With your skill, I think you would be better served by a panoramic tripod head and a stitching program.
Pete D.
Posted by Jim Erhardt on September 13, 2008 at 4:40 AM
Moshen, I agree with Pete - the quality of your work is certainly high enough to make use of the pano head and a good stitching program. The benefit of this approach is you can construct as large of a file as you desire. Let us know how you decide to proceed!
Posted by Steve Foss on September 13, 2008 at 10:47 AM
Mohsen, I don't know what type of gear you shoot, but Canon bundles its PhotoStitch program with other software on a CD that comes with all its DSLR bodies. It stitches TIFF or JPEG files, and I have had excellent luck with it on pano stitches when following a few simple key steps to ensure all my original captures are exposed at the same settings.
Even if you're shooting non-Canon and don't have access to that free software, I expect any number of people would be willing to share theirs with you.
Capturing a series of photos to be later stitched together certainly doesn't work in all landscape settings, but in the right situations it's a great way extend the native capabilities of your sensor. I especially like to compose all my images vertically as I pan horizontally through the capture process.
I need the ultimate quality in details, can a digital camera with a stitch software achieve this? Don't think so.
Posted by David Bostedo on September 13, 2008 at 6:22 PM
I need the ultimate quality in details, can a digital camera with a stitch software achieve this? Don't think so.
Actually Mohsen, it can. The amount of detail in a stitched panorama is only limited by the focal length of your lens and the amount of images you are willing to stitch together. Using a longer focal length and taking many images to stitch, you can get enormous amounts of resolution - more than you could get with a single film exposure I'd imagine (although I don't have any experience with film - just what I've seen online).
While I've never made more than about a 20 Megapixel stitch (from 5 MP frames) certainly people routinely produce 50-100 megapixel images with tons of detail. Some people even produce multi-gigapixel images, although these often cover a viewing angle you probably wouldn't try to capture with a single film frame, or require tons of work and computer power. (Check out XRez for some pretty extreme examples.
Guy Tal posted a link here to a (I think) 300 megapixel, super high detailed image he created. If he's around, he would also have a good handle on how it compares to large format film.
Ultimately, film is probably much easier, but it doesn't mean a digital camera can't do it...
Posted by Steve Foss on September 13, 2008 at 11:15 PM
I do not have a comparison with pano film. However, I have stitched nine images together from vertical captures using a slight overlap as I panned left to right. These were from an 8 Mp camera at 40 mm (effectively 64mm because of the sensor's crop factor), and the level of detail is simply phenomenal.
As I said before, however, you can't use this in all situations.
Posted by Dan Borzynski on September 13, 2008 at 11:17 PM
Have you looked into getting a 5x7 camera and 6x17 roll film back? The Canham 6x17 back has an excellent reputation and their 5x7's are fairly good as well. This combination, along with a couple of lenses, will give a lot more flexibility, such as movements. Basically, you will get all of the advantages of the Fuji, along with the advantages of LF to boot.
It will probably be a bit more expensive, bought new, but if you don't need the gear now(!), you can probably beat the used Fuji prices, especially if you want two of their lenses.
While I love stitching digital images in to panos (I LOVE that format) I have to admit that I would rather use a pano camera... it would reduce the amount of work, specially with scenes that include moving objects (flowing water, animals, people, traffic...), and then there is something special about the way that MF and LF cameras (including the GX617) cameras handle perspective that puts 35mm to shame... I dream of a GX617 with a FF digital back :-)
I also use stitching program (APP) a lot. A good, economical approach, you can see some images made this way on my page (www.prashanteju.de -> and all the major links have a pano image.
If I had enough funds I would buy a pano camera. Tranny that big is a treat, plus there are still some limitations with the 'stitched pano' images. my .02
Discussion
10 repliesThanks
Pete D.
Even if you're shooting non-Canon and don't have access to that free software, I expect any number of people would be willing to share theirs with you.
Capturing a series of photos to be later stitched together certainly doesn't work in all landscape settings, but in the right situations it's a great way extend the native capabilities of your sensor. I especially like to compose all my images vertically as I pan horizontally through the capture process.
Actually Mohsen, it can. The amount of detail in a stitched panorama is only limited by the focal length of your lens and the amount of images you are willing to stitch together. Using a longer focal length and taking many images to stitch, you can get enormous amounts of resolution - more than you could get with a single film exposure I'd imagine (although I don't have any experience with film - just what I've seen online).
While I've never made more than about a 20 Megapixel stitch (from 5 MP frames) certainly people routinely produce 50-100 megapixel images with tons of detail. Some people even produce multi-gigapixel images, although these often cover a viewing angle you probably wouldn't try to capture with a single film frame, or require tons of work and computer power. (Check out XRez for some pretty extreme examples.
Guy Tal posted a link here to a (I think) 300 megapixel, super high detailed image he created. If he's around, he would also have a good handle on how it compares to large format film.
Ultimately, film is probably much easier, but it doesn't mean a digital camera can't do it...
As I said before, however, you can't use this in all situations.
It will probably be a bit more expensive, bought new, but if you don't need the gear now(!), you can probably beat the used Fuji prices, especially if you want two of their lenses.
It is a thought.
If I had enough funds I would buy a pano camera. Tranny that big is a treat, plus there are still some limitations with the 'stitched pano' images. my .02