Apple iPhone has an amazing camera: 8 MP with a lot of cool features. There have been even speculations of iPhone camera being comparable to a low-end DSLR camera. Redmond Pie has a comparison of iSight camera and Canon 5D Mark III here.
And FStoppers have this extremely hilarious video comparing iPhone 5 camera with two DSLR cams, Nikon D3S and Hasselblad H4D:
Gizmodo has also given a nice comparison of iPhone 5 camera with the other smartphone cameras in the market today.
Apple iPhone 5 already has a panoramic shooting option that gives 240 degree images of high quality. The electromechanical gyroscope made in micro proportions within the iPhone 5 works perfectly with the camera to shoot these images. [Gyroscope is the stability device of a smartphone that helps in display orientation and smartphone gaming.] The iPhone 5 panorama option is good, but it has its glitches too. For instance, if you shoot a moving object, there is a chance that you will capture the object twice in the image.
In order to shoot a 360 degree panoramic image on your iPhone, you have to look for external apps. There are quite a few on the iPhone marketplace, both free and paid apps. Let’s look at some of the most popular ones.
1. 360 Panorama by Occipital
This is a simple and effective app to shoot 360 degree photos. You simply tap the camera button at the bottom of the screen and turn the iPhone a full circle to shoot the image. You don’t have to do any further work as the app automatically builds the panorama based on the image shot.
It takes advantage of the gyroscope as well to shoot more stable images. In low light conditions, the app may not work properly, and hence you may not be able to do a smooth motion; in such cases, you need to pause after each move to get a proper build.
From within the app, you can also share the panoramas through social media or email.
Check it out: https://itunes.apple.com/en/app/360-panorama/id377342622?mt=8
2. Panoramatic 360
With this app, you can either stitch together already existing photos into a panorama or you can shoot a panorama in landscape or portrait mode. It has an intuitive interface and features, although familiarizing with its interface may be the only issue with Panoramatic 360.
Check it out: https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/panoramatic-360/id329855051?mt=8
3. Panorama 360° Camera
This simple 2 dollar app can create regular rectangular panoramas as well as circular and semicircular panoramas. The stitching together of the photos takes around 10 seconds on this app.
Check it out: https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/panorama-360-camera/id399394507?mt=8
4. 360 Video Panorama
This one is a video shooting app in 360 degrees. Also, it can shoot vertical panoramic images. At 2 dollars for download, the app is worth the money.
Check it out: https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/360-video-panorama/id463253019?mt=8
Gadgets
BBC’s tech video service, Click has featured a few appendages for your iPhone that can shoot 360 degree photos and videos. One of the most popular attachments for iPhone that can shoot in panorama is Kogeto Dot.
Kogeto Dot
This tiny 49-dollar appendage has a lens that sits on top of your iPhone lens and shoots 360 degree photos and videos. You need to download an app known as ‘Looker’ from Apple App store to work with Dot. The app helps you calibrate the attachment to shoot videos properly. Kogeto also provides stability equipment for iPhone, tripods and monopods.
Link: Kogeto Dot
And the Best Of ‘Em All
A few days ago, Steve ‘the Woz’ Wozniak, the visionary co-founder of Apple was quite enthusiastic about an app that takes panoramic images without any interference from your part. ‘ The app‘ created by Cycloramic uses iPhone’s vibration feature to rotate an iPhone placed vertically on a level surface while shooting an image. The rotation function in the app is optimized for iPhone 5, although the previous versions work with the app, albeit on a perfectly level smooth surface.
Just watch the video, worth a thousand ‘sentences’:
Conclusion
So, those were the apps and gadgets that you can use to get 360° panoramic pictures taken on your iPhone.