How to stitch a large number of panoramic groups of photos automatically?

[hz10]

I am wondering if Canon has a camera that stitches panorama photos automatically after they are taken.

Is there an application that can automatically stitch many groups of photos automatically?

I use Canon PhotoStitch now, and I have to go through the steps of selection, merging, saving every time for stitching each panoramic group of photos.
Any tip will be greatly appreciated.

 

[21st Hermit]

Your use of "panoramic group of photos" is confusing. Just what do you mean?

There are any number of stitching programs that will handle multiple rows and columns of images, no limit. I've done 200 image stitches. Can't remember the exact R/C count.

I am wondering if Canon has a camera that stitches panorama photos automatically after they are taken.

Is there an application that can automatically stitch many groups of photos automatically?

I use Canon PhotoStitch now, and I have to go through the steps of selection, merging, saving every time for stitching each panoramic group of photos.
Any tip will be greatly appreciated.

--
Lost in the Colorado Mountains!!!

 

[hz10]

I am sorry for the ambiguity. By panoramic group I mean the photos that comprise a panoramic picture. Canon cameras name the files of each group STA_xxxx.jpg, STB_xxxx.jpg, STC_xxxx.jpg…

For example, I may take 100 panoramic pictures in a field trip. Each of the panoramic pictures consists of 2 to 5 single shots. I hope there is an application that will stitch these hundreds of shots automatically into 100 panoramic pictures instead of me doing one at a time.

It would be even better if a camera can do the stitching before the files are downloaded.

 

[yooperguy]

You could use a camera with sweep panorama feature, several are available. Sony seems to have developed a good result with their offerings.

http://pogue.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/09/29/the-glory-of-sweep-panorama/

If you are not doing sweep panorama, and instead have multiple overlaps in vertical and horizontal orientations, then something like PTGui or Hugin should work. I don't believe there is an "easy button" to delegate it all to the software to automatically stitch it without your involvement...one pano at a time.

http://www.ptgui.com/

http://hugin.sourceforge.net/

I tend to use Photoshop Elements 10, and have taken carefully overlapped images, and I get good results. It has a pano feature included. Here's a pano with I think it was 14 (hand held) images merged. It was taken with my NX100 but merged with PSE 10.





Dennis

 

[gazzar]

Is there an application that can automatically stitch many groups of photos automatically?

I haven't tried it, but it looks like Hugin can do it:
http://wiki.panotools.org/Panorama_scripting_in_a_nutshell
There appears to be a GUI-based program to run it called PTBatcherGUI. See
http://wiki.panotools.org/Hugin_Batch_Processor
This post might be worth reading:
https://groups.google.com/forum/?fromgroups=# !topic/hugin-ptx/fAo-4TH0qDQ

I have no idea how easy it is to use this. Good luck!

-g

 

[hz10]

Thank you all.

I will try PTBatcherGUI first, and report back here.

Hong

 

[hz10]

Thank you. Sweep Panorama of Sony is exactly what I was asking about, but I did not know this term.

I noticed that Sony's other smaller non-SLR cameras have the Sweep Panorama mode too. My next camera, which may come soon, must have that feature.

I have just noticed another person asked about this feature for Canon more than a year ago. I thought I could not not the only person tired of using a stitch application to generate panorama picture one at a time.
http://forums.dpreview.com/forums/read.asp?forum=1010&message=38648933

Hong

 

[UnicornNz]

Autopano will look at a directory of images, and work out which ones can be combined into panoramas. Sometimes you need to change its recommendations, but it often gets things correct,

 

[hz10]

Yes, Autopano is the kind of app that I was looking for. Thank you.

It appears to be an overkill for what I need. My limited usage cannot justify the $200 price.

 

[Greynerd]

What about Microsoft Ice which costs nothing. You do not need to use the panorama mode in the camera but just leave enough overlap for the program. Ice works better than a Nikon bundled stitching program I tried to use. I have some Ice stitches in my gallery though you may be after better quality. Only one of these used a panorama assist in the camera. Beware in camera panorama stitching in compacts as resolution can be very poor.

Yes, Autopano is the kind of app that I was looking for. Thank you.

