Here is my report and review of the new Matterport Axis kit that was released on Monday, April 4, 2022
I have two sets of questions from my two “avatars”. As a real estate photographer,
1. For which applications could this product fit in my tool kit?
2. Does it deliver better quality photos that my Ricoh SC2 360 camera?
3. How much more time is required to use it with my Samsung S20 FE android phone (phone was released in October 2020)?
4. Does it appear to have a build-quality that will last regular use?
My other “avatar” is as a real estate agent (Coldwell Banker in Northern California).
1. Is this a tool I could recommend to my associates?
2. Is the Startup Guide and other support materials adequate for the average real estate agent (that is a big focus of this section of my review)
3. How technically challenging is it to set up and operate?
4. How much of the “regular” Matterport operations are required and what level of technical skill would be required to be able to recommend the kit?
5. What are the trade-offs between shooting a listing with the Axis or hiring a Matterport (or other 360 photographer, as in Zillow 3D Home)?
6. Is it worth the money to at least try it?
7. Is the Starter Kit version that includes a one-year subscription to the 5-space plan worth the extra $60 (regularly $9.99/month, no annual plan at this level)
I pre-ordered the Axis complete kit on Amazon on April 2 at this link of the Amazon Matterport store.
The shipment (free) arrived on April 6 in the late afternoon. Here is a photo of the box:
I opened the box Friday early evening. Here is what the packaging looked like.
Tripod
I opened the box with the tripod:
There has already been a couple comments on the tripod so I will add my observations here. This design is not the same as the one that Amir showed in the first of the two new Axis videos on the Matterport YouTube channel (Playlist page). The one he was showcasing had very short legs (about 12 inches?) and really looked more like a monopod. I noticed in the video that the Axis/camera assembly was shaking slightly as the phone was turned each time. Matterport must have ditched the short-legged tripod in favor of a more stable design.
The tripod is made almost entirely of plastic. It’s 14.25 inches long collapsed. It weighs1 pound, 1 ounce. Fully extended with my Samsung S20 FE phone mount on the rotator, the camera lens is at 57”. This is a little less that the “five or five and a half feet” that Amir noted in his video.
The three legs are secured with the regular finger clamps; the extension pole at the top is secured with a thumb screw. There are medium-soft tips at the end of the legs. The screw at the top is a 3/8 inch screw, which I found rather odd. Without an adapter, this tripod won’t accept any of my other equipment! I think Matterport chose the larger screw in order to more securely attach the rotator mechanism, which I think was a good choice of options.
Bottom line on the tripod: It comes in the $89 kit, which is a $10 increase from the rotator-only option. For $10 it does it’s job and I think it’s a good value at that price. For users who don’t have a tripod for other photography work (like real estate agents), it meets the need here.
The Rotator Kit
The black rotator is 3 inches in diameter and 3.25 inches high (without the phone mounting bracket). There is an adapter in the base so it can fit on a 1/4 inch tripod. The tripod in the kit has a 3/8 inch screw, so the adapter in the Axis base must be removed (easy with finger or coin). The rotator is packet securely in the black zippered case, which is 9x7x3.25”, and filled with high-density foam with form-fitting cutouts. The case with everything in it weighs 1 pound 10 ounces.
In addition to the rotator, the kit includes the phone mounting bracket, the remote control trigger, Let’s Get Started Guide, and a cable with male USB-C at both ends. (I don’t know why the cable has two USB-C connectors. All my charging bugs use the rectangular, large connector.)
Let’s Get Started Guide
I already had a Matterport Starter account, so my experience may be different that someone getting set up fresh. Before the kit arrived from Amazon, I opened an online chat with Matterport to inquire how the one-year Starter subscription would be handled with my existing account. The customer service rep didn’t know and I have not yet heard back from him whether the subscription can be added to my existing monthly plan, or whether the Axis will be set up on a new plan. I’m waiting on the answer and will update this thread when I hear.
Here are the two pages of the Guide:
The first time I fired up the device it had three out of four green charging lights lit. I turned on the device at the step 1, Power up, and the rotator turned around. But the next step instructed me to “hold the base so the power knob and power button are both facing you”. But that’s not the way the rotator wanted to stay. I realized the second time I set it up that if the power is off, the base and mounting bracket rotate freely. Nowhere in the Guide does it tell you when to power on the rotator.
I didn’t remove my phone case as instructed. It’s a very thin TPU case. That is a step that will cause some folks (non-photographers) grief if they think they need to strip their phone down every time they use the Axis.
Connecting the Axis didn’t go smoothly the first time. The screen asked me for a password and suggest 0000 or 1234. I tried 0000 a couple times, then 1234 and it connected. The next time I connected to the rotator, it went smoothly without requesting a password. That hiccup was one of the small bumps in the road that I was keeping track of in my evaluation for ease-of-use for non-techies.
