Any digicam can shoot panorama?
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http://www.thefreedictionary.com/panoramakelccm said:
It says "1. An unbroken view of an entire surrounding area."
http://webster-dictionary.net/definition/panorama
It says "1. A complete view in every direction",
"3. A picture presenting a view of objects in every direction, as from a central point"
.. which I take to mean 360 degrees. Not even just 180 degrees which is only half the surrounding area.
P
Phildate
Guest
One of the latest digicams (maybe the Kodak Easyshare) now has in-built panoramic stitching - you take a set number of photos and it stitches them together for you. Personally I am skeptical as to how the result would turn out but sounds like what the TS is looking for.
Kodak Easyshare V570 and V610 can stitch together up to 3 photos into a panorama in-camera. The V570 especially, has a built-in 180 degree panorama feature which is achieved with just three shots from the 23 mm equiv. lens. My friend has a V570 and the panorama feature seems to work very well.
tomcat said:
Yes, it works reasonably well but the image resolution is only 2MP IIRC and not the full 5MP the V570 is capable of.
For high res digital capture of panorama without use of software, here is the new solution:
http://www.roundshot.ch/xml_1/internet/de/application/d438/d925/f934.cfm
6x17 format, 160Mpixels
:bigeyes:
and...
wait for it
...
...
...
...
28,900 Euro
http://www.roundshot.ch/xml_1/internet/de/application/d438/d925/f934.cfm
6x17 format, 160Mpixels
:bigeyes: and...
wait for it
...
...
...
...
28,900 Euro
Cheapest alternative is still software. and blu always believe in a picture is worth a thousand words...
This was taken a while back when blu was still trying out panorama..
This was taken a while back when blu was still trying out panorama..
Guess what, Mrs Blu found a way to shoot a panorama without using any sophicated and expensive equipment!!!! She use her little P&S and shot a movie with it
So now blu have a question...how do one convert a Qtime movie to a panoramic photo?
So now blu have a question...how do one convert a Qtime movie to a panoramic photo?
as mentioned..the 2nd pic is one of the earlier attempts by blu into panorama. The camera (C8080) tilted at the 2 extreme corners. The 1st pic is one of the latest using the E-330. Done at another fren's comment that another earlier pic (not shown here) was off in like what you notices, rounded horizon. Blu have yet to learn how to straighten rounded horizon with software.
PixAround's PixMaker Pro can convert a video into panorama.Guess what, Mrs Blu found a way to shoot a panorama without using any sophicated and expensive equipment!!!! She use her little P&S and shot a movie with it
So now blu have a question...how do one convert a Qtime movie to a panoramic photo?
http://www.pixaround.com/products/pmpro/index.asp
Autostitch is a good software where you just supply the images and it will auto stitch for you. The demo is free and has no restrictions for non-commercial use. You can get the program here. http://www.cs.ubc.ca/~mbrown/autostitch/autostitch.zip
Quote from http://www.cs.ubc.ca/~mbrown/autostitch/autostitch.html#licensing
"The version of Autostitch on this website is a demo only. Individuals or companies are free to use images that they generate using the demo version of Autostitch without restriction or royalties so long as they acknowledge the use of Autostitch in such works. A commercial license to Autostitch provides access to the patent, source code, technical support and updates."
All panoramic capture systems have their pros and cons. For the record, let me set them straight. My comments on the various systems are with relation to their operational use and image quality produce.
One Shot Systems
You have the mirror bowl types like mentioned in the earlier post, 360VR by Kaidan(HW) and Eyesee(SW). These mirror bowl one shots are great when you need to capture 360s in places where there are lotsa movement like say on the busy streets of Chinatown. Try that with a normal film or DSLR camera, it can be done however only with a circular fisheye lens and lotsa skill and practice! Mirror bowls may also be great for places where there is very limited space to allow both the camera and photographer to work. They also save you time in stitching. Drawbacks are resolution, because you are trying to capture a 360 scene into a single image. Yes, you can always get a 1DSmk2 but the resolution would never be able to compare to a 360 created with individual shots. Second drawback, you cannot readily produce 360x180 type panoramas if that is your goal, you have limited vertical FOV. There have been attempts to join two mirror bowls but you have image degradation along the joining of the bowls and the equipment is too cumbersome to use.