It appears to be an overkill for what I need. My limited usage cannot justify the $200 price.

 

[Ken53]

I am wondering if Canon has a camera that stitches panorama photos automatically after they are taken.

Is there an application that can automatically stitch many groups of photos automatically?

I use Canon PhotoStitch now, and I have to go through the steps of selection, merging, saving every time for stitching each panoramic group of photos.
Any tip will be greatly appreciated.

Like Greynerd said... Try Microsoft ICE.

http://research.microsoft.com/en-us/um/redmond/groups/ivm/ice/

Here is an example of a forum member’s example of stitching 14 images.

http://forums.dpreview.com/forums/read.asp?forum=1010&message=41968669

I haven’t tried it myself yet but I’m looking forward to it.

Ken

 

[hz10]

The example panoramic photo is amazing!

As my understanding, ICE still requires inputting groups of files one at a time. My primary intention is to save time when creating lots of panoramas.

Hong

 

[hz10]

As my understanding, ICE still requires inputting groups of files one at a time. My primary intention is to save time when creating lots of panoramas.

I think ICE’s stitching quality is significantly better than Canon’s PhotoStitch. I feel it blends the individual shots better leaving no stitching seam trace.

 

[Greynerd]

Apologies. I see that higher up in the sub threads. Best of luck finding an app at the price.

As my understanding, ICE still requires inputting groups of files one at a time. My primary intention is to save time when creating lots of panoramas.

I think ICE’s stitching quality is significantly better than Canon’s PhotoStitch. I feel it blends the individual shots better leaving no stitching seam trace.

 

[Cyril Catt]

The Panasonic ZS15 and several other recent Panasonic models - and the iPad 2 - have sweep panorama capabilities. But I have found it difficult to swivel smoothly to get satisfactory results, and their in-camera results do not appear to have the IQ of separate shots stitched in my computer.
--
Cyril

 

[BertIverson]

As my understanding, ICE still requires inputting groups of files one at a time. My primary intention is to save time when creating lots of panoramas.

Hong

You are correct about ICE looking for a group of shots which comprise a single panorama. However, you might consider this. As I shoot the pano frames (groups), I take a quick shot of my foot to separate the groups. I drag and drop each group into ICE using the foot shot as the group separator. I gave up on other stitching programs several years ago when I discovered ICE. Just some more food for thought.
Bert

 

[Steve-P]

The "sweep panorama" function on Sony cameras works well but it does limit the size of the output. I don't think the images are worthy of printing.

If you want to pay for software that will do exactly what you are asking i.e. point it to a folder and it will automatically find all the panoramas and put them together, then do a search for Autopano Giga. Works a treat although it is not cheap at 199 Euros or what ever that converts to in dollars.

Cheers
Steve

Thank you. Sweep Panorama of Sony is exactly what I was asking about, but I did not know this term.

I noticed that Sony's other smaller non-SLR cameras have the Sweep Panorama mode too. My next camera, which may come soon, must have that feature.

I have just noticed another person asked about this feature for Canon more than a year ago. I thought I could not not the only person tired of using a stitch application to generate panorama picture one at a time.
http://forums.dpreview.com/forums/read.asp?forum=1010&message=38648933

Hong

--
http://www.pbase.com/hangman/galleries

 

[hz10]

Thanks for the tip. Following your tip, I took a look at a demo video:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kuGxEUQbmIs .

It certainly looks good. For $230 at Costco, Panasonic Lumix ZS19 with 20x optical zoom is extremely appealing.

 

[Steve-P]

If you only want to view them either on your computer or post on the web then the in camera panoramas produced in camera by the Sony or possibly the Panasonic could be all you need.

If you intend to print and frame or dry mount your panoramas then you should be looking at the software option as in any of the programs mentioned previously.

Cheers
Steve
--
http://www.pbase.com/hangman/galleries

 

[hz10]

Thanks a lot for clarifying it. I am not a professional though I have been taking a lot of photos over 20 years starting from the film. Nowadays, I rarely print photos. If I print them, they are usually for customized holiday cards. It looks like that the camera’s stitching is adequate for what I need. Now, the question is Sony or Panasonic? I love Canon. If Canon had one, I would go with it without debating in my mind.

Hong