The next step was to align the phone in the base. Amir talked about this in his first video and at the end offered a way to figure it out by flipping the phone over, taking a photo that showed the gauge on the bracket, and then figuring out using Photoshop where the mid-point was. I found an easier way. Determine which lens on your phone is the wide angle lens, lay a straight edge (ruler, cardboard, paper) down the phone and adjust the bracket so the edge of the paper hits the white arrow on the bracket base. Tighten the thumb screw and remember the point on the bracket (3.25 inches for my phone). The photo here gives you an idea of how to align; you can see the white arrow better that in the photo to make the adjustment.
I turned on the rotator, opened Matterport Capture, opened a new space to scan, and found the Android Camera showing above the camera button. The instructions direct to tap that and select the “Connect Axis” option, which is at the bottom of the four options that were displayed. A graphic of the rotating Axis shows up with a “Connect” button. Next screen asks permission, Allow, Connecting, done. Now, “Android Camera + Axis” is displayed above the camera button.
The remote is connected easily: hold down the button for a few seconds while the blue light flashes.
When proceeding to take the first scan, a screen displays with instructions about how to position your phone in the holder at minus 15 degrees. I made a short video to show how the screen displays a white circle and white dot that must be aligned, then the bracket gets tightened. More on this step later.
At this point the rotator and phone are ready to trigger with the remote (or touch the button on the phone’s screen).
Side note: It was mentioned above in this thread to turn up the volume on the phone so the alert could be heard when the shots are done. My android did not make any noises. Not helpful…
There are two modes for the scans: the Simple mode directs to position the phone in the minus 15 degree position, then shoots 6 scans as it rotates. The Complete scan mode requires loosening the knob and adjusting the bracket to the +15 degree position and running another set of shots.
Timing on the captures: the rotation sequence to shoot the 6 shots takes about 35 seconds, then the processing step can take another 20-40 seconds. When shooting in Complete mode, the adjustment of the bracket for the second set of shots adds about 10 seconds. Then the 6-shot sequence and the processing time. I was seeing about 2 minutes and 20 seconds to capture a Complete set. The Ricoh SC2 was taking a shot and processing in about 20-30 seconds generally.
The difference between the Simple and Complete shots – The Simple mode is only pointed down so the ceiling detail was not as clearly captured. I saw some blurring and misalignment of the ceiling light box in my kitchen. the ceiling blur looks like the blur at the tripod base, only about 5 feet out from the camera. The Complete scan has a smaller blurred area on the ceiling, about two feet in diameter above the camera location.
Picture Quality
Now we get down to some of the critical determining factors! Bottom line: the Axis system with my Samsung phone captured scans with at-the-same or slightly-better-clarity than the Ricoh SC2. I took scans in the same spot in the kitchen at the same time of the day, then looked as closely as possible to compare. The phone scans were just a bit more detailed. It was not a clear advantage over the SC2. The Axis and my Samsung delivered usable quality results.
I also took some “360 scans” with the Matterport app to compare to a couple 360 scans that I imported from the SC2 with the Ricoh Theta app. One thing I noticed was that the Matterport-processed photos have a reddish cast to them. The color is not as rich and the contrast is lower. I have noticed this before with a couple of Matterport scans I did. I recently have been working on a set of scans for a bed and breakfast inn hosted on Kuula (much cheaper long-term pricing). I can pull the panoramas into Luminar to do post processing to get the photos to look a lot better than what Matterport is generating before I upload them to Kuula. It’s a different application (long term residence on the inn’s website instead of a couple weeks on the MLS) and the resulting tours look a lot better. This is not an Axis issue, it’s a Matterport issue.
Summary
Observations as a Real Estate Photographer
I was looking for a possible perceivable improvement in picture quality from my Samsung S20 FE over the Ricoh SC2 (which is the low-end 360 camera of the Ricoh line at about $300). The Axis setup matched the quality of the main part of the viewing area, but required a Complete Scan mode capture to minimize the blur on the floor and ceiling areas. The extra time to capture a Complete scan series for each location in a Matterport tour adds a lot of time with no perceivable benefit to a photographer who already has a 360 camera.
For a photographer who is looking to get into virtual tours and has no camera, the Axis kit with the rotator and tripod is $89. Using that combo to shoot 360 tours for a fee is right on the edge of being low quality to the point that it might limit your pricing structure to the very low end of the market. I would recommend investing in a 360 camera as a business expense that will pay for itself quickly.
Observations for Real Estate Agents
This could be a realistic option for real estate agents who have the technical patience and skill to set up the system and use it to shoot their own listings. Most agents don’t have more than five listings at a time so the Starter Plan would work fine. I find that agents who are listing homes in the under $700,000 range in my area (Northern California Bay Area) do not invest in 360 tours because of the cost (which I think is penny-wise and pound-foolish). If an agent is listing one or two houses in a month, they might be willing to spend the time to shoot the property with the Axis kit. Agents with a small team could assign the shoot to one of the junior members. It could work and serve as a ramp into better quality solutions for the capture. |