The other one shot systems are slit scanning cameras. These you have the good old film types by Roundshot which create 360 images. You also have the Horizon which produces a panorama but with no overlap, about 120 degrees I think. Then you have the digital types by Roundshot too and Panoscan. These are great for scenes with either no or limited movements. They produce instant panoramas with no stitching, thus you save time here. However if there are movements in you scene, it will produce shearing of the moving objects. i.e. a moving person will either end up looking thin or fat. This depends on the relation of the speed of rotation of the camera and moving object. Moving clouds and trees would also appear to smear across the image. Other than these draw backs, these cameras tend to produce the best image quality.
Multishot Systems
There are a few approaches to these.
Apple was one of the first to release a solution with QTVR. Back then you could use any camera from a hi end film camera to a disposable camera to create your 360s. However, no matter what camera you used, you had to have your camera lens rotate about the nodal point of the lens and the camera had to be as level as possible. Failure to rotate about nodal point would result in parallex errors where the straight lens dont join properly. Failure to level the camera results in a loss of vFOV as the stitched panorama had a step like edges along the length. To overcome the nodal point issues and leveling, Kaidan and Peaceriver studios where the first to come out with QTVR panheads to make life easier. Something to note is at this point in time, panoramas captured with this approach had limited vFOV, you cant see all the way to the top or the floor. The max vFOV was only attainable with a 13, 14, 15mm lens which cost a bomb then. The 13mm from Nikon could have bought a small car in certain countries. I had the luxury to use a 15mm Zeiss lens then.
At around the same time, IPIX came along and release their 2 shot fisheye lens system. It was way simpler than where I was doing with QTVR but required the use of circular fisheye lens and a proprietary software solution that required you to pay for each "bubble" created. They had some inital success but never quite took off and have filed for bankruptcy recently. The benefits to IPIX are MUCH less shots required to created a panorama which translates into time savings and you had a 360x180 panorama. Drawbacks, poor image resolution along the edges of where the fisheye images joined, you had to pay per pano saved. The best ever lens for IPIX cpature is the 8mm Nikon fisheye lens which today is out of production and cost anyway from $1500 onwards for a decent 2nd hand copy.
As we move along the timeline, Stitcher from Realviz came along and allowed QTVR to finally 360x180 panoramas. Meanwhile there were also other 360 panoramic creation software being released on the PC and Mac. If you visit, panoguide.com, it will fill you in with the details. However one software worth mentioning was Pixaround's attempt at doing away with the need for a panhead. The idea is good but the software could never quite produce the quality that Stitcher or other better panoramic software could by commercial world class standards. Dont get me wrong, its great if you want to make a panorama without having to invest in a panhead and want a simple solution but if you want something better, it aint gonna get you there.
IMHO, today the best software solution for making 360x180 panoramas are either PTGUI for PC, PTMac for Mac and Realviz Stitcher. I still miss my Apple QTVR Authoring Suite and Studio! The best hardware is precision360 if you have the $ otherwise Kaidan also has very affordable and good solutions.
The benefit of multishot systems are, (1) higher resolution than the mirror bowl capture systems, (2) you can still use your camera and lens for other types of photography, (3) Cheaper than the Roundshout, (4) Can be used in a wide variety of shooting scenarios.
The drawbacks of a multishot system are, (1) time consuming as you have to stitch the individual images, there is batch processing but you cant compare to a roundshot here, (2) hard to capture scenes with lotsa movement, (3) some learning curve to get the process right.
Video Approach
There have been attempts to use video to create panoramas. I personally feel this has tremendous potential until we can get decent resolution. The current software produces acceptable entry levels for web use but do not expect quality to be as good as the above methods of creating panoramas. I have only used Videobrush back in 1998 but the company has somehow disappeared. It was really easy to use but the drawback then was for best results, you need to level your camera and if you rotate the lens about it's nodal point, you get better results.
So we have the following ways to create panoramas:
1) Multishot using a camera with/without a panhead
2) Slit scanning cameras
3) Mirror bowl lens
4) Video approach
They all have their pros and cons. Which to go with depends on you budget and the type of scenes you are shooting. All are capable of producing quality panoramas in the right hands.
I hope the above has been useful and help clear some doubt on the various panoramic capture systems.
One Shot Systems
You have the mirror bowl types like mentioned in the earlier post, 360VR by Kaidan(HW) and Eyesee(SW). These mirror bowl one shots are great when you need to capture 360s in places where there are lotsa movement like say on the busy streets of Chinatown. Try that with a normal film or DSLR camera, it can be done however only with a circular fisheye lens and lotsa skill and practice! Mirror bowls may also be great for places where there is very limited space to allow both the camera and photographer to work. They also save you time in stitching. Drawbacks are resolution, because you are trying to capture a 360 scene into a single image. Yes, you can always get a 1DSmk2 but the resolution would never be able to compare to a 360 created with individual shots. Second drawback, you cannot readily produce 360x180 type panoramas if that is your goal, you have limited vertical FOV. There have been attempts to join two mirror bowls but you have image degradation along the joining of the bowls and the equipment is too cumbersome to use.
