When asked what products could benefit from 360° or 3D spin photography, I usually answer, “Pretty much everything.” Any three dimensional item, or product, will show better if a person could see it from all sides. Add the interactive “fun factor” and zoom, and you’re getting a few steps closer to seeing the real thing. The ability to move to and zoom in on a specific point of interest will give a potential customer the feeling of interacting with product without ever having to physically touch it.
The main thing holding many online retailers back from implementing 360° or 3D spin photography on their site is “photography” part. Spin viewers have been around for years, but they couldn’t find anyone to shoot all those different angles over thousands of products for a reasonable cost? As always, it comes down to time and cost. The use of automated systems is the next logical step to simplifying the photographic process of spin. A robotic system can quickly and accurately photograph a spinset (group of 360° or 3D spin images). With preset sequences and never-flinching accuracy, the machines can shorten the time needed to photograph a product thus bringing the cost down to where it now makes sense for online retailers. The FotoRobot system we use at Snap36 gives us the ability to photograph almost any size or shape product in a multitude of different 360° or 3D spinset variations. What used to take up to four hours to photograph can now be done in 3 minutes. Hires images at different angles can be taken every three seconds when the system is running at full speed. By having a central control for the digital camera, robot control and image importing, the photographer can concentrate on lighting and product styling. They won’t get mired down in multiple angles and image counts. With the right production workflow, a team can shoot as many spinsets in a day as they could normally do single images. This efficiency allows us to bring the price very close to the price of traditional static photography. Lower prices and quick time-to-web now makes a 360° and 3D spin photography a viable option for both large and small online retailers.

With more than 75% of internet users shopping online, internet retail is forecasted to grow in the coming years. One overlooked point is that the number of physical in-store purchases influenced by online research is far greater than direct online sales.
Customers like the ability to research and price compare products online. But when it comes time to make the final decision, many need to see the product in person. 360° and 3D spin photography can bring the customer closer to that in-store shopping experience online. By our nature, we want to pick up a product and look at it from all sides; walk around it so that we can get a feel for how it fits into our life. We zero in on particular bits of interest. Spin photography allows that potential customer who might want the in-store experience to feel as though they have seen everything they need to. And, with the correct rich media viewer and the ability to zoom in at any point, they have more than enough visual information to finalize their opinion. Also, the fact that they can control the rotation and zoom gives the customer a sense a of interaction with product they are viewing. Spinning can help to increase online purchases, lessen returns, increase repeat visits and increase overall time on an e-commerce site.
Spin photography is a great addition to the online shopping tools that internet retailers are already using to help their customers buy exactly what they need . . . or want.