrod: Let me introduce the tactical 360 light, $70 short link: www.WGAN.INFO/7 www.WGAN.INFO/7 What is that tactical 360 light and how does that work with that 15 inch riser? [00:22:14] Kevin Dole: We were hired at one point to scan a building for remodeling or refitting or something like that. I got to the site about 5 pm. The sun was going down at about 6:30 pm. The building had no electricity at all. There was no power, there was no way to turn on any lights. I had to scan using an LED lantern that I carried through the whole place. It was a pain in the tush because every time, either I had to hold the lantern above that Matterport camera or I had to put it on the floor, hoping enough light would spread. It was a really kludgy thing. We got it scanned. The exposures were very well, but we got it scanned, they had the data and so forth. Particularly on corporate industrial things, you end up with little storage rooms with no lights, no power, nothing and the Matterport camera in order to gather data has to have some light, it doesn't need a lot, it's very good in low light, but it needs some. Anyways, I had actually over the past months contacted three different companies that custom build LED lights because I figured, wouldn't it be great to have a light that could be right in here and would shine 360? Low and behold, I go on Amazon one day and I see these. It is a fairly new product. It's about three months ago that I found it. It has four LED panels around the outsides. It has a knob at the end that is a dimmer so you can turn it up to the highest or to the lowest. It also has a push button that you can set if you want to light only 1,2,3, or 4 of these. But here's the amazing part. We've been using this for years and guess what? [00:24:14] Kevin Dole: It won't quite go in. However, if there's enough bend in these, that if you push it in the middle, you slide it down it'll go right in the middle and it has a magnet at the bottom, so it grabs right on and there's your lit room when they have no power. [00:24:33] Dan Smigrod: That has four lighting settings.? [00:24:36] Kevin Dole: It's a dimmer so you can crank it as much as you want. [00:24:43] Dan Smigrod: Is there the right place to set it? Is it half? [00:24:47] Kevin Dole: Well, you can see by just turning on the Matterport camera. Because you'd use this if you were in a room that basically has no power and no lights. Or if the light was so low you simply wanted to augment it a little bit. Most of the time I think you'd probably crank it up all the way because although this looks very very bright on screen and what's really bright if you look straight at it, of course, the amount of light that it actually falls on the walls is not as much. [00:25:16] Dan Smigrod: Does the fact that there are vertical black bars blocking the light, does that cast any shadow in the Matterport? [00:25:25] Kevin Dole: All four of these panels are omnidirectional. They throw light everywhere. [00:25:33] Kevin Dole: You can see with my hands moving around. [00:25:36] Dan Smigrod: The 15-inch riser bars are blocking the light. [00:25:45] Kevin Dole: Here's a wall. As I move around you can't see any shadow. [00:25:49] Dan Smigrod: Yeah. Got it. That works! [00:25:51] Kevin Dole: The source is Kodiak Kuadrant. [00:25:53] Dan Smigrod: Awesome. [00:25:54] Eric Dole: ... [00:25:57] Dan Smigrod: I'm sorry. Excuse me, Eric? [00:26:00] Eric Dole: Yes, just because they're so close together, it doesn't really cast any shadow at all. [00:26:05] Dan Smigrod: No shadow. Then how long will this light last? [00:26:08] Kevin Dole: I haven't run it to its limit yet and it is only rechargeable. There's no battery package to swap. Of course, the length of time that lasts will depend upon what settings you have at all the way up versus halfway or whatever. But what I've read about it is that even at the full setting, it would probably run for three hours or something like that. In use, if I had to do a large building, I would move the camera, turn it on, shoot, and turn it off before I set the next setup. [00:26:49] Dan Smigrod: How many of these do you have? [00:26:52] Kevin Dole: We have three of these, one for each of us. [00:26:56] Dan Smigrod: Have you been on a job where it's been so large to take so long that one charge wasn't sufficient at whatever? [00:27:04] Kevin Dole: Not yet. There's only one time that we encountered an entire building that had no power. Usually, we run into a dark store room or a dark closet, some electrical cabinets, or something like that. [00:27:17] Dan Smigrod: I think I could imagine for an insurance claim documentation where the house is burned down and you know, showing up there's going to be no power; but I know I showed up Realtor didn't tell me, "Oh, by the way the utilities have been turned off." It turned out she didn't know either. I don't think we have anything on your list for cold, but I guess I was wearing a jacket that day and I was okay. But I was just lucky that there was sufficient lighting coming through the windows to light the space. This house did not have a basement, but had it had a basement, that would've been an awesome solution. This light. Is there anything else about this 360 light? [00:28:07] Kevin Dole: No. It's just a wonderful thing that happens to pair up perfectly with this riser. I cannot push it out to the side between those bars because it fits tightened up there. [00:28:20] Dan Smigrod: But if you're using this with the Matterport camera, could this be used with the Ricoh Theta Z1 and Insta360 ONE X2? [00:28:26] Kevin Dole: Absolutely. If I was shooting with the Ricoh Theta Z1, here's the new Ricoh Theta X. If I was shooting with the Ricoh Theta Z1 or X on this, what I would do is put the Z1 or the X, or Insta360 ONE X2 or whatever on the little Insta360 selfie stick. [00:28:50] Dan Smigrod: We'll talk about that later. That's good to know there is another option. [00:28:54] Kevin Dole: Then I will put it on top to keep the tripod legs as small as possible in the nadir of the shot. [00:29:02] Eric Dole: Also, something else I want to mention too, obviously this is fairly secure enough on its own just because it's each of their dimensions, but for some extra security you can always wrap around a piece of duct tape or any tape around the top just to secure the top bit. Because at the bottom there's no way that's getting out because obviously the bolts are placed at the bottom. [00:29:31] Kevin Dole: If you pull, it will pop out halfway up. [00:29:35] Dan Smigrod: For clarification, you were able to use this in total black; darkness, no light coming from any other source? [00:29:43] Kevin Dole: Right. I think the only place where it might not perform if you are literally in a 10,000 square foot open warehouse at night with no power and no lights and so the walls are so far away that even this might not illuminate them adequately. [00:30:01] Dan Smigrod: Well, that's an interesting question. What was the largest space that you've been in, in terms of illumination at a distance that you couldn't see? [00:30:08] Kevin Dole: In terms of using this that far it's only small spaces, but I would not hesitate from my experience in terms of amount of light and so forth. This would do fine in any home with no power at night, no lights. The largest room at a home, this light is still going to illuminate the walls. [00:30:31] Dan Smigrod: That's an awesome solution. Great piece of gear. Moving on. Number 4, I actually got my numbering a little bit odd, but let's call it Number 4. Neewer Leveling Base, $50. www.WGAN.INFO/4. What is this? How do you use it? Why are you using it? [00:30:55] Kevin Dole: This is what we use. [00:31:00] Kevin Dole: I know that in