On this page · 8 sections
◆ Key takeaways
- Knowing how to make a virtual tour starts with one 360 photo per capture point, at chest height, with a sightline to the next point.
- Window-lit rooms need exposure brackets. Insta360's X6 manual lists 3- or 5-shot AEB at 120MP.
- A thin monopod hides in the stitch line, while tripod legs stay in the sphere.
- Zillow 3D Home publishes tours free, but its interactive floor plan needs a compatible 360 camera.
What a Real Estate Virtual Tour Actually Is
A 360 photo tour is the simplest version. Each scene is a single 360 photo, made by a camera that stitches two ultra-wide lenses into one sphere and saves it as a flat 2:1 equirectangular image. The tour host wraps that image back into a sphere and adds hotspots.
Click a doorway and you land in the next room, in a browser, on a phone or inside a VR headset.
Agents use "virtual tour" for three different products, and each one needs different gear:
| Tour type | What you need | What the buyer gets |
|---|---|---|
| 360 photo tour | A 360 camera, a stand and a tour host | Click-to-move between rooms |
| 3D dollhouse or mesh tour | Matterport Capture with a compatible camera, or another LiDAR or 3D system | A dollhouse view of the whole home and a 3D model to orbit |
| Video walkthrough | Any camera that records video | A linear video that plays start to finish |
A single 360 camera can make the first type on its own, and the steps below build one. A dollhouse needs a platform that reconstructs depth, which changes the camera list too.
Choosing a 360 Virtual Tour Camera
A 360 virtual tour camera needs two photo specs before any video spec. Resolution matters because buyers zoom into kitchens and bathrooms. Bracketing matters because a sunlit window is far brighter than the room around it.
The Insta360 X6 shoots 120MP 360 stills, the highest resolution in the table below. The GoPro MAX2 tops out at 29MP, and GoPro's manual lists HDR and RAW output for Single Lens photos only.
| Camera | 360 photo resolution | HDR and AEB in 360 photo mode | Photo formats | On Matterport's June 9, 2026 list |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Insta360 X6 | 120MP (15520x7760), or 30MP | HDR and AEB; 3 or 5 shots at 120MP, 7 at 30MP | INSP, DNG, JPG | Not listed |
| Insta360 X5 | About 72MP (11904x5952), or about 18MP | Optional HDR; AEB supported, bracket count not published | INSP, DNG | Listed |
| Insta360 X4 Air | About 29MP (7680x3840) | HDR Photo mode; AEB supported, bracket count not published | INSP, DNG | Not listed |
| GoPro MAX2 | 29MP | Not published for 360 mode | Not published | Not listed |
Swipe for 2 more columns →
Sources: Insta360 product pages and X6 online manual, GoPro MAX2 product page and user manual, Matterport blog dated June 9, 2026 (checked Sep 30, 2026).
Ricoh's Theta X and Theta Z1 also appear on Matterport's list. ACA hasn't reviewed either, so this page gives no specs for them.
A phone can stand in for the camera, with one catch. Zillow 3D Home captures panoramas on a supported iPhone or Android phone, but Zillow requires a compatible 360 camera for its interactive floor plan.
How to Make a Virtual Tour in Five Capture Steps
Learning how to create a virtual tour for real estate starts on site, and these five jobs happen in this order before any software opens.
Prep the Property
Turn on every light, including lamps and the range hood, and set every blind to the same height. Put toilet seats down. Move family photos, mail, keys and cars out of sight, because a 360 camera sees every direction at once.
Check mirrors, glass shower doors and dark TV screens last. They'll reflect the camera, the stand and you.
Plan Your Capture Points
Sketch the floor plan and mark each capture point before you shoot. A small bedroom or bathroom usually takes one point in the middle of the room, away from the walls. Open-plan spaces take more, and each doorway transition gets its own point.
Sightlines decide where the points go. From each point you should see the next one, since that's where the hotspot sits. A hotspot that jumps through a wall feels like teleporting.
Set the Height and Hide the Stand
Set the lens at roughly chest height, above countertop level, and keep it the same at every point. A steady height stops the tour from bobbing as the viewer moves between rooms.
The stand is the harder problem. A 360 camera sees straight down, so the bottom of the sphere (the nadir) shows whatever holds the camera up. Tripod legs splay out past the stitch line and stay in shot. A thin monopod sits inside the stitch line between the two lenses and largely disappears.
Many tour hosts let you cover what's left with a nadir patch, usually a logo or a plain disc.
Shoot Bracketed HDR Photos
A room with a sunny window holds more contrast than one exposure can record, so either the window blows out or the room goes muddy. Auto exposure bracketing (AEB) handles that. Insta360's manual describes it as capturing "multiple images at different exposure values in succession" and combining them into one HDR photo.
Insta360's X6 manual says 360 Photo mode supports AEB with 3 or 5 shots at 120MP. For 7 shots, you drop to the 30MP setting. The same manual page lists AEB for the X5 and X4 Air, but Insta360 does not publish their bracket counts on the pages we checked. The Insta360 X4 Air also lists a dedicated HDR Photo mode, though its stills top out at about 29MP.
Fire the shutter from the phone app, then leave the room or step behind a wall. Keep the stand still until the last frame fires, or the merged photo shows ghosted edges.
Export and Check Each Photo
Insta360 saves 360 photos as INSP files, which export through the Insta360 App or Insta360 Studio. The X6, X5 and X4 Air also list DNG, which is the file to keep if you fix exposure in Lightroom or a similar editor. The Library of Congress describes Adobe's Digital Negative (DNG) format as a "file format for storing and interchanging camera raw images," built as an extension of TIFF 6.0.
