A motorized 360 photography turntable.
No 360 photography studio is complete without some type of device for rotating your objects. Fortunately, the Arqspin 360 photography system will work with ANY 360 photo turntable provided it makes one complete 360-degree revolution in at least one minute. No wires or bluetooth connections, no special speeds, no proprietary expensive hardware…
To make the highest quality spins you want to use something that produces a smooth uniform rotation. For that reason, motorized turntables are the most convenient option and produce the best output, but manual hand-operated turntables, like a lazy susan that you might already have lying around your house, are great for getting started. If you want to avoid the hassle of building or finding a turntable on your own, you can purchase one here.
Keep reading for suggestions on buying or building your own turntable.
Manual 360 Photo Turntables
You can make decent spins with a lazy susan, spice rack, cake spinner, or some other manual rotating platform. This is by far the least expensive and most popular way to get started with Arqspin. If you don’t already have a turntable, here are a few you can purchase:
- Black 10″ 65lb Capacity Lazy Susan ($5)
- Fat Daddio’s 12″ Cake Spinner ($10)
- Heavy Duty 12″ Lazy Susan ($15)
- Wilton Trim-N-Turn PLUS Cake Spinner ($15)
- 14″ Bamboo Kitchen Turntable ($20)
- Wilton Trim-N-Turn ULTRA Cake Spinner ($20)
Our favorite is the Wilton Trim-N-Turn ULTRA Cake Spinner. It has metal ball bearings which produce smoother motion. The only downside is that the platform has a green ring, which you would need to somehow hide in order to produce spins with a seamless white background. Here is a spin we created using the “Wilton Trim-N-Turn ULTRA Cake Spinner”:
Here is a picture of our setup (note that we recommend using a tripod or some other device to hold the phone perfectly still during capture):
Motorized 360 Photo Turntables
Motorized turntables offer the benefits of convenience and no hand cramping! More importantly, they produce higher quality spins since they do a much better job of producing smooth continuous motion.
There are a number of motorized turntables available for purchase:
- Arqspin Turntables
- Solar Powered Display Rotary Turntable (small items, 4″ diameter, $7)
- Mirror Plate w/ LED Turntable (2lb capacity, 5″ diameter, 30s round trip time, $20)
- Black LED Rotating Display Turntable (22lb capacity, 10″ diameter, 45s round trip time, $48)
- VueMore Turntable #105⁄12 (25lb capacity, 12″ diameter, 20s round trip time, $112)
- VueMore Turntable #120⁄12 (100lb capacity, 12″ diameter, 30s round trip time, $200)
- Karousel Cake Spinner (100lb capacity, 12″ diameter, variable speed, $120-$160)
- Yemco Industrial Rotary Stages (100-750lb capacity, 2.5-5ft diameter, 17-30s round trip time, $350-$500)
Do-It-Yourself Options
The courageous hackers and DIYers out there may want to consider building their own turntable. Here are a few YouTube videos on the topic:
You may also be interested in reading this (slightly outdated) article by the popular on-line design magazine core77 about DIY options for Arqspin.
Feedback Please
Please note that we cannot guarantee the quality and reliability of any of the third-party turntables listed above nor can we promise the statements in the DIY videos are all accurate. If you discover that we got something wrong, find a missing link, or have tips and tricks of your own that you’d like to share with others, please contact us.