the Matterport system, their algorithms will say that if your camera is a little bit Cattywampus, when you do a scan, it will correct it within reason. [00:31:11] Dan Smigrod: I'm sorry, what was that technical term you said? [00:31:14] Kevin Dole: Cattywampus. Eric here is laughing too. [00:31:18] Dan Smigrod: Cattywampus [00:31:20] Kevin Dole: My mother used the word Cattywampus. It means out of angle. [00:31:25] Dan Smigrod: Cattywampus. [00:31:26] Kevin Dole: Cattywampus. Yeah. We have two catties here. [00:31:30] Dan Smigrod: Well, you know we have our show professionally transcribed. I have no idea what direction I should say for the transcriber. How do you spell Cattywampus? [00:31:42] Kevin Dole: My mother's passed away so you can't ask. Anyway, this goes onto a tripod. I want to show this close-up though. All it does is it's got 3/8 inch at the bottom. This has got a 1/4 inch insert. At the top, it's got a 1/4 inch. When you turn this, this all slides around. [00:32:11] Kevin Dole: Your tripod can be as much as about ten degrees off angle and just with one quick adjustment, a single quick adjustment, not three: you can level the camera up. By having this on there it speeds up the Matterport camera's leveling. Now, it takes two pieces because this thing just has a 1/4 inch screw in the bottom. You also need this part, which is the next thing on the list, which is simply something that's got your choice of a 3/8 inch or 1/4 inch. [00:32:41] Dan Smigrod: Let me introduce this piece. This is the Quick Release ARCA Swiss Clamp. www.WGAN.INFO/5 It's $23. You're using this in conjunction with the Neewer leveling base. [00:33:01] Kevin Dole: The purpose of this is to place an ARCA clamp on top. It's to add the ARCA clamps which you need for the Matterport camera. [00:33:12] Dan Smigrod: Well, Kevin, that's interesting because I have something that's similar. It's called a GemTune. I'll make up a number for this. I'll call it: www.WGAN.INFO/22 [00:33:32] Kevin Dole: It is the same except that in your case, it's all in one piece. [00:33:35] Dan Smigrod: I don't know. Maybe I bought it as two separate pieces and put it together. It's been so long, I just don't remember. I think it's one piece. Maybe it's sold separately. I think it's one piece, but it's doing the same thing yours is doing. [00:33:56] Kevin Dole: Yeah. It is doing the same thing. [00:33:57] Dan Smigrod: Yeah, But I think this happens to be one piece. That's interesting. Yours is Haoge. Is that pronounced right? HAOGE? It's called Haoge 64mm, quick release, ARCA Swiss. This is a GemTune: it says DY-60i. Again, I will add this short link: for www.WGAN.INFO/22 and maybe you could compare the two. I know I've been happy with mine. Sounds like you have been happy with yours. I'm going to guess the combination of the two pieces you have are still less expensive than this. I know you mentioned Ross Zanzucchi, he had told me about this one a few years ago and this is how I ended up getting. [00:34:51] Kevin Dole: That's fine. [00:34:51] Dan Smigrod: Yeah. Where did I learn about it? We Get Around Network Forum. www.WGANForum.com ... People like us sharing what's working because we're trying to solve a problem. Eric, what are you trying to show us there? [00:35:08] Eric Dole: I'm just giving an example of the amount of articulation that you can get out of it. [00:35:14] Dan Smigrod: So why not use a ball head instead of this plate and quick release? [00:35:20] Kevin Dole: One of the safety features of this as opposed to using a ball head is that its movement is limited to about 10 degrees. Even if you let go of this when it's loose, it doesn't tip enough that it can knock over the tripod. [00:35:42] Kevin Dole: Tighten that up. There are ball heads such as on this mini-tripod that we sometimes use. This has got a typical ball head and it has a lot of movement. If that came loose, it would knock over your whole rig and take the camera down with it. Because of the amount of movement that it has. [00:36:00] Dan Smigrod: I would add that there are many professional real estate photographers that swear by a ball heads that they have been using a DSLR camera; then go buy a Matterport Pro2 thinking that they're going to do the same quick movement. I would add the same caution that you have. Matterport adds the same caution. If you're a professional photographer and you're totally used to using a ball head and that's working for you, okay, be super-careful. But for anyone else that's thinking about how to quickly change the articulation of the Matterport Pro2 3D Camera, get the solution that Kevin and Eric are showing and that may save you thousands of dollars in not having your Matterport camera tip over and break. If it does, we do have a We Get Around Network Forum that will give you a deal on repairing your Matterport Camera, but that's not where you want to end up. That's a different WGAN-TV show that we've done. Is there anything else to talk about the combination of these two? [00:37:18] Kevin Dole: Well no, just the extension to the next device. We're going to tie this in there if you can. [00:37:24] Dan Smigrod: Let's bring up your other phone and we're going to talk about the bullseye level. [00:37:33] Kevin Dole: [Camco Bullseye Level: www.WGAN.INFO/6...] www.WGAN.INFO/6 [00:37:44] Dan Smigrod: (Ignore my request about unmuting.) [00:37:51] Kevin Dole: What we use in conjunction with everything that we were just talking about is a large bubble level that is Gorilla double-stick tape. [00:38:05] Dan Smigrod: I'm sorry. I didn't tee this up properly. The Bullseye level $7. www.WGAN.INFO/6 Is there a little sticky on the bottom of this? [00:38:20] Kevin Dole: No. There's no sticky on it when you buy it. But I carry around at all times a roll of Gorilla brand double stick tape. It's transparent. It's like thick tape, gummy stuff. It's really sticky. Just put a little of that on the bottom of the leveling bubble – [00:38:41] Dan Smigrod: I'll add that to the list. We'll call that: www.WGAN.INFO/23 Gorilla double-sided tape and we'll get a link to that. We want to make it super-easy for you to just get to the item and be able to find stuff. That's what you've used and that double-sided Gorilla tape worked okay on the top of the Matterport Pro2 3D Camera. [00:39:05] Kevin Dole: I would not recommend this – but I can tell you that that sticks so tightly you could lift up the Matterport Pro2 3D Camera grabbing this. If I can get a good grip on it. It's really tight. [00:39:16] Dan Smigrod: If you can't, we'll recommend you to a Member of the We Get Around Network Forum that does camera repairs for the Matterport Pro2 3D Camera. ;-) [00:39:24] Kevin Dole: Exactly. [00:39:25] Dan Smigrod: That's cool. [00:39:27] Kevin Dole: The whole point is to be able to level your camera as quickly as possible. When you move to a new spot, the ground may be irregular. [00:39:40] Kevin Dole: You can see the bubble level. You can see that there's a big bubble. You just center it in the middle of that center circle. Leveling your camera literally takes three seconds. Every time you move to a new position. If the floor is irregular, if you're on stairs or whatever. [00:39:56] Dan Smigrod: Step back, if you could please, so we can see you. No toward your backdrop there, your head is cut off on our shot. [00:40:03] Kevin Dole: Yeah. [00:40:04] Dan Smigrod: The shot. Much better. I'm going to ask you about what I use and maybe we'll toss what I'm doing away, but I'm using a Stanley Torpedo Level www.WGAN.INFO/20 $20. The reason I use this, Kevin and Eric, is that I find that if you put it on the top of the camera and you get your bubble level, and then you turn your camera 90 degrees, it's not level. I got to then do that and then come back and do that until I have it level. With that one Bullseye level, is that solid as long as you put it in the right place? [00:40:54] Kevin Dole: Well, we're doing it so much faster. [00:40:57] Eric Dole: Because it levels on every axis. [00:40:59] Kevin Dole: You hold this for a second. You grab the camera, with one hand you loosen that base that allows you to move around any place, then you look straight down at the bubble level, lock it off, and you're done. [00:41:15] Dan Smigrod: You put the bubble level so that you essentially get both directions. [00:41:23] Kevin Dole: You get the X and Y axis. Here, I'm going to move it to a new location. I loosen the bottom, I move it around, I put it in the middle, I lock it off. It's done. X and Y axises are perfectly set in one movement. --- (Continued ...) |
