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After writing hundreds of post about and related to 360 degree photography, we have by now seen the worst and the best collection of panoramas online. You can be amazed how some of the best images are taken by newbies, hobbyists, or those that are not experts in this craft. They were able to pull out the shutterbug inside them, which for most people is the real challenge. On this post however, we will feature a group of professional 360-degree panorama photographers based in Russia, who as a team built a non-commercial aerial panorama gallery project called 360° AirPano.

This renowned team of photographers focuses mainly on 360 degree aerial panoramic photography.  They themselves capture their own from a helicopter and sometimes light jets, dirigibles, air balloons and radio-controlled helicopter models. At present, the 360° AirPano team have created more than 100 panoramas showing 30 interesting cities around the world. Here's a short list:

• Moscow, MEH (Moscow Encircling Highway) and environs
• Zermatt and the Alps, Switzerland
• Reykjavik, Iceland
• Mauritius Island, Pacific Ocean
• The Swiss Alps, St. Moritz
• Bryce Canyon, Utah, USA
• Moscow, Panorama Shot at a height of 1000 meters
• Grand Canyon, Arizona, USA

The following places are soon to have their own 360-degree panoramas:

• Novodevichy Convent, Moscow
• Greenland, Eastern Seaboard (2011)
• Sochi, Russia, Construction of Olympic Games 2014 Objects
• Niagara Waterfall, USA - Canada

The 360° AirPano Team and Equipment

The  360° AirPano Team are composed of 7 Russian aerial panorama photographer who wishes that in the next 2 to 3 years they can create virtual 3D tours of the most interesting cities in the world.

OLEG GAPONYUK

ANDREY ZUBETZ

SERGEY RUMYANTSEV

DMITRY MOISEENKO

SERGEY SEMENOV

MIKE REYFMAN 

STANISLAV SEDOV 

The whole team is using Canon 1Ds MarkII, Canon 1Ds MarkIII,  Canon 5D MarkII, Panasonic Lumix DMC-GF1.

For low resolutions: Sigma  8mm f/3.5 fisheye + Canon 400DSigma 10mm f/2.8 fisheye (shaved - with removed lense hood)Nikkor 10,5mm f/2.8 fisheye, modified to be used with CanonPanasonic Lumix G Fisheye 8mm F3.5.

For high resolutions: Carl Zeiss Distagon T* 3,5/18mmContax Carl Zeiss T* 16mm F2.8 Distagon-F FisheyeSigma 15mm f/2.8 fisheyeZenitar 16mm f/2.8 fisheye

Reference: http://www.airpano.ru/