Since we sell Nikon Keymission 360 in the shop, I thought it a good idea to lay down the D810 and make some pics with a completely different view on our upcoming trip to Aitutaki.

I gotta admit, shooting in jpg, with two tiny lenses ain't my thing. But here we go. Not only did I take pics but so too my beautiful partner which seemed to get more shots with a flat horizon than I did.

Yep, we took the 360 out without a tripod. We have an excuse though. We just got it the week we left for Aitutaki and obtaining accessories on a remote Island (Rarotonga is where we live) is impossible.

The other challenge we had was with so much water and humidity around, especially when kayaking, keeping the lens or lens covers clean was a mission. Dirt or drops show up really easy. Oh, and we scratched the one lens cover within the first hour. Not funny!

But our top challenge was to get the remote 360 wireless connection to our iPhones to work. Without it, one can not changes settings or shoot from a distance. Very frustrating.

We shot a mixture of photos and video and lucky for me I have access to the full suite of Adobe CC software otherwise I would have some major post processing challenges. Having said that, shooting in jpg and relatively small image sizes remains a challenges in post. It is just not the same as shooting with pro DSLRs.

We certainly admit, that when it comes to 360 with "little" camera, we to still have much to get right.

Then comes display and spring. many platforms can not yet accomodate 360, including my own portfolio here on Zenfolio. So an alternative is veer.tv

Click here to check out some of our first 360 images. 

Some initial learnings, perhaps tips, with 360 photography:

1. Use a tripod ... the monopod type with little pull out legs at the bottom.
2. Use a spirit level.
3. Ensure the lenses or lens covers are clean.
4. Take care when the contrast between the to lenses are different e.g. shadow on one side and light on the other.
5. The focus of your image should not be positioned between the two lenses but in form of one of the lenses.
6. Midday is not the best time for 360.

PS ... I could not really leave the D800 and D810 at home, they came with. Together with some HD filters. Soon you'll see those pics :-)