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Jester48681

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Hello everyone,

I am looking for a good piece of Panoramic software. Any suggestions on what program works best?

I also have Photoshop 6.0 Will this do the trick? IF so where do I need to look to find the secrets of how to use it?

Thanks--Jester
 
http://www.panoguide.com is an excellent resource for everything about doing panos, including a software review section. I just bought Panorama Factory, and I'm quite please with it. Have a look at my recent post in Samples & Galleries:

http://www.dpreview.com/forums/read.asp?forum=1005&page=3&message=1169436

Alan
Jester said:
Hello everyone,

I am looking for a good piece of Panoramic software. Any
suggestions on what program works best?

I also have Photoshop 6.0 Will this do the trick? IF so where do I
need to look to find the secrets of how to use it?

Thanks
--
Jester
Click to expand...
 
That is a really great picture.....now was that stiching done in the trial version or the full version of Panorama Factory?
Alan Hartmann said:
http://www.dpreview.com/forums/read.asp?forum=1005&page=3&message=1169436

Alan
Jester said:
Hello everyone,

I am looking for a good piece of Panoramic software. Any
suggestions on what program works best?

I also have Photoshop 6.0 Will this do the trick? IF so where do I
need to look to find the secrets of how to use it?

Thanks
--
Jester
Click to expand...
Click to expand...
 
Jester said:
That is a really great picture.....now was that stiching done in
the trial version or the full version of Panorama Factory?
Click to expand...
Thanks! The trial version of Pano Factory is the exact same program as what you get when you buy it. If you don't register it within 30 days, you get increasingly frequent nag messages. It's worth the $30. You might also try PanaVue's Image Assembler ( http://www.panavue.com ). It's a bit faster, but I prefer PF's user interface (plus, IA is more $). You might also scan thru Samples & Galleries and Retouching to see what others have used.
Jester48681 said:
Alan Hartmann said:
http://www.dpreview.com/forums/read.asp?forum=1005&page=3&message=1169436

Alan
Jester said:
Hello everyone,

I am looking for a good piece of Panoramic software. Any
suggestions on what program works best?

I also have Photoshop 6.0 Will this do the trick? IF so where do I
need to look to find the secrets of how to use it?

Thanks
--
Jester
Click to expand...
Click to expand...
Click to expand...
 
Alan...

That pano of NY city is great. I love the color in it. I live in NY but have never thought about doing panos before. Your ability to turn out such a nice one without special equipment or software expertise in this area has inspired me to perhaps try a few myself.

One question. You didn't use a tripod, did you? Do you know if they sell reasonably priced tripods that already come with the pano heads?

Pat
Alan Hartmann said:
Jester said:
That is a really great picture.....now was that stiching done in
the trial version or the full version of Panorama Factory?
Click to expand...
Thanks! The trial version of Pano Factory is the exact same
program as what you get when you buy it. If you don't register it
within 30 days, you get increasingly frequent nag messages. It's
worth the $30. You might also try PanaVue's Image Assembler
( http://www.panavue.com ). It's a bit faster, but I prefer PF's
user interface (plus, IA is more $). You might also scan thru
Samples & Galleries and Retouching to see what others have used.
Member said:
Alan Hartmann said:
http://www.dpreview.com/forums/read.asp?forum=1005&page=3&message=1169436

Alan
Jester said:
Hello everyone,

I am looking for a good piece of Panoramic software. Any
suggestions on what program works best?

I also have Photoshop 6.0 Will this do the trick? IF so where do I
need to look to find the secrets of how to use it?

Thanks
--
Jester
Click to expand...
Click to expand...
Click to expand...
Click to expand...
 
Jester,

Panosoftware can be a lot of fun, but if you have photoshop, handstiching isn't totally out of the question.... It just sort of automates the process...

And I would say if you're just fooling around, you don't need a panohead and at times can get away without a tripod.

I use the software that comes with G1. Simply find a friend, who thinks the G1 is better, convince him to buy it, and then borrow his software....
 
Pat said:
Alan...