Then check every photo before upload. Look along the stitch line for doorframes and countertop edges that break or bend. Level the horizon, and blur family photos or house numbers if the seller asks.
How to Create a Virtual Tour From Your 360 Photos
Pick a Hosting Platform
Matterport works differently from the other hosts. It runs its own Matterport Capture app and builds a 3D model with a dollhouse view.
Matterport's blog of June 9, 2026 lists the Insta360 X3 and Insta360 X5, the Ricoh Theta X, Z1 and A1 (which Matterport says is not yet officially sold in the US), Matterport's own Pro3 and the Leica BLK360 as compatible. The X6, X4 Air and MAX2 are not on it.
An older Matterport landing page for 360 cameras still names the Insta360 ONE X and Ricoh Theta V, so the two sources disagree. We use the dated blog as the more recent one. For a brokerage that runs on Matterport, the X6's 120MP doesn't help while the camera is missing from Matterport's list.
Zillow 3D Home is the free option. Zillow says uploading tours to as many listings as you want "costs nothing." Tours publish to your Zillow listing and share to social media, the MLS and your own website, and Zillow says MLS tours syndicate to most major real estate sites.
Panorama tour builders cover everything else. Kuula, CloudPano, 3DVista, Panoraven, ThingLink and RICOH360 Tours take standard 2:1 360 photos, and you link the scenes yourself.
Link Scenes, Set the Start View and Add a Floor Plan
Name each scene by room ("Kitchen," "Primary Bedroom") so the menu reads like the house. Set each default view to face the room's best feature, since that's the first frame a buyer sees. Put navigation hotspots in doorways. Add info points for things a photo can't show, like the age of the roof or a new water heater.
Add a floor plan if your host supports one. NAR's virtual tour playbook of May 6, 2025 cites its 2024 Profile of Home Buyers and Sellers, which ranks floor plans as the most requested visual asset after listing photos.
Publish to the Listing, the MLS and Your Site
Most hosts give you an embed code for your website and a direct link for email, texts and social posts. A Zillow 3D Home tour attaches to the Zillow listing itself.
Before you paste a link into the MLS, check its rules on branded and unbranded tour links, because they vary from one MLS to the next. Hosts with a VR mode also open the same link in a headset browser.
Adding Exterior and Drone Shots
A 360 camera on a tall pole covers the front yard and backyard from above head height, which shows the lot's layout better than a chest-height shot. The roof and the lot in context with the street need a drone.
Under the FAA's Part 107 rules for commercial drone pilots, a drone under 55 pounds can fly "for work or business." You need to pass the knowledge test for a Remote Pilot Certificate and register the drone. Registration costs $5 and lasts three years (FAA page updated March 25, 2025; checked Sep 30, 2026).
A paid listing shoot is business use. Confirm the rules for your airspace with the FAA and locally before you fly.
What Manufacturers Don't Publish
Four gaps matter for tour work. Insta360 does not publish bracket counts for the X5 or X4 Air, and GoPro does not list HDR for MAX2 360 photos. Matterport's June 9, 2026 list leaves out the X6, X4 Air and MAX2. Treat it as current only as of that date, and check again before you buy for a Matterport workflow.
No manufacturer here publishes a minimum stitching distance, the point where an object too close to the lens starts to break at the seam. Keep furniture and door edges a step back from the camera.
Frequently asked questions
Which 360 Camera Is Best for Virtual Tours?
ACA ranks the Insta360 X6 as the best 360 camera for virtual tours, and its 120MP 360 stills are the highest resolution in this guide. The X6 also sits first in the best 360 camera ranking. For a Matterport workflow, choose the Insta360 X5, which Matterport lists as compatible as of June 9, 2026. The X6 is not.
How Much Does a Virtual Tour for Real Estate Typically Cost?
A professionally shot real estate virtual tour typically costs about $200–$500, according to the National Association of Realtors' virtual tour playbook of May 6, 2025. Doing it yourself costs a 360 camera plus any subscription your tour host charges. Zillow 3D Home is the free route, since Zillow charges nothing to upload tours to its listings.
How Can I Create a Virtual Tour for Free?
You can create a virtual tour for free with Zillow 3D Home, which Zillow says "costs nothing" for as many listings as you want. It works with a supported iPhone, Android phone or 360 camera. Tours publish to Zillow listings and share to the MLS, social media and your website. Many panorama tour builders also offer a limited free tier.
How Do You Make a Virtual Tour With Your Phone?
To make a virtual tour with your phone, install Zillow 3D Home on a supported iPhone or Android phone. Stand in the middle of each room and capture a panorama at a steady height. Zillow's interactive floor plan still needs a compatible 360 camera. A phone builds each panorama from several shots, so movement mid-capture can break the stitch.
How Do You Create a Virtual Reality Tour?
To create a virtual reality tour, shoot the same 360 photos as any virtual tour and publish them on a host that offers a VR or headset viewing mode. Open the tour link in the headset's browser, on a Meta Quest for example, and the viewer looks around each room by turning their head. No special capture gear is needed.
Judge the Tour by Its Windows
Open the finished tour and go straight to the brightest room. The window should show the yard, the counters should hold detail and no tripod foot should poke into the floor. Pass all three and you've learned how to make a virtual tour that looks like the house. A fail usually means reshooting that one capture point, which costs nothing but time.
A window that still blows out after the full bracket points back at the camera. The best 360 camera for real estate picks put the Insta360 X6 first, and its 120MP stills carry about four times the pixels of the 29MP MAX2 and X4 Air.