However, there is also the additional option of the dealer360 player plugin, which smartly displays 360° imagery – with users able to drag and zoom, controlling their own view of the product.

But – with both video footage and 360° images available – which option is best for you?

Video

There is no denying that video footage is great for watching action, seeing a turntable in motion and getting a view of the product that cannot be appreciated with still images.

However, there are several drawbacks to using video.

For inanimate objects, there is no benefit to watching a video over simply viewing images – and, compared to still images, videos use a lot of bandwidth while sometimes offering little more than a series of pictures would. This can make videos slow to load on a website and, for potential customers visiting a mobile site, it requires a willingness to use data in downloading the footage.

Not only that but, should something be missed on a first view, scrolling back through is not quite as straight forward as with 360° images, often requiring a second watch.

360°

The dealer360 player works in all the ways that a video does not, making user engagement an attractive proposition.

The images can be panned and zoomed, while the click and drag rotation provides the ability to manipulate the object. Any potential customer is therefore engaged in an interactive way and it may be that they choose to focus on aspects of the images that a video simply would not know to highlight.

That increased engagement and interaction will keep users on the page for longer and increase confidence in the accuracy of the listing. This improves transparency as the dealer can’t hide as much, so the trust level increases.

It also offers the facility of displaying an internal 360° image, giving a potential customer the chance to get a driver’s eye view from inside the car. Potential customers can effectively walk around the vehicle and look over the interior just as they would if they visited the showroom.

To complement the 360° imagery, the plugin also automatically crops a selection of the pictures and enables them to be displayed in a separate, still gallery.

We’re delighted to say that the showroom is now up and running!

Check out these pictures of the offices, complete with a photographic booth.

Diffused or direct?

Diffused light is where a material is positioned between the light source and the object being photographed. This spreads the light intensity and gives a soft light.

By contrast, direct light simply sees the lights shone directly onto the vehicle.

Either can be achieved using our image booths, where LED floodlights are mounted on adjustable brackets on top of the booth walls.

Why diffused?

To diffuse light at dealer360, we cover the entire booth with a white nylon translucent panel. The lights, positioned above, then shine through the panel onto the car below.

This crucially ensures there are no intense reflections seen in the paintwork of the car – as there would be with direct light – while, as mentioned above, the light is evenly distributed. The result of this light diffusion is a smooth satin look.

Why direct?

There are advantages to direct light, too, though. The car is given a glossy appearance and colour is well replicated in images – at odds to the struggles faced with diffused light, unless more light heads are added.

And there are also practical reasons to opt against diffusing the light. The translucent panels have an initial cost and the wear-and-tear of use means they need replacing over time.

To see dealer360 in action, head over to the Carbase website and check out their used vehicles.

Many thanks to Carbase for putting this video together and helping us to spread the word about dealer360!

The system can accommodate vehicles up to the size of a motorhome and adapts to a wide range of devices and screen sizes.

Bluesky Interactive’s head of retail Raphael Millin said:  “We are very pleased to have launched this 360 solution on the Frosts 4 Cars website. It is so important to us to work closely with the industry to create new solutions and continuously enhance the way that our clients sell their vehicles online.”

Frosts 4 Cars’ marketing manager Robert Robinson said: “By adding the 360 functionality, we have provided our customers with the ability and flexibility to really explore each of our used vehicles in depth.

“Since launching we’ve had really positive feedback from our customers. They’re spending more time on the site and have greater confidence in reserving a vehicle online before visiting the showroom, something we’ve seen an increase in.

“Our Sales team are enjoying it too, using it in a variety of ways with our customers in our showrooms.”

UK Turntables’ managing director Nigel Spratt said: “We are delighted to have partnered with industry leaders Bluesky Interactive in delivering a total 360 image solution to our mutual client Frost4Cars.

“There is no doubt in my mind that 360 image capture and display is the way forward for those companies wanting  a competitive cutting edge advantage on their websites.”

Whether a company spending money on a dedicated photographer or relying on sales or management staff to take time out of their busy schedules to snap the latest stock, a photographic turntable provides a solution. The money and time spent there can be saved, with dealer360’s product doing the job for you, while images are available almost on-demand. This is a massive time-saver, it is efficient and requires minimal user input. It is very much a non-skilled operation.

The quality of the photography, too, is to an impeccable standard. With a photographic turntable used for all stock, there will be consistency throughout all imagery. The weather, time of year or time of day will have no impact on the product’s capability to produce an unchanging string of superb photographs. Each image will match up to your brand’s standards, with lighting and a professional background – as each car can be pictured individually in a timely manner, there is no need for other stock to be sneaking into shot.

And this applies for videos, too. Far more reliable than a shaky, handheld camera, the videography here is stable. Your customers will not suffer any seasickness as they look to get a closer look at your latest stock with dealer360’s high-quality footage.

When all is done, the images of the vehicles, inside and out, are stored together in one place. It is an easily manageable system that cuts down on time, money and effort at every stage of the process.

There should be no excuse for poor, unprofessional photographs or blurry, rickety videos when a photographic turntable provides all the solutions.

We’ll soon have a brand new showroom, with our own turntable studio, and other areas to showcase and demonstrate some new products which will be arriving soon!

We hope to share some more updates once we get closer to completion … stay tuned!

When measuring up for the required size, it is worth considering that the driveway turntable only needs to accommodate the footprint of the vehicle, not the extremities of the body. Taking this into account, 99% of buyers choose a 4.5m diameter turntable, which, for example, will comfortably hold an extended wheelbase Rolls Royce or a Range Rover.

In fact, for many, a 6m option would not be suitable, as they merely add an unnecessary complication to the process of using a driveway turntable with smaller vehicles. The bigger the turntable, the more difficult it is to position vehicles consistently when you first drive them on.

By contrast, though, any buyer with the need to operate large goods vehicles would, of course, require a bigger product and would generally opt for the 6m turntable, which can accommodate a long wheelbase Mercedes Sprinter.

While the size of the turntable is important, it is also crucial to ensure that there is ample space around the diameter. Regardless of the product size, there needs to be room for overhang from especially large – or poorly positioned – vehicles. We advise that a 4.5m turntable should have an additional minimum clearance distance of 750mm, while a 6m turntable requires 900mm.

One last important note on the size of the driveway turntable, which should ease some worries, is that the weight of the vehicles concerned is immaterial. UK Turntables Ltd’s products are designed to comfortably handle any vehicle that will fit on them, with the exception of heavy plant or military vehicles.