Re: Gigabyte panoramas
http://www.digitalcamerareview.com/default.asp?newsID=2979 They claim it will cost you $100. The software and diy instruction are free of charge. On 7/1/07, Digital Image Studio [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: On 01/07/07, Bill Lawlor [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: I noticed a small article about this system in the new July/August Photo Techniques. The article speculated the consumer version might be a few hundred dollars! I think that must be way off. I didn't buy the magazine because the line at Border's was about a 20 minute wait. Maybe somebody on the list has the magazine. Maybe the software side, but that's still very inexpensive. Even the most basic automated head which could do this kind of work wouldn't be cheap, the manual options are relatively expensive. The manual Manfrotto Spherical Panoramic Head Kit retails at about US$580 from BH. -- Rob Studdert HURSTVILLE AUSTRALIA Tel +61-2-9554-4110 UTC(GMT) +10 Hours [EMAIL PROTECTED] http://picasaweb.google.com/distudio/PESO http://home.swiftdsl.com.au/~distudio//publications/ Pentax user since 1986, PDMLer since 1998 -- PDML Pentax-Discuss Mail List PDML@pdml.net http://pdml.net/mailman/listinfo/pdml_pdml.net -- -- Toine http://leende.net/peso -- PDML Pentax-Discuss Mail List PDML@pdml.net http://pdml.net/mailman/listinfo/pdml_pdml.net
Re: Gigabyte Panoramas
Thanks for the link, Bill. First thing that struck me when I saw the prototype photo is that this must be an adaptation of a sky-tracker device, you know the stuff that backyard astronomers use to move their telescope in sync with Earth's rotation. Secondly, the prototype looks a bit under-dimesioned for an SLR... Will be interesting to see how much they plan to charge for it. Jostein 2007/6/30, Bill Lawlor [EMAIL PROTECTED]: This camera platform produces awesome images with virtually any digital camera. Check out the sample panoramas at the web site. Zoom in for amazing details. My understanding is that the platform moves the camera to create a mosaic that is combines into the final image. I want one! http://www.cs.cmu.edu/~globalconn/gigapan.html Bill Lawlor -- PDML Pentax-Discuss Mail List PDML@pdml.net http://pdml.net/mailman/listinfo/pdml_pdml.net -- http://www.alunfoto.no/galleri/ http://alunfoto.blogspot.com -- PDML Pentax-Discuss Mail List PDML@pdml.net http://pdml.net/mailman/listinfo/pdml_pdml.net
Re: Gigabyte Panoramas
On 6/30/07, Bill Lawlor [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: ... I want one! http://www.cs.cmu.edu/~globalconn/gigapan.html Me too! But what will it cost? Also, what lens would be optimal for panoramas? My guess is not really long because then you'd need too many shots, and not really wide because you'd get too much distortion. But in between, say 24-105, I'm not certain. Wider means fewer shots and better depth of field, but the longer lens gets more detail. Any comment from those with panoramic experience? -- Sandy Harris Quanzhou, Fujian, China -- PDML Pentax-Discuss Mail List PDML@pdml.net http://pdml.net/mailman/listinfo/pdml_pdml.net
Re: Gigabyte Panoramas
On 30/06/07, Sandy Harris [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: On 6/30/07, Bill Lawlor [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: ... I want one! http://www.cs.cmu.edu/~globalconn/gigapan.html Me too! But what will it cost? Also, what lens would be optimal for panoramas? My guess is not really long because then you'd need too many shots, and not really wide because you'd get too much distortion. But in between, say 24-105, I'm not certain. Wider means fewer shots and better depth of field, but the longer lens gets more detail. Any comment from those with panoramic experience? It's possible to shoot panos with virtually any lens (rectilinear or fisheye) and pretty much any focal length as the stitching software geometrically transforms each image to match adjacent images in order to produce a composite image with the chosen projection type. http://www.cambridgeincolour.com/tutorials/image-projections.htm The system shown relies on a long lens not to minimise distortion but to provide a sufficiently limited field of view to allow the generation of a composite image with the desired resolution. In the case of a GigaPixel image There will be literally a hundred plus shots taken (consider the number of shots that would be required if shooting 10MP per shot less 30-50% of the total image area for overlap). The automated head makes it possible through as great precision is required when shooting many shots of limited FOV. There are a few other very similar automated solutions already available on the market (some for three years or more) the problem is generally in the limitations of the stitching and image post processing applications, few off the shelf solutions can handle that volume of data. If this crowd can deliver a complete package at a reasonable cost then they may achieve their goals. However I can't see it being under US$3-4K before even considering camera or lens given the prices of competing hardware alone. http://www.peaceriverstudios.com/pixorb/index.html http://www.marc-kairies.de/english/MK_PanoMachine.html -- Rob Studdert HURSTVILLE AUSTRALIA Tel +61-2-9554-4110 UTC(GMT) +10 Hours [EMAIL PROTECTED] http://picasaweb.google.com/distudio/PESO http://home.swiftdsl.com.au/~distudio//publications/ Pentax user since 1986, PDMLer since 1998 -- PDML Pentax-Discuss Mail List PDML@pdml.net http://pdml.net/mailman/listinfo/pdml_pdml.net