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| (Continued from above...) --- [00:41:38] Dan Smigrod: One movement. Much better, and you save money because my solution was $10 and then I had to jog it back and forth. Eric, you were about to say? I can't see you. That's great. Thank you [00:41:53] Eric Dole: Well, also this you can just stick directly to the camera too, so you're not going to lose it. [00:41:57] Kevin Dole: You don't have something else to carry around. It's on there for good. We have a room in our cases. This stays on at all times. [00:42:05] Dan Smigrod: I got it. Yes. I've had it slide off the top of the camera where I forgot that I had it up on the top of the camera and it slid. Much better solution. For the likely Matterport company people that are watching, is there any reason this bubble shouldn't just be built into the camera to begin with? [00:42:29] Kevin Dole: It should be built in. Yes. [00:42:31] Dan Smigrod: It should be level. If you were to maybe attach some different light or something. In fact, I would almost say. [00:42:41] Dan Smigrod: I don't know what you call it, maybe you have a term for it. Is there are places that would dip into the camera that you could affix something to. If you were going to put a light on. Not a big light, not to change the torque of the camera, but something that had recessed with places to loop in wire. You could do something with that and then have this bubble just be flat so that you could still put something on top of the camera and it's totally flat. I guess we're just thinking, well, we really needed a bubble level. Now, I'm going to guess that Matterport would say something like, "No, when it processes we figure that the camera is not so even and we adjust for that". Any thoughts on that? [00:43:37] Kevin Dole: Yeah, because I've had Matterport models where even after processing, certain nodes are Cattywampus. About eight months ago, there were a string of problems that people were having with Matterport models where certain nodes were coming off. They did discover that there were some errors in their algorithm and they fixed that. But my approach is, this is so easy. Particularly with some tripods that have little tiny bubble levels like this, circular ones, but then it's really hard to see the bubble in the middle; well I can't quite tell. This one is really easy to make sure the camera is level. [00:44:19] Dan Smigrod: That was a good question because one of the things I can tell is I could be at eye height here. Is there any issue with the bubble level that you put on there because you have to look down or you don't have to look down? [00:44:31] Kevin Dole: This camera right now. I know my head is coming off here, but this is about the height that I generally scan at, about 5 feet off the ground. [00:44:44] Kevin Dole: A lot of houses, older homes have a 8 foot ceiling. You don't want to have this up at 6 foot height because then when you have positions in your highlight reel, you're going to be all keystoned. [00:44:59] Dan Smigrod: Yeah. Kevin, I wasn't really thinking we were ready to do tips and best practices. I just thought we are going to be doing gear and accessories. But I think this thing is so important to talk about camera height because I'm going to tell you if you ask somebody at Matterport, they're going to tell you to put the camera at eye level. [00:45:24] Dan Smigrod: Everybody watching, there are three heads going up like this (no-no-no). No, don't put the camera at eye height and it's a nightmare just looking at a Matterport space when you're – [00:45:36] Kevin Dole: When everything is off the keystone. [00:45:41] Dan Smigrod: Get my focus back here. [00:45:47] Dan Smigrod: Am I back in focus? No. [00:45:52] Kevin Dole: It likes to focus on your background – [00:45:57] Dan Smigrod: You really want to enable the viewer to look forward and by putting the camera height down, it's actually much more natural, either on an iPad or a smartphone or a desktop, rather than looking down and I think there's so many wonky – I'm going to use your term, Cattywampus looking Matterport tours because the people who were originally saying this at Matterport, they weren't photographers, they were engineers and so they're just thinking, well, let's just tell people to put it [at eye level] height. Anyway, I'm off my soapbox and that was the answer to the question about not having to look down at the bubble because the camera is already down at a lower height. In fact, when I've shot hotel rooms, correct me if I'm wrong, if you do something different in a hotel room where the space is small, I got the camera just slightly above the bed height so what I consider doorknob height so that it actually makes the hotel room look a little bigger rather than in this tiny spot and you're looking down even from the height that you have so – you are nodding too – doorknob height? [00:47:08] Eric Dole: Yes. Also, I want to make clear too that the eye-level height we're talking about is between five and a half, six feet because obviously not everybody's the same height. [00:47:19] Kevin Dole: I find the best height for the camera is someplace around four and a half to maybe five feet. [00:47:31] Kevin Dole: Assuming the ceiling is an eight-foot like a house built in the '50s, chances are you're going to want to have a camera near four feet halfway between the floor and the ceiling. If it's one of these houses, it's got 12-foot ceilings, then maybe I bring it up to five feet. [00:47:49] Dan Smigrod: For our viewers, if you disagree, please, post in the We Get Around Network Forum (www.WGANForum.com). Tell us what height that you're using and why you disagree but for everyone else, it's – "what should I set the camera height? It's lower than you expect. [00:48:06] Eric Dole: I want to point out too that this height is for whether we're talking about best suited for getting the best visual results because it's obviously a different process if you're capturing data to be put in a CAD program. [00:48:30] Dan Smigrod: Another topic! [00:48:33] Eric Dole: Just want to make clear that this is to get the best visual results. [00:48:36] Kevin Dole: The walk-through experience, which is important in residential real estate, that's what's king. [00:48:43] Dan Smigrod: Awesome. [00:48:46] Kevin Dole: When do you want the most attractive view of a room to portray all verticals as parallel rather than keystone to one way or the other? [00:48:55] Dan Smigrod: Yeah. Lower camera height. If you're unsure, make it lower. If you're still unsure, make it lower, You'll be really happy. iPad case with handles strap, WGAN.INFO/8, $20. [00:49:11] Kevin Dole: Yeah. [00:49:16] Dan Smigrod: Why are you using this? What problems does it solve? [00:49:20] Eric Dole: Well, one of the main problems – actually several. One, this includes a strap. If you need to