That pano of NY city is great. I love the color in it.
Click to expand...
Thanks!
Pat said:
I live in NY
but have never thought about doing panos before. Your ability to
turn out such a nice one without special equipment or software
expertise in this area has inspired me to perhaps try a few myself.
Click to expand...
Well actually I think this results speak more to the abilities of the software than my abilities -- indeed all of the pano packages I experimented with produce amazing results with very little effort. One other thing about Pano Factory (I'm not sure -- they may all do this) is that I was able to enter a specific focal length. Since I was partially zoomed in those shots, PixMaker (free version) failed miserably with its assumed 35mm FL. Maybe their full version allows a user entered FL, I don't know.
Pat said:
One question. You didn't use a tripod, did you? Do you know if they
sell reasonably priced tripods that already come with the pano
heads?
Click to expand...
I did use a tripod. I've seen samples of panos done without a tripod, and it is possible to get decent results hand-holding the camera, but you'll get better results with a tripod (and accurately level the camera!), and even better results with a pano head. I'm not aware of any low-cost pano heads, but that doesn't mean they don't exist.

BTW, I think the location of the tripod mount on the camera has a lot to do with the the results you can achieve without a pano head. On the F505V, the tripod mount is on the axis of the lens (and also near its nodal point I believe) which improves the situation. If the mount is off-axis, you'll have more parallax for the stitching software to try and deal with.
Pat said:
Pat
Click to expand...
 
Jester said:
I am looking for a good piece of Panoramic software. Any
suggestions on what program works best?
Click to expand...
I recommend PanaVue Image Assembler. I've been using it since I bought my 505 last September. I use a tripod with a custom panoramic head I made from a Kiwi+. I typically shoot eight to ten shots, use Photoshop 6 to adjust the images, PanaVue to stitch them together, and then Photoshop again for touch up. The pans I create have foreground objects, so a tripod and panorama head are critical.

Mike
 
Take a look at a pano I shot yesterday and stiched together using panofactory.



Jester
Mike said:
Jester said:
I am looking for a good piece of Panoramic software. Any
suggestions on what program works best?
Click to expand...
I recommend PanaVue Image Assembler. I've been using it since I
bought my 505 last September. I use a tripod with a custom
panoramic head I made from a Kiwi+. I typically shoot eight to ten
shots, use Photoshop 6 to adjust the images, PanaVue to stitch them
together, and then Photoshop again for touch up. The pans I create
have foreground objects, so a tripod and panorama head are critical.

Mike
Click to expand...
 
Jester said:
Take a look at a pano I shot yesterday and stiched together using
panofactory.



Jester
Click to expand...
Sorry, but I didn't look at your pano. When I clicked on you message I saw that it was downloading a very large image, so I chose not to continue. Do you have a link to a lo-res copy with an option to view the full hi-res image?
 
Thanks, Alan, for the advice. I think NYC provides one of the ideal subjects for a pano because of the rich subject matter and detail in the skyline. Your shot and the nice one that Jester has just posted in this thread has convinced me to give it a try. I will probably also try Pano Factory as both you and Jester have had such great results.

Pat
Alan Hartmann said:
Pat said:
Alan...

That pano of NY city is great. I love the color in it.
Click to expand...
Thanks!
Member said:
I live in NY
but have never thought about doing panos before. Your ability to
turn out such a nice one without special equipment or software
expertise in this area has inspired me to perhaps try a few myself.
Click to expand...
Well actually I think this results speak more to the abilities of
the software than my abilities -- indeed all of the pano packages I
experimented with produce amazing results with very little effort.
One other thing about Pano Factory (I'm not sure -- they may all do
this) is that I was able to enter a specific focal length. Since I
was partially zoomed in those shots, PixMaker (free version) failed
miserably with its assumed 35mm FL. Maybe their full version
allows a user entered FL, I don't know.
Member said:
One question. You didn't use a tripod, did you? Do you know if they
sell reasonably priced tripods that already come with the pano
heads?
Click to expand...
I did use a tripod. I've seen samples of panos done without a
tripod, and it is possible to get decent results hand-holding the
camera, but you'll get better results with a tripod (and accurately
level the camera!), and even better results with a pano head. I'm
not aware of any low-cost pano heads, but that doesn't mean they
don't exist.