Re: Gigabyte Panoramas
- Original Message - From: Sandy Harris Subject: Re: Gigabyte Panoramas Any comment from those with panoramic experience? I've done a few panos, I think Rob and Mark are the stitched pano expert here. My solution is pretty basic, and works well up to a couple of dozen exposures. I choose a focal length that will require about a dozen or more exposures to take in everything I want in the frame, and then I shoot a few test exposures of the scene to check histograms, then I start at one corner and start shooting (camera in manual), making sure I overlap the frames by 25-35%. I haven't checked to see how many exposures I can force into a multi frame pano this way, I would expect if I really wanted to I could shot several dozen frames and combine them. I'm fairly new to this stuff, as I didn't have good post processing tools for it until recently. I discovered that Photoshop CS3 does a very good job with the photomerge tool, much better than prior versions. I believe Photoshop will allow up to 200,000 pixels on a side. The processing times to build these things is huge if you don't have a fast machine with lots of RAM. Something Rob and I were discussing the other day was lens setting. He finds that setting the lens aperture with the ring on the lens gives more consistent exposures, so your best lens for the job might be one with an aperture ring. William Robb -- PDML Pentax-Discuss Mail List PDML@pdml.net http://pdml.net/mailman/listinfo/pdml_pdml.net
Re: Gigabyte Panoramas
I've managed to successfully stitch 81 frames (5 rows) to create a 360 degree spherical pano. It took a lot of processing time though. BTW, here is one of the panos I took on my recent trip: http://picasaweb.google.com.au/OzSavage/Panoramas/photo?authkey=_urLvoPdgjo#5081887691195224994 Dry Island Buffalo Jump Provincial Park, Alberta, Canada K10D, FA 77 Ltd,, 24 frames in 3 rows handheld. Cheers, Dave On 6/30/07, William Robb [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: I haven't checked to see how many exposures I can force into a multi frame pano this way, I would expect if I really wanted to I could shot several dozen frames and combine them. -- PDML Pentax-Discuss Mail List PDML@pdml.net http://pdml.net/mailman/listinfo/pdml_pdml.net
Re: Gigabyte Panoramas
Sandy, Check on the links in the gigapan page. There is a page of samples including one towards the end with the Golden Gate Bridge in San Francisco on the left. It shows the park at the base of the bridge, people, and the parking lot at the base of the bridge. On the right of the picture, it shows a bit of the parking lot and traffic lanes. I noticed half a bus and the front headlamps of a car. Look carefully and you can see about what the size of a single cell is. Telephoto side I would guess. Regards, Bob S. On 6/30/07, Sandy Harris [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: On 6/30/07, Bill Lawlor [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: ... I want one! http://www.cs.cmu.edu/~globalconn/gigapan.html Me too! But what will it cost? Also, what lens would be optimal for panoramas? My guess is not really long because then you'd need too many shots, and not really wide because you'd get too much distortion. But in between, say 24-105, I'm not certain. Wider means fewer shots and better depth of field, but the longer lens gets more detail. Any comment from those with panoramic experience? -- Sandy Harris Quanzhou, Fujian, China -- PDML Pentax-Discuss Mail List PDML@pdml.net http://pdml.net/mailman/listinfo/pdml_pdml.net -- PDML Pentax-Discuss Mail List PDML@pdml.net http://pdml.net/mailman/listinfo/pdml_pdml.net
Re: Gigabyte panoramas
I noticed a small article about this system in the new July/August Photo Techniques. The article speculated the consumer version might be a few hundred dollars! I think that must be way off. I didn't buy the magazine because the line at Border's was about a 20 minute wait. Maybe somebody on the list has the magazine. Bill -- PDML Pentax-Discuss Mail List PDML@pdml.net http://pdml.net/mailman/listinfo/pdml_pdml.net
Re: Gigabyte panoramas
On 01/07/07, Bill Lawlor [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: I noticed a small article about this system in the new July/August Photo Techniques. The article speculated the consumer version might be a few hundred dollars! I think that must be way off. I didn't buy the magazine because the line at Border's was about a 20 minute wait. Maybe somebody on the list has the magazine. Maybe the software side, but that's still very inexpensive. Even the most basic automated head which could do this kind of work wouldn't be cheap, the manual options are relatively expensive. The manual Manfrotto Spherical Panoramic Head Kit retails at about US$580 from BH. -- Rob Studdert HURSTVILLE AUSTRALIA Tel +61-2-9554-4110 UTC(GMT) +10 Hours [EMAIL PROTECTED] http://picasaweb.google.com/distudio/PESO http://home.swiftdsl.com.au/~distudio//publications/ Pentax user since 1986, PDMLer since 1998 -- PDML Pentax-Discuss Mail List PDML@pdml.net http://pdml.net/mailman/listinfo/pdml_pdml.net