move your camera, you don't have to hold your iPad. Another is that it's an extremely protective case so if you happen to drop it or bump it into something, most likely the iPad is going to be okay. [00:49:43] Kevin Dole: Rubber bumpers on the corners. [00:49:44] Eric Dole: Yes. In the construction of this to make it as durable as it is, it's in two pieces so there's a plastic base with a rubberized outer piece that wraps around it and then you put the iPad in there, and then this goes on top and then it locks into place with these clips on the sides. [00:50:14] Dan Smigrod: Eric, do you use the kickstand on that at all? Do you ever use the kickstand? [00:50:21] Eric Dole: I personally haven't just because I haven't had a situation where. [00:50:25] Dan Smigrod: Can you show us what I'm talking about asking about? [00:50:39] Dan Smigrod: Which is yet another thing, which is a hand strap so there's two things so you could carry this with your hand. [00:50:47] Eric Dole: Yeah. Which is the other thing. You get a much better grip as well. [00:50:51] Dan Smigrod: Yeah. [00:50:52] Kevin Dole: Kickstand to stand it up if you wanted to display. [00:50:55] Dan Smigrod: Yeah. Because I'll tell you, I think I like the solution that you have better. I happen to have – I'll call this 24, the one I have so: www.WGAN.INFO/24 I've had this one so long. This is a Native Union brand iPad case. What I've liked about this is I could put my hand through here and that's how I would actually pick up the tripod and then there were times where I would take because this one is nice, you can take it like that and then you're out of the shot, you just put it down on the counter and it just sitting on its kickstand there but I'm going to think that what you have is a better solution because it's hanging from you and you don't have to think about it. Yeah. [00:51:50] Kevin Dole: Eric is the one that convinced me that the shoulder strap was better and he's absolutely right. [00:51:55] Dan Smigrod: What I was using, something like what I was using. [00:51:57] Kevin Dole: I was using this but I never put the shoulder strap on, I just hold my hand. [00:52:01] Eric Dole: He was using just the strap with his hand without the strap. I mentioned we should get a strap for the case. [00:52:09] Kevin Dole: Then I told him, well, a strap came with and I just didn't give it to you. Yeah. [00:52:17] Kevin Dole: Because I wasn't using the strap on my own case and then he said, "hey, the strap is great" and he's right so I put it back on mine now. [00:52:24] Eric Dole: Like I was pointing out to you earlier about the tripod, when you're carrying it around, [00:52:30] Kevin Dole: you don't need to be carrying your iPad with you. It's just hanging next to you. [00:52:33] Dan Smigrod: Yes, I think that's a better solution. I'm going to say if you go to: www.WGAN.INFO/8 because the question as well, "I have an iPad 8, and iPad 9 and iPad 10 and whatever." The great thing I think about Amazon is it gives you the same case in the different size options. As long as you know which iPad you have, you can say, "oh, that's the one I want, but I want it for this iPad" and these manufacturers tend to make these things in different sizes. The other thing is just so you know when you go to Amazon and you look at this exact item that Kevin and Eric are recommending, there are bazillions of these cases so if you care to look around and look for other options, there are plenty of other options but Eric and Kevin have done a ton of Matterport scanning and they are really happy with this one so sometimes it's not worth reinventing the wheel you just like, "okay, they're Pros, they're doing it, they're doing tons of spaces and it's working." Eric you haven't had any problem with the way you go. "Oh, my gosh, this is my $1,000 iPad and that strap just broke." [00:53:53] Eric Dole: There have been a few times when I've had to say, hold my iPad just with the basic Apple case or with no case at all and I was terrified the entire time I was going to drop it. [00:54:02] Kevin Dole: It's so slippery by itself. [00:54:05] Eric Dole: Also because you need to be looking at the entire screen the whole time so grabbing it by the edge is not ideal and also another thing I want to point out is that the handle can rotate as well so whichever orientation you want to look at it. [00:54:25] Dan Smigrod: Correct me if I'm wrong. This saves you from losing your $1,000 iPad, reduces strain on carrying your iPad, reduces the logistics of carrying your iPad and your Matterport Pro 2 3D Camera and figuring out how you're going to carry both and you don't really don't have to think about it because it's just hanging from you and it's always with you and it's there. Let me move into the next item which is probably in conjunction with this at 25 watt power bank fast charge: www.WGAN.INFO/9 www.WGAN.INFO/9 $31. What do you have for us? [00:55:06] Eric Dole: Real quick, sorry, one more thing about the case, real quick it does have a compartment for the pencil as well. The Apple pencil for markup. I just want to point that out as well. [00:55:18] Dan Smigrod: Awesome. Let me tee it up again. 25 watt power bank, fast charge, www.WGAN.INFO/9... $31. What do you got, Kevin, and what is this thing and why did you get it? [00:55:34] Kevin Dole: This was great when we found it. We've done a lot of large spaces, things like Best Buy stores, health clubs and Petco stores and things like that, and when you're out there when you've got to scan 40,000 to 50,000 square feet in a day this thing has a heck of a battery in it. It doesn't always last all day, but it comes very close. It's amazing the battery and I presume that's about two-thirds of the weight of these boat anchors. [00:56:02] Dan Smigrod: There are two batteries in there. [00:56:04] Kevin Dole: Okay. Well, there you go. That's probably most of the weight in there, but the iPad doesn't last as long. As soon as we start a big scan, we will turn down the brightness on the screen as low as we can but even at that, that iPad's going to run out of power before [the Matterport Pro2 3D Camera] does and so if we have a lunch break, if we break for lunch, we can plug these in and get some charge backup. [00:56:30] Dan Smigrod: How are you carrying this? Eric, how do you carry this? [00:56:35] Kevin Dole: Yeah. Go ahead. This handle that you were talking about earlier. [00:56:40] Dan Smigrod: I can't see you though. I do want to see you. Thank you. [00:56:44] Kevin Dole: This handle that we discussed earlier on the case, this battery pack just happens to perfectly fit in that little slot. Instead of your hand, instead of your four fingers. You just tighten it down. [00:57:03] Kevin Dole: There you go. There it is. [00:57:05] Dan Smigrod: What's the chance of that sliding out? [00:57:08] Kevin Dole: It doesn't, it's tight. [00:57:09] Eric Dole: It's in there, especially because when you're holding it, what I always do is I literally just hold it. [00:57:17] Kevin Dole: You hold the battery? Yeah, I just hold the battery where my hand would be, it's good enough. [00:57:23] Dan Smigrod: But what about hanging from your side there, you're going to lose your battery? [00:57:28] Kevin Dole: Nope. [00:57:29] Dan Smigrod: Hasn't happened. [00:57:30] Eric Dole: Also, another thing is that when this is plugged into the iPad, that's also your level of security as well. [00:57:36] Dan Smigrod: You've never duct taped this in, you haven't used another tape or anything? [00:57:41] Kevin Dole: No, never. [00:57:41] Dan Smigrod: Okay. [00:57:42] Kevin Dole: Well, we haven't needed to. [00:57:44] Dan Smigrod: This is awesome, which is another reason to get this particular case with this particular battery