BTW, I think the location of the tripod mount on the camera has a
lot to do with the the results you can achieve without a pano head.
On the F505V, the tripod mount is on the axis of the lens (and also
near its nodal point I believe) which improves the situation. If
the mount is off-axis, you'll have more parallax for the stitching
software to try and deal with.
Member said:
Pat
Click to expand...
Click to expand...
 
Hi Alan,
Member said:
was partially zoomed in those shots, PixMaker (free version) failed
miserably with its assumed 35mm FL. Maybe their full version
allows a user entered FL, I don't know.
Click to expand...
The full version of Pixmaker allows the user to select the correct lens setting from a dropdown list. There's of course the usual "auto" setting for those who don't know what their lens setting is.

Cheers,
J
 
Jake said:
jim thorne said:
was partially zoomed in those shots, PixMaker (free version) failed
miserably with its assumed 35mm FL. Maybe their full version
allows a user entered FL, I don't know.
Click to expand...
The full version of Pixmaker allows the user to select the correct
lens setting from a dropdown list. There's of course the usual
"auto" setting for those who don't know what their lens setting is.
Click to expand...
Unfortunately, if you've elected to use zoom in your original shots, the correct focal length probably won't be available on the drop-down list. You really need the ability to enter a specific focal length -- Pano Factory allows this.
jim thorne said:
Cheers,
J
Click to expand...
 
Mike, can you help me understand something? What does the Pano-head get you with a digicam? Everything I have read indicated that the pano-head is there to help you index your shots so that there is no overlap. I could see where this would be useful with film where you don't want any overlap because there is no software to "stitch" the image together. However, with digital you NEED the overlap to give the software something to work with.

I am confused. Help me out.
Mike said:
Jester said:
I am looking for a good piece of Panoramic software. Any
suggestions on what program works best?
Click to expand...
I recommend PanaVue Image Assembler. I've been using it since I
bought my 505 last September. I use a tripod with a custom
panoramic head I made from a Kiwi+. I typically shoot eight to ten
shots, use Photoshop 6 to adjust the images, PanaVue to stitch them
together, and then Photoshop again for touch up. The pans I create
have foreground objects, so a tripod and panorama head are critical.

Mike
Click to expand...
 
ruexp67 said:
Mike, can you help me understand something? What does the
Pano-head get you with a digicam? Everything I have read indicated
that the pano-head is there to help you index your shots so that
there is no overlap. I could see where this would be useful with
film where you don't want any overlap because there is no software
to "stitch" the image together. However, with digital you NEED the
overlap to give the software something to work with.

I am confused. Help me out.
Click to expand...
The purpose of a pano head is to reduce/eliminate parallax by insuring the camera turns on the lens' nodal point. It doesn't really have anything to do with overlap/stitching. http://www.panoguide.com explains it much better than I can :-) The good news is that the tripod mount on the F505V is on the axis of the lens, so parallax caused by off-axis tripod mounts doesn't exist on this camera. The front-to-back location of the nodal point varies with the focal length though, so a properly adjusted pano head is required for the absolute best panos. (If you go back and look closely enough at the NYC pano I posted a few weeks ago in S&G, you will see some ghosting -- caused by the camera not being turned exactly thru its nodal point.) This is my understanding of panos -- someone please correct me if I'm off base.

Alan
 
I agree, Canon Photostitch is really easy to use and works really well. too bad they dont market it seperately. You can stitch photos in any dimension, 2x2 or larger. Once you learn the over lap needed you can stitch TIFFs to make a really huge, high resolution 3x3.
heres one example of a 140 degree vertical sweep.



Regards, Mike k
fg said:
Jester,

Panosoftware can be a lot of fun, but if you have photoshop,
handstiching isn't totally out of the question.... It just sort of
automates the process...

And I would say if you're just fooling around, you don't need a
panohead and at times can get away without a tripod.

I use the software that comes with G1. Simply find a friend, who
thinks the G1 is better, convince him to buy it, and then borrow
his software....
Click to expand...
 
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