Capture Every Surface of a Room with One Tap!
360 cameras are easy to use and share among multiple zInspector users. Once set up, you will simply stand the camera in a middle of a room on a tripod, leave the room to be out of line of sight, and make a single tap on the zInspector 3 app. And that’s it: every surface of the room is captured instantly.
Sample 360 Property Inspection Reports
- SC Example (older camera, not recommended)
- V Example (comparable camera to SC2)
- Z1 Example
Take your 360 images to speed up your inspections—then reuse them to create Virtual Tours!
Group (and above) plan members can take 360 photos with zInspector.
Business (and above) plan members can create virtual tours with zInspector.
Purchase a Camera
Recommended Cameras:
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Ricoh Theta X 360 Degree Camera, High Resolution Image of approximate 60M, 5.7K 360, Touch Screen |
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Note: to use the camera with zInspector, you must upgrade to the latest version of the camera firmware. You must have the Insta 360 software installed, use that, and and proceed to update the camera firmware to v1.0.35 or higher. Here is the direct link with information: Firmware Upgrade for X3 |
Disclaimer: Pricing, availability, and compatibility subject to change.
Older Cameras (Supported but not Recommended)*
- Ricoh Theta V–Great: improved for low-light environments. Theta V <$400
- S–Mid-range / older version: NOT RECOMMENDED. No longer receiving firmware updates; not supported in iOS 14, released October 2020. Theta S <$275. Recommended alternative: SC2.
- SC–Lower-cost: NOT RECOMMENDED. Firmware updating is critical. Poor reliability; not supported in iOS 14, released October 2020. Theta SC <$180. Recommended alternative: SC2.
- Other models–no compatibility. The Ricoh M15 series and other older camera models do not have current API support that allows for integration with the zInspector 3 app.
*These cameras are no longer updated, supported, and/or recommended on up-to-date mobile operating systems. Some may work unreliably–others not at all.
Tripod Recommendation
- Collapsing 3′ Tripod. Great for phone-video recordings too. Tripod.
- Note: some users prefer taller tripods which enable single shots over counter height and are less likely to tip over. The 3′ tripod is fairly stable, collapses to ~1′ and can be placed on top of counters, and it is easy to reach up over the roof line and in crawl spaces.
Getting Started – 360 Camera Setup and Usage
- Watch the setup video here (or above).
- Update camera firmware (if needed).
- You should be able to use your 360 camera right out of the box. However, the Ricoh cameras often ship with original factory firmware, so updating the firmware is encouraged but not required (though it may resolve camera-to-app connection issues for certain users). To update the firmware, you will need to download a tool onto a PC or Mac: here’s the link.
- Ready the zInspector 3 app to work with the camera.
- Begin your inspection in zInspector.
- Switch to your mobile device settings and turn on WiFi.
- Pick the Theta camera as the WiFi router and enter the numeric portion of the name for the access code.
- Return to your inspection: it’s 360 time!
- Tap the 360 icon to take a photo for any Area; it looks like this:
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- IMPORTANT NOTE: iOS 14 brought a new app setting, Local Network, which needs to be enabled before you can take a 360 photo. The first time iOS 14 users tap to take a 360 photo, an alert will appear (“zInspector 3” would like to find and connect to devices on your network). Be sure to tap OK. If you click Don’t Allow or do not receive this prompt and are having trouble taking a 360 capture, you can go to your iOS Settings > zInspector 3 and enable the Local Network toggle then try again.
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- An image takes approximately ~3 seconds to transfer to the device dependent on camera model; in the meantime, feel free to walk the camera / tripod toward your next setup.
- Use the Gallery button to look at your recently taken 360 images. Just move your phone around—it displays like virtual reality!
- In normal operation, since your device is not connected to a property’s WiFi, your device will connect to the camera automatically when it is powered on.
Troubleshooting Tips
- Be sure the camera is fully charged.
- A single full battery charge should last for numerous inspections.
- The app alerts you if the 360 camera battery drops below 30% during an inspection.
- Camera charging is not compatible with most USB hubs (devices with multiple USB ports).
- Be sure the light on the camera indicates a solid WiFi signal. If the signal is flashing, the camera is not connected to any mobile device.
- Be sure the camera is set to camera mode and not video mode as indicated by the lowest icon on the camera.
- WiFi Smart Switching / WiFi Assist / Auto Switch Between WiFi & Mobile – Since your mobile device will not actually be connected to the internet by WiFi, it may be trying to switch to mobile data in the background even though this is not displayed as the connection type on the device. You can disable mobile data usage for a given app on most mobile devices. Some mobile devices may attempt to switch to mobile data even if mobile data has been disabled.
- iOS 9 and later devices may need WiFi Assist disabled: see this article for details.
- Samsung devices may need Auto Switch disabled: see this page for more info.
- WiFi will not connect – To reset the WiFi password on the camera, press down on the WiFi button (middle button on the side) for about 10 seconds. Then turn the unit back on. Use the default password as shown in the setup video.
- Multiple Connected Devices – If the camera icon light is solid but you cannot take a picture, be sure you do not have another mobile device that is already connected to the camera via WiFi. Only one mobile device should be connected to a camera at a time.
- Red Dot/Light – You may notice a red dot/light artifact in the image: under certain light conditions, the camera can experience this bug, as reported by multiple users.
- Local Network setting – (iOS 14 and above) The first time iOS 14 users tap to take a 360 photo, an alert will appear (“zInspector 3” would like to find and connect to devices on your network). Be sure to click OK. If you click Don’t Allow or do not receive this prompt and are having trouble taking a 360 capture, you can go to your iOS Settings > zInspector 3 and enable the Local Network toggle (see screen captures in Getting Started section above).
- Still having issues? Try updating the camera firmware here.
IMPORTANT: Do not install the Ricoh software / app. The zInspector 3 app handles memory, photo management, and report embedding automatically.
360 Images In Inspection Reports
- 360 panoramic photos work just like standard photos or videos. An image thumbnail (necessarily distorted) is embedded into the PDF inspection report as shown in the above report. From this report, you can view the full 360 tour by clicking on the ‘360 Viewer’ option.
- You can email tenants or owners either a PDF or HTML link property inspection report. Get more information than ever in a fraction of the time for your move-in and move-out inspections.
Using the 360 Viewer
- The 360 Viewer allows the user to click and drag on different areas of a photo to see different views of a room or area. This feature enables users to have full documentation of a property and also view different angles from their own computer!
- 360 images can be viewed in high resolution on any mobile device using zInspector. On the website, 360 images, inspection reports, and virtual tours are presented in high-resolution as well.
- It may take a few minutes for images to load in high resolution after they upload to zInspector.
Related Resources
- Important hardware setup video
- View this classic/slideshow virtual tour (captured with older SC).
- View this walkable virtual tour (captured with Theta V) – NEW!
Service Alert May 05, 2021
Users of the SC2 camera who have updated their iOS device to iOS14.5 need to do a firmware update. You will download a piece of software from Ricoh onto your computer. Follow the instructions and update the firmware. Once completely finished, be sure to turn off the power on the camera and turn it back on. You may also need to press the WiFi button on the camera so that your device can find the camera again the first time you reconnect after the update. https://support.theta360.com/en/download/firmware/sc2/