because you can be able to put these two together. [00:57:54] Kevin Dole: Let me tell you a couple of things about this device, number 1, you've got a button on the side, you press it. I'm sorry. I can't see you. Sorry, there we go. It's got a case that reads out the percentage of charge it's carrying. [00:58:09] Dan Smigrod: I like it. [00:58:10] Kevin Dole: It has two USB 1 ports and a USB mini, and most important, a USB 3. Micro USB. A micro USB, and a USB 3. What's important to know about this because it's in the literature, but you got to dig for it, if you charge, if you use this cable, this has got an angled USB 3 on both ends. Well, we're using the new iPads that have USB 3 plugs on, if you draw power from this battery on the USB 3 port to your iPad, it's running Quick Charge 4.0, the latest thing, and the bottom line is that it will charge your iPad twice as fast off of this port than even using the other ports. You want to connect your iPad using USB 3 to the iPad, it doesn't matter whether your iPad is Lightning or USB 3. [00:59:13] Dan Smigrod: When you bought this power bank, did you have to source a special cable to go from your iPad to this port? [00:59:24] Kevin Dole: If you type in on Amazon, I didn't find the link for that, but if you type in on Amazon, you can get this cable which is a right angle, if you want the right angle thing, you don't have to, you can have the straight as well, it's just USB 3 on both ends, that's the important thing. [00:59:40] Dan Smigrod: USB 3 on both ends. [00:59:44] Kevin Dole: Unless your iPad has a Lightning cable and then you'd need a USB 3 to Lightning. [00:59:49] Dan Smigrod: USB 3, to Lightning. I'm going to make the USB 3, to USB 3 cable: www.WGAN.INFO/26 and a USB 3 to Lightning: www.WGAN.INFO/27 I'm trying to make it easy for those watching the show that you can just go to the link, and you can get the cable that you're buying. [01:00:18] Kevin Dole: The critical thing is the USB 3 ports on this device are both for charging it, and for charging other items from it. The power output from the USB 3 port on this battery pack is much stronger than on all the other ports. We've gotten to the point on a big scan where the iPad basically it's down to one percent, it's just about to die. You could plug this in, continue your work, and even though you're continuing to use the iPad, this will charge it, it'll go one, two, five, 10 percent, 20 percent, 30 percent even while you're using it. [01:00:57] Dan Smigrod: This one is, I'm looking at the specs, 30,800 mAh, why this particular size? Because I can imagine you could go for much bigger, this one was like $31. [01:01:17] Kevin Dole: This has been powerful enough to recharge the iPad even while we've been using it, and it's a 25 watts power bank. Most power banks are something like 5 or 10 watts, this is 25 watts, and it has Quick Charge 4.0 on the USB 3 port. [01:01:36] Dan Smigrod: Do you have two of these, because you have one for your smartphone, and one for your iPad? [01:01:42] Kevin Dole: We have six of these. [01:01:44] Dan Smigrod: You have two for each photographer? [01:01:46] Kevin Dole: Yeah. [01:01:49] Dan Smigrod: Are you typically putting your smartphone in one pocket with that connected, and then the iPad with the other one connected when you're doing a large – [01:01:58] Eric Dole: I mean, generally, we don't use our phones much, we're not really using our phones so we don't need to connect it. [01:02:07] Dan Smigrod: Do you have two because when you're doing 60,000 square feet, you're going to go through? [01:02:12] Kevin Dole: We've never gone through more than one of these on a single all-day shoot. I have found this such a fabulous power bank that I want to have six of them around in case I misplaced one. [01:02:28] Dan Smigrod: Yeah, it's so cheap. I remember buying my first one. It was probably a $150, for $31; go buy two. [01:02:38] Eric Dole: Within capacity and the price, it's hilarious. It really puts out a high-power charge from the USB 3 port. Something also I want to say is, just in terms of securing it to the case, I haven't done this yet, but just because for no specific reason it's gotten around to it, but just because this part, back of the case is plastic, if you wanted to, you could also put a piece of tape like some rubberized tape-like duct tape (www.WGAN.INFO/25), stick it on the back of here so that when you slide it in here, there's friction on both sides. [01:03:19] Dan Smigrod: Yeah. [01:03:20] Eric Dole: It's secure enough back here, but obviously, just in case you do drop it or there's like a very sudden strong impact. [01:03:29] Dan Smigrod: I mean, the good news, if you drop it, it's $31, it's not that iPad for $150. [01:03:35] Eric Dole: Yeah. [01:03:35] Kevin Dole: By the way, this power bank also wirelessly charges your iPhone. You can just lay your iPhone on top of that, even if you don't have a cable, and then charge it, if you've got one of the newer models. [01:03:47] Dan Smigrod: Isn't that awesome? Today's show: Top 10 Gear and Accessories for Matterport Pros. Why is your item here? Ricoh Theta X with card, with battery, www.WGAN.INFO/10 for $800. Why is a Matterport Pro using a Matterport Pro 2 3D Camera and also carrying a Ricoh Theta X? [01:04:14] Kevin Dole: Well, we have a couple of Ricoh Theta Z1s that we've used for years for isolated circumstances, and also when we do our hybrid tours for example in 3DVista, then we're using the Ricoh Thetas a lot because we're not doing 3D scanning, we're just shooting 360s. The new Ricoh Theta X came out just this past month and we picked one up to work with it, it's got many improvements over the Ricoh Theta Z1. You've probably heard some of them already from Ben Claremont, and other people who make videos even before the product is on the market. But a couple of things about it, on a downside, it does have a smaller sensor, and I would say from a data-gathering standpoint just in terms of image, it's a little bit weaker sensor. [01:05:08] Dan Smigrod: For today's show, because we're not going to review the product, you're carrying this for I'm going to guess two reasons, one is you need standalone 360s that you need for your 3DVista tours that you're creating your Hybrid Tours, but I suspect you use that camera in conjunction with Matterport for some very specific reasons, do you want to talk about that? [01:05:32] Kevin Dole: Yeah, we do. When doing Matterport, sometimes in our work we will actually wait until the sun is going down and scan a whole yard. We've done many things like that where we've taken the infrared camera outdoors. But often, then on other occasions, you just want to add external 360s in the front of the house, and the back. You can do that with the Matterport Pro2 3D Camera, of course, just switch over to 360 View mode, push the button out on the front walk, and do it. But there are some houses that architecturally, or because of the terrain of a hillside or something, you would get a better external 360 shot by elevating the view of that 360. With the Matterport camera, you're not going to get up 15 feet in the air safely. This you can. You can essentially turn off the Matterport Pro2 3D Camera, turn on the Ricoh Theta X or Z1 – link it to the Matterport Capture software, and then use an extended selfie stick which will go up 10 feet or more, you can raise your arm, you can get up 15 feet, and you get potentially a "drone shot" in the air as your outdoor 360. [01:06:39] Dan Smigrod: You're using that as a 360 View versus a 360 Scan? [01:06:44] Kevin Dole: Correct. Yeah [01:06:45] Dan Smigrod: Are you using it also, is the 360 Scan for a different purpose? [01:06:49] Kevin Dole: You could, but we're not