The other one shot systems are slit scanning cameras. These you have the good old film types by Roundshot which create 360 images. You also have the Horizon which produces a panorama but with no overlap, about 120 degrees I think. Then you have the digital types by Roundshot too and Panoscan. These are great for scenes with either no or limited movements. They produce instant panoramas with no stitching, thus you save time here. However if there are movements in you scene, it will produce shearing of the moving objects. i.e. a moving person will either end up looking thin or fat. This depends on the relation of the speed of rotation of the camera and moving object. Moving clouds and trees would also appear to smear across the image. Other than these draw backs, these cameras tend to produce the best image quality.
Multishot Systems
There are a few approaches to these.
Apple was one of the first to release a solution with QTVR. Back then you could use any camera from a hi end film camera to a disposable camera to create your 360s. However, no matter what camera you used, you had to have your camera lens rotate about the nodal point of the lens and the camera had to be as level as possible. Failure to rotate about nodal point would result in parallex errors where the straight lens dont join properly. Failure to level the camera results in a loss of vFOV as the stitched panorama had a step like edges along the length. To overcome the nodal point issues and leveling, Kaidan and Peaceriver studios where the first to come out with QTVR panheads to make life easier. Something to note is at this point in time, panoramas captured with this approach had limited vFOV, you cant see all the way to the top or the floor. The max vFOV was only attainable with a 13, 14, 15mm lens which cost a bomb then. The 13mm from Nikon could have bought a small car in certain countries. I had the luxury to use a 15mm Zeiss lens then.
At around the same time, IPIX came along and release their 2 shot fisheye lens system. It was way simpler than where I was doing with QTVR but required the use of circular fisheye lens and a proprietary software solution that required you to pay for each "bubble" created. They had some inital success but never quite took off and have filed for bankruptcy recently. The benefits to IPIX are MUCH less shots required to created a panorama which translates into time savings and you had a 360x180 panorama. Drawbacks, poor image resolution along the edges of where the fisheye images joined, you had to pay per pano saved. The best ever lens for IPIX cpature is the 8mm Nikon fisheye lens which today is out of production and cost anyway from $1500 onwards for a decent 2nd hand copy.
As we move along the timeline, Stitcher from Realviz came along and allowed QTVR to finally 360x180 panoramas. Meanwhile there were also other 360 panoramic creation software being released on the PC and Mac. If you visit, panoguide.com, it will fill you in with the details. However one software worth mentioning was Pixaround's attempt at doing away with the need for a panhead. The idea is good but the software could never quite produce the quality that Stitcher or other better panoramic software could by commercial world class standards. Dont get me wrong, its great if you want to make a panorama without having to invest in a panhead and want a simple solution but if you want something better, it aint gonna get you there.
IMHO, today the best software solution for making 360x180 panoramas are either PTGUI for PC, PTMac for Mac and Realviz Stitcher. I still miss my Apple QTVR Authoring Suite and Studio! The best hardware is precision360 if you have the $ otherwise Kaidan also has very affordable and good solutions.
The benefit of multishot systems are, (1) higher resolution than the mirror bowl capture systems, (2) you can still use your camera and lens for other types of photography, (3) Cheaper than the Roundshout, (4) Can be used in a wide variety of shooting scenarios.
The drawbacks of a multishot system are, (1) time consuming as you have to stitch the individual images, there is batch processing but you cant compare to a roundshot here, (2) hard to capture scenes with lotsa movement, (3) some learning curve to get the process right.
Video Approach
There have been attempts to use video to create panoramas. I personally feel this has tremendous potential until we can get decent resolution. The current software produces acceptable entry levels for web use but do not expect quality to be as good as the above methods of creating panoramas. I have only used Videobrush back in 1998 but the company has somehow disappeared. It was really easy to use but the drawback then was for best results, you need to level your camera and if you rotate the lens about it's nodal point, you get better results.
So we have the following ways to create panoramas:
1) Multishot using a camera with/without a panhead
2) Slit scanning cameras
3) Mirror bowl lens
4) Video approach
They all have their pros and cons. Which to go with depends on you budget and the type of scenes you are shooting. All are capable of producing quality panoramas in the right hands.
I hope the above has been useful and help clear some doubt on the various panoramic capture systems.
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