How to film an apartment for a 3D tour, room by room

The recording guide explains the two-loop technique. Here we apply it to each room of a typical apartment, with what changes in each one and what to prepare before you go.

4 min read

In this article
  1. Before you go
  2. The basic rule
  3. Living and dining room
  4. Kitchen
  5. Bathroom
  6. Bedrooms
  7. Balcony and terrace
  8. Hallways and stairs
  9. After filming

Before you go

A good recording is decided before you arrive. Check these:

  • Battery and storage. 4K video takes up a lot of space: make sure your phone has room for every room.
  • A clean lens. A fingerprint on the lens shows up across the whole tour.
  • Nobody moving around. Let the owner or tenant know you'll be filming and ask that no one walks through the rooms.
  • Tidy up. Put away personal items, paperwork and anything you'd rather not show. Whatever you film ends up in 3D, visible from every angle.
  • The order of the rooms. Plan the route in advance so you don't skip a room or film one twice.

The basic rule

The same applies to every room: lights on, curtains open without direct sun, phone in landscape on the ultra-wide lens, exposure locked and two slow loops, one near the walls facing the center and one through the middle facing the walls. One video per room. It is all explained with a diagram in the recording guide.

What follows is what changes from room to room.

Living and dining room

This is where tours come out best, and the room clients look at most. There is usually space for both full loops.

  • Walk around the furniture. If there is a table in the middle, take the second loop around it so it gets rebuilt from several sides.
  • Windows and balcony doors. If direct sun is coming in, wait or come back later: blown-out areas turn white and lose detail.
  • TVs and mirrors. Screens that are off and mirrors both reflect. Film them at an angle, never straight on.
  • The ceiling. During one of the loops, tilt the phone up. Otherwise looking up in the tour shows holes.

Kitchen

Kitchens tend to be narrow and full of shiny surfaces.

  • If there isn't room for a loop, as in a galley kitchen, walk slowly along it facing one counter and then the other, and come back the same way.
  • The details. Move in slowly on what's worth showing, like a stone countertop, without stopping the video and without getting too close: about two feet is enough.
  • Steel and glass. The fridge, the oven and the range hood reflect like mirrors. Film them at an angle.
  • Clear counters. Whatever is left out, like a dish rack or jars, will show.

Bathroom

The hardest room: small, with mirrors and little distance for the phone to focus.

  • Film from the doorway and from inside, slowly, covering every wall. Tilt the phone so the floor and ceiling make it in.
  • The mirror at an angle. Never straight on, because it also shows you filming.
  • Keep expectations realistic. In a very small bathroom the tour usually comes out weaker than in a living room. If it doesn't work, a few good photos may show it better.

Bedrooms

Film them like the living room, on a smaller scale.

  • Closets. Decide beforehand whether they're open or closed, and don't touch them while filming.
  • The bed made and clear. It is the first thing people see.
  • If the bed is against a wall, the loop along the walls gets cut short: go around what you can and take more care with the second loop through the middle.

Balcony and terrace

Outdoors the light changes more, and distant things are harder to rebuild.

  • Pick your time. No sun straight ahead: an overcast day or afternoon shade works better than midday.
  • The view. Things far away, like the sky or the buildings across the street, usually come out less defined than what's close. The tour shows the balcony well; the view is better in a photo.
  • Wind. Plants and awnings that move come out blurry.

Hallways and stairs

You don't always need to film them. If you want to show how the rooms connect, walk slowly forward and back, looking to each side. A narrow hallway leaves little room for error, so the result depends a lot on going slowly.

After filming

  • Check each video on the spot. If a stretch came out shaky or someone walked through, film it again: going back to the property costs more.
  • Name each file, like "living room" or "kitchen", so you know which is which when you upload them.
  • Transfer the originals with a cable or Google Drive, not as a video through a messaging app.

The most common problems, with what you see in the tour and how to avoid them, are in the table at the end of the recording guide. And once the tour is ready, how to share a virtual tour explains how to send it so your client actually walks through it.

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