particularly enamored of Matterport's capabilities at the present time in terms of taking 360s from non-measuring cameras and converting it to 3D, it's just not that dependable. [01:07:15] Dan Smigrod: You are not a fan of Matterport Cortex that does the conversion, but do you want to talk about swimming pools? [01:07:23] Kevin Dole: Yeah, exactly, and we used to because I'm going to give Eric, our cameraman here. We used to use the Ricoh Theta Z1 to take 360 pictures, to put water in the pools. Eric discovered there's a better way to do it. I'll just run through this quickly, so we also have time to move to the other products, but before we were using a 360 camera to fill in water in pools. [01:07:54] Dan Smigrod: Let me see if I can tee up the problem. If you're doing a Matterport tour using a Matterport Pro 2 3D Camera, and you're doing scans outside; when you go look at the doll-house after processing, the pool is black because this scan data can't see the water. [01:08:14] Kevin Dole: Infrared can't see water. [01:08:16] Dan Smigrod: Infrared can't see water. How do you solve that, Eric? You were using a 360 camera, and it sounds like you're now using the Matterport Pro 2 3D Camera? [01:08:28] Kevin Dole: Remove the other camera altogether. What you do is you get to the edge of the pool, you take a normal 3D scan, and this is assuming you're able to successfully get outdoors. Like just when the sun goes down, and the backyard falls into shades. [01:08:48] Dan Smigrod: Yes. [01:08:50] Kevin Dole: You take a scan right at the edge of the pool, a 3D scan. Then right after that, don't move the camera, leave it exactly where it is, do not move it, and then switch it to 360 View. You're only taking a 360. [01:09:10] Dan Smigrod: Taking a 360 View: not capturing scan data. [01:09:15] Eric Dole: With the Matterport camera still in the same spot, take a 360. You have the 360, and then right after you capture the 360 View, then place it on the mini-map and then convert it to 3D using Cortex. Nearly 95% of the time, it'll place it right on top of the 3D scan that you did right before, and it'll fill in a portion of the pool. Then you just repeat that process. [01:09:44] Dan Smigrod: Repeat that process. Why is it important to have both a 360 Scan and a 360 View shot without moving the camera? [01:09:55] Eric Dole: The Matterport Cortex has a much easier time of matching the photo and the visual data, because the panorama is exactly the same. [01:10:09] Dan Smigrod: This is awesome. Thank you for sharing that. Again, Eric did an awesome WGAN-TV show on: 25 Tips for Matterport Pros; talking about swimming pools and other big problem challenges and how you've solved it. I've loved that you've come up with a new workaround, and that means you don't actually have to buy a separate 360 camera like the Ricoh Theta X or Z1 or Insta360 ONE X2. But I'm hearing you, Kevin, that you'd like it for providing an aerial shot where you might not pop the Matterport camera up 15 feet somehow some way. That's cool. I think we're up to the next item, which is the compact tripod: www.WGAN.INFO/11 $60 Why do you need to have this little tiny tripod? [01:11:07] Kevin Dole: There are occasions that come up where a regular tripod is just too big or too small to properly get the Matterport camera where you need it. Couple of odd situations. I've used these often. I do a lot of very high-end homes. Sometimes these master bathroom suites can be 800-1,000 square feet. I'm not talking about the master suite, I'm talking about the master bathroom suite, just the bathroom part, they're gigantic. They have a Jacuzzi tub, whatever, and places for people to sit around the Jacuzzi tub and so forth. There are sometimes situations where the tripod is just too big and it's in the way and so you can take the Matterport Pro2 3D Camera, put it on here, it's got an ARCA clamp right on the top of it, you put the Matterport camera right on there. This is a way to get the Matterport camera into a position for data collecting purposes or just for an interesting viewpoint. There have been times, for example, when I've used this to get the view that you'd have if you were sitting in the Jacuzzi. [01:12:25] Dan Smigrod: Yes. I completely understand that because I've shot bathtubs. The Jacuzzi was positioned in front of the window, so it's a beautiful view of a vista of some sort. But I didn't use a tiny tripod, now I realize I should have because I would've done a better job collecting scanned data so I wouldn't end up having a bathtub that looks black because it lacks scan data. Is this tripod, is this sufficient for holding a Matterport Pro2 3D Camera so it's not going to take a spill? [01:13:00] Kevin Dole: It is. [01:13:01] Dan Smigrod: Eric is nodding yes. No problem. [01:13:05] Kevin Dole: I've not taken a spill with it. The legs, you can twist the end and extend them or not. It can go very small or large. If I have the Matterport Pro2 3D Camera, if I need it really down as low as possible like this, then there are clamps so that you can extend these out and spread them further, so that you can get the legs wider. If I'm needing to work really low, then I always spread those legs out closer. [01:13:32] Dan Smigrod: This looks great. It's $60. It's a no-brainer, lets you get an amazing shot, the view from the bathtub. Have there been other times other than shooting in the bathtub? [01:13:44] Kevin Dole: Yes. I'll tell you, I had to do one car dealership at night. Nobody's there. I was given a key that let me into all these different buildings and so forth master keys. In one service building, there was a parts department connected to the service building, but they had not given me a key to the parts department. I could get into the service building where all the bays were but I couldn't get into the parts department. They wanted the whole thing scanned, and I got nobody I can call and it's 1 am. But I found that there was an open window through which parts could be passed from the parts department into the service. There was no walk-through door, but there was a window. That window itself was about four or five feet deep. There was a big counter space so they could throw a muffler up there and slide it out to the service side. I scanned right up to that counter window, then I put the Matterport camera on this little baby and did a couple of scans across the counter. Then I pushed it out of the way and slid my body through that part of the building, grabbed the tripod and continued from there, but it got me through this little window way. [01:15:10] Dan Smigrod: Glad it worked. We're going to call that the tripod to use for bathtubs, because there's not too many times I think the rest of us are going to face that other problem. [01:15:19] Kevin Dole: Probably not. [01:15:21] Dan Smigrod: Next item, doorstop, a six pack: www.WGAN.INFO/12 www.WGAN.INFO/12 $13. What are you showing? Why do you need doorstops? [01:15:37] Kevin Dole: Well, anybody who does Matterport knows you need doorstops. These are the doorstops that we found. These are our favorites. They come in a six to a package like this. They've got these little white clips if somebody wanted to store it on a wall. [01:15:57] Dan Smigrod: I could imagine that since you've been scanning now for years, doing Matterport, that you've been through a number of doorstops. What problems does this particular doorstop solve that other doorstops didn't? [01:16:12] Kevin Dole: The simple wedge shape, it gets very thin down here, so if the door is tight to the floor, you can almost always get it under there to grab it. You can stack two or three of them if you have a door that's got a huge gap underneath it. They've just been really useful. They've done the best things we've found. [01:16:38] Dan Smigrod: Six packs. Indulge me here because I'm going to talk about the Wedge-It the ultimate doorstop, www.WGAN.INFO/17 $12 each. These saved me multiple times. I just love this one. It actually gets used in different ways. But just to give you an example, I was shooting an indoor pool that had an exterior door to a patio. There must have been a 30 mile an hour wind outside, it was really windy. I needed that door not only to stay open, but not have that wind close the door on me. This door stop, it gets used in different ways. Here's my hinge, maybe if I take my little book here, say this. There's the door jam. Can't do this, it's backwards. It goes right there in that door jam. It's not going underneath the door, it's going in the door jam itself. That door is not going anywhere. The second way is to slide under the door. You mentioned a gap, when I've had doors that had huge gaps, this sounds like that. I would just say that this is just an amazing industrial grade doorstop particularly when you're going out from indoors to outdoors or outdoors to indoors and you have these massive doors. That door it's not going anywhere at this doorstop. I love it. [01:18:32] Kevin Dole: Good product. I picked up one of those and I've only used it a couple of times, but it's great. [01:18:37] Dan Smigrod: They come in multiple packs. I think I probably have six of these or something. Awesome. Back to you, the Insta360 original extended selfie stick: www.WGAN.INFO/13 $70. I'm going to mention the other one too, you're holding up the Insta360 second-generation extended selfie stick: www.WGAN.INFO/14 That one is also $70. Forgive me, but I don't think I mentioned. Did I mention that this was www.WGAN.INFO/17 $12? I'm not sure I did. But anyway, back to you, the two different Insta360s selfie sticks. Again, you're using a Matterport Pro 2 3D Camera, you've told us why you're using a 360 camera earlier. Now why do you need one or the other of these Insta360 extended selfie sticks? [01:19:44] Kevin Dole: Also just to clarify the parts, when you buy the Insta cameras, this is the normal selfie stick that comes with it and it extends to about three feet and collapses down to about 11 inches or so. That's the normal selfie stick. This is the Insta360 extended selfie stick which collapsed is about 18 to 20 inches. It has, I think nine sections that come out and don't think I can fully extend it to show you, but you can see it almost. But it extends to about nine,10 feet, something like that. It's all carbon-fiber. The joints are just pressure fit, you just pull them out. [01:20:41] Kevin Dole: This is the second-generation, I'll talk about in a minute. The first-generation I still prefer for many situations because it's lighter. [01:20:50] Dan Smigrod: - This is where you're talking about doing a hybrid tour with 3DVista, you have a Matterport. Now, you have 360 photo spheres. Now you have an aerial 360 because of this. [01:21:01] Kevin Dole: Exactly, I can hold this over my head and I've got that camera at least 15 feet in the air. [01:21:06] Dan Smigrod: Okay, so what's different about the second-generation? [01:21:11] Kevin Dole: One thing to know about this one is, the joints come out to a certain point and they just pressure fit at that point and won't go any further. The locking is just pressure. For this stick to be stable, you almost have to extend it all the way. It's either two feet long or if it's 10 feet long. [01:21:34] Dan Smigrod: The second-generation? [01:21:35] Kevin Dole: The second-generation, you can extend it to any degree you want. It's much heavier grade carbon-fiber, it's more rigid. It doesn't bend as much, when you get the camera way out at the end. [01:21:50] Dan Smigrod: Does it lock at each joint? [01:21:55] Kevin Dole: Yes, it does. There is a twist. [01:21:58] Dan Smigrod: You twist it to lock it? [01:21:59] Kevin Dole: Correct. [01:22:01] Dan Smigrod: I am just afraid that you're going to kill Blinker or Stuffy by accident: Eric's two cats that are there someplace. [01:22:11] Kevin Dole: You can say, you can extend this any amount you want or don't want. [01:22:15] Dan Smigrod: Their prices are the same. Do you need both? Or you just say, no, I started with the first-generation. I'd recommend getting the second-generation. [01:22:22] Kevin Dole: We have both because when I'm simply taking handheld shots, if I'm going around and using this to get it up high in the air and take quick shots, this is just lighter. It's easier on my arm if I'm doing a whole bunch of those. This one, however, being more rigid and it also has a much broader base at the bottom you can see the size difference. Oftentimes, it's got a great rubber grip down here. I will take our regular tripod if I want to really get it up tall. One of the downsides to the new Ricoh Theta X, which has much higher resolution, so it takes great pictures. But in trade-off, it does not have something that the Ricoh Theta Z1 has called handheld HDR. With a Ricoh Theta X, if you want to take good HDR pictures, it has got to be on a tripod. It's got to be stable in one position. With this, I can take a regular tripod, Manfrotto with the riser and so forth. I can take this more rigid selfie stick, I can put the tripod up so that it's going six feet in the air, then I can extend this another 10 feet and I'm up, 15,16 feet and it's rock solid, at least for the camera as small as the Ricoh Theta X. [01:23:45] Dan Smigrod: Just for clarification, you're not in any way talking about putting a Matterport Pro2 3D Camera on top of this. This is solely for a 360 camera such as the Insta360. The insta360 ONE X2 www.WGAN/INFO/15 $470. Are you recommending getting both a Ricoh Theta X and an Insta360 ONE X2 for different purposes? [01:24:15] Kevin Dole: Well, we have them for different purposes. It depends upon what someone else does. What we have found, because we've just completed doing a project for an automotive test track in Bakersfield, California. The primary thing they wanted us to do was to create a 360 video of the processes they have at their test track. Through the use of the Ricoh Theta X as well as the Insta360 ONE X2, we found that the Insta360 ONE X2 was the best device currently in the budget range, we could work for shooting 360 video as the Ricoh Theta X was the best for stills. They both do stills. [01:25:01] Dan Smigrod: Totally got it. That's probably enough for today's show, which is Ricoh Theta X www.WGAN.INFO/10 $800 for HDR 360s, typically simulating an aerial shot, drone shot, and then an Insta 360 ONE X2 for 360 video. I'm going to move on. I have some additional things. You didn't mention a case. You've got a lot of gear. How do you carry all your stuff? [01:25:37] Kevin Dole: I think our favorite cases are the Nanuk cases. I really liked their latching system. They're not the cheapest, but they're really solid. I like them a little bit better than the Pelican cases. [01:25:54] Dan Smigrod: I am going to show you which case I have. [01:26:02] Dan Smigrod: Let's see, this would be a hard case for Matterport Pro2 3D Camera + iPad + accessories www.WGAN.INFO/16 $210 When you go to that website, just put in the search box, Matterport because this is one of a number of Matterport cases to carry a Matterport Pro2 3D Camera. I like it because of that handle piece that comes out. It's got the wheels so you can roll it. It fits in the luggage bin on an airplane. I worked with the manufacturer in terms of design. This has the cutouts for Matterport Pro2 3D Camera faced down. Most cases, I noticed that the Matterport Pro2 3D lenses were facing up. That made me nervous because it's too tempting to put gear inside and scratch your lenses. Then there's a compartment here to put stuff. There's a lot of little stuff that you were talking about. [01:27:08] Kevin Dole: Chargers. [01:27:10] Dan Smigrod: Chargers, battery banks, door stops, etc. It's a pretty big compartment. Then that slot happens to be for the iPad that I carry. But when you go to that website, you can actually change these hard pieces because it's actually cut specifically for you. If you have a different iPad, you can do that. Then there are other cases that are bigger for carrying more stuff. I actually have two other cases, but I like the smaller case. [01:27:49] Dan Smigrod: I realized I have a case for carrying my tripod, which actually carries about three tripods. I think you have at least three between your selfie sticks in the tripod and your extender. I want to say that's probably a Neewer case. I'm going to call that www.WGAN.INFO/28 $33. I call it my tripod case. I have it in the trunk. I always keep it with me. I always try to keep stuff that I didn't have to bring in the house, just in the car. You can carry a tripod separately, but it just looks way more professional when you show up with a nice case. You've got your roller board and you got your tripods. You're not carrying this, all these odd pieces of gear. It just fits into two things and you're done. That's what I had on the case. Did you have any other comments on cases that you wanted to talk about? [01:28:58] Eric Dole: Actually, just for other little stuff, I want to show this. This is from Harbor Freight. www.WGAN.INFO/29 The same case is also on Amazon under different manufacturers, different brand names. [01:29:15] Kevin Dole: It's the same case. But these –they are pretty inexpensive. This one is about $45. [01:29:24] Dan Smigrod: Is it? Harbor? [01:29:26] Kevin Dole: Yes, Harbor Freight Tools. [01:29:28] Kelvin Dole: Harbor Freight is a big nationwide chain. Ace Hardware. [01:29:33] Dan Smigrod: We'll call that www.WGAN.INFO/29 and I'll get the link for that. then I imagine on Amazon it's got a whole range of stuff. You didn't mention this. I'm going to mention this. These are blue shoe disposable booties and www.WGAN.INFO/18 A hundred of them are $24. I swear by these. Do you use this when you shoot? [01:29:59] Kelvin Dole: Actually, my wife just bought us a package of booties that are very sturdy and they are washable. [01:30:16] Kelvin Dole: I've got those in my car and I haven't used them yet. [01:30:18] Dan Smigrod: I'm going to call those www.WGAN.INFO/30 Kevin's booties. Not Kevin's booty; but Kevin's booties. ;-) [$27 set of 10] Either way, whether you get some that are disposable or not disposable, I'll tell you if you show up, there's two reasons to have these things. First, is not to mess up somebody's house. Second, just impress your clients to no end that you actually care enough to put the shoe covers on. The third benefit is when you buy a box of 100 and you have vendors that come to service your house. You can put them near the front door because they should be bringing them when they come into the house, but they're not coming in with booties. I use them even for people that visit our home to service the house. [01:31:17] Dan Smigrod: Anyway, I shot a historic site wearing these, and just that fact alone that I had respect for the Historic Site meant that the gatekeeper of that particular site gave me additional access to places that nobody goes to. That was only because I was wearing these booties. I highly recommend it. Let's see, this is probably silly. A large binder box of 24 www.WGAN.INFO/19 $7 Why? Pinning back curtains. You got the door open and the wind and the curtains are fluttering. Does that ever happen to you? [01:32:02] Kelvin Dole: Absolutely yeah. [01:32:06] Dan Smigrod: I think that the last item I had, it might be silly to mention this because we're talking about top 10 Gear and Accessories for Matterport Pros. Why would I bring up the Matterport Axis in this conversation? www.WGAN.INFO/21 $79 I just want to say if you're right at the beginning of your journey and you don't have a Matterport Pro2 3D Camera and you're looking for training wheels to get started, you might do one or two or five scans with this just to see if you like the process of scanning. I will tell you if you're going to make a living and you're running a business, this is not in my opinion, it's not the solution for that, but I think it's really good training wheels to get started with Matterport. That would be my two cents on it. We did an entire WGAN-TV Live at 5-show with two other Matterport Pros talking about the Matterport Axis rotator for your smartphone. Kevin, we started out saying we were going to do Top 10 Gear and Accessories for Matterport Pros. We actually hit 30 that we've talked about today. Is there any other gear or accessory that we haven't talked about that you have that you use, that you really are excited about? We should just make sure we talk about it. [01:33:29] Kelvin Dole: Another handy thing to throw in your car, put it into the cigarette lighter. You can recharge if you're someplace without power. That's unusual, but you could do a house where the power is off and you can recharge stuff with one of these. They're cheap. They're only about $30 [01:33:47] Dan Smigrod: $30 or less. I have one. I'll tell you why I love that item because we put that in, I don't know what you call this some box. It's the identical one. That's what we have. It sits between my wife and I in our car, plugged into the cigarette lighter that's in some compartment box. It's not only great in terms of if you need Matterport, but we've driven together where one or the other has had to be on a laptop. You can plug in the laptop and you can be charging two smartphones at the same time. Was there another connector that was on that? I don't remember. [01:34:37] Kelvin Dole: This one has two Edison plugs and two USB's. [01:34:43] Dan Smigrod: Yeah. This is an awesome box. We're calling that: www.WGAN.INFO/31 It's probably about $30. It'll save your life at some point when you forgot to charge your Matterport Pro2 3D Camera and you're driving too or it's lunchtime and there's no other power. I shouldn't say that because the Matterport Pro2 3D Camera you pointed out, it lasts well beyond 10-12 hours. It's a workhorse. But you likely have an iPad and a couple of smartphones. It's a great thing for charging. Anything else? [01:35:25] Kelvin Dole: We will also use that because we do drone work where Eric and I are both FAA-certified drone pilots. Between us we have five drones now. An average drone will probably have three or four batteries. But those each will take flight for anything between 15-20 minutes or something like that. You might have a long drone use, then you want to recharge those drone batteries. That charge is what we got for that's what we can do from the car even out on location someplace. [01:35:58] Dan Smigrod: Yeah, that's awesome. I think. We will wind it up there. Kevin, Eric, thank you so much for being on the show today. [01:36:06] Kelvin Dole: You are welcome. [01:36:06] Kevin Dole: Thank you for having us. [01:36:08] Dan Smigrod: Yeah. We've been visiting with Kevin Dole, Founder and Owner, Content Creator, Virtual Services Consult for: Home3D.us. We've also been visiting with Eric Dole, Photographer at: Home3D.us Kevin and Eric and their colleague Gray are located in the greater Los Angeles area. Tremendous resource on WGAN-TV Live at 5 and in We Get Around Network Forum: www.WGANForum.com Again, Eric, Kevin, thanks so much. I'm Dan Smigrod, Founder of the We Get Around Network Forum. You've been watching WGAN-TV Live at 5. |
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