My highest resolution photos are now taken with a P&S camera

With the arrival of a Gigapan robotic panoramic head I am now getting photos in the 0.5 GB to 1.5GB range.

http://www.gigapansystems.com/

 

The system is still in beta testing, but what a way to get lots of pixels with very little investment in hardware.

 

Attached is a downsized photo that I did with the Gigapan + a Canon PowerShot SX100 IS, the attached image is

10% of the linear size of the original, which means it has 1% of the pixels, 6 MP vs. 600 MP

 

I have pasted in a 100% crop of one of the label that is on the loader.<div></div>

Interesting. However, I wonder about the usefulness of such a huge file though -- perhaps for a wall-size image?

Hmmm, how many of these do I need in a lifetime? :)

 

Mary

I did a series of wall-sized posters a few weeks ago ranging from 7'x4' to 10'x6'. I was worried because I was using 10.1mp images.

 

Turns out I had no reason to be worried. The biggest image was a 10' wall poster upsized from the 10.1mp original. Looked fantastic, even close up. I no longer worry about upsizing. That being said, I am looking forward to the 21.1mp 5Dmkii. Never hurts to have a little more wiggle room.

again, what is the point of getting such huge files from a horrible point and shoot camera?

Interesting. I see they are also thinking about a time-lapse version. I've been using a telescope Go-To mount and having to live with certain limitations - looking forward to see their offering.

<i>"...horrible point and shoot camera?"</i><p>

 

What makes it "horrible"?

Lex: "What makes it "horrible"?"

 

The camera is not great, I don't go as far as Starvy and call it horrible however.

 

But the neat thing is that by stitching image together you can turn even a "horrible" camera into a great one, at least for some types of photos.

 

Before I got the Gigapan I was stitching using a manual panoramic head and a DSLR. With the DSLR it takes fewer photos to get a good image, but with the manual head it gets to be a pain to take more then 50-60 photos for one stitched image, with the Gigapan 200-700 photos is not a problem at all.

 

They are talking about a larger Gigapan that can be used with a DSLR, I might go for one of these if they build it, but I worry about adding a lot of shutter clicks to my DSLR. I have shot over 10,000 on the SX100 in less then 3 weeks, I would hate to shoot at that rate with any DSLR.

"Interesting. However, I wonder about the usefulness of such a huge file though -- perhaps for a wall-size image? Hmmm, how many of these do I need in a lifetime? :) "

 

I have had similar thoughts in the past, and at one time figured that 54MP was a good upper limit, this allows for a 20x30 inch print at 300 ppi.

 

But when you get up to a really large size the photo (image if you like) starts to document all sorts of things that you might not even think about. I shot this one a couple of weeks ago

http://gigapan.org/viewGigapan.php?id=8729

 

The grass hut kind of looking thing is the Ahu’ena Heiau, which has historical significance here. Being able to zoom in really shows well how bad of shape it is getting in. After taking the photo I heard they are going to be working on restoring the roof, I will get another photo during that work and after.

 

I should have taking a photo of just the Heiau, but then the context of the location is lost.

 

I also take shots looking out from our backyard from time to time, it is fun to see how things change over the years.

http://gigapan.org/viewGigapan.php?id=8682

 

I also shoot out town from time to time, from different places.

http://gigapan.org/viewGigapan.php?id=1234

http://gigapan.org/viewGigapan.php?id=9021

 

Some of these shots will really only have interest in years to come.

The JPEG you linked to seemed good enough. Seems like a clever way to make large photos without a multi-megapixel camera. I'm not sure why anyone would object, but some folks prefer to solve a problem by throwing money at it in a never-ending pursuit of equipment upgrades.

It's a nice way to automate <a href="http://www.tawbaware.com/maxlyons/gigapixel.htm" >what was done manually</a> 5 years ago.

"again, what is the point of getting such huge files from a horrible point and shoot camera?"

 

Because it gets you a virtual version of a very, very nice camera.

Michael Chang: "It's a nice way to automate what was done manually 5 years ago."

 

It sure is, what Max Lyons did at the time was pretty amazing, there are now a whole lot of images at that reasolution, but I am pretty sure he was the first.

 

Lex: "The JPEG you linked to seemed good enough. Seems like a clever way to make large photos without a multi-megapixel camera. I'm not sure why anyone would object, but some folks prefer to solve a problem by throwing money at it in a never-ending pursuit of equipment upgrades."

 

Being able to get fast easy images that are well over 100MP sure keeps me from feeling the need to spend big money on a 20MP camera. BTW the cost of the camera and the robotic head was around $540, about what a ok lens cost for a DSLR.

Scott, is the $540 (minus camera cost) a projected selling price? or the cost of bits and pieces to put together the prototype excluding amortized development costs? I'm currently using AutoStitch and manually captured pictures; Gigapan will certainly save bundles of time. <br><br>

There are many <a href="https://www.ioptron.com/merchantmanager/index.php?cPath=1_7" >low cost Alt-Az telescope mounts</a> capable of heavy (side mounted) payloads with full 360 vertical rotation. Perhaps a better form factor than the one in development.

Michael, the Gigapan unit was around $280, this is the beta price, i signed up for the beta program something like a year ago. The Camera was another $280 or so, so I guess it really came to $560.

 

The neat part of the Gigapan is that once you set it up it does all the work. If I am doing a huge stitched image, say 500+ images, it is nice to get the thing going and then go off and do something else. With the camera I am using it is taking around 2.2 seconds/photo, so for 500 photos we are talking around 18 minutes to get all the photo.

 

The photo of the front loader was only 170 photos and so took 6 minutes 15 seconds.

Thanks for the info., Scott. <br><br>

I can see the utility in its intended use along the lines of documentation, and $280 seems like a reasonable price in its current form, albeit limited to small cameras. As a general photography tool, it'll probably need to carry the payload of a dSLR with a decent lens, and probably facilitate tethering to a PC so both camera and Gigapan can be remotely programmable. <br><br>

Very interesting. I couldn't find anything specific about which cameras might fit it though. Do you think it could handle one of the very small DSLRs, e.g., an Olympus E-410 with one of the kit lenses?

If you're worried about killing the shutter on a DSLR, you could always buy one new, and add an extended warranty ;-)...

David, here is the list of cameras that have been tested and known to work

http://gigapansystems.com/index.php?page=compatible-cameras

 

Some people have made adapter plates to handle DSLRs. My problem is that in order to get really high resolution I need to shoot at a fairly long FL, with a DSLR I would want to be shooting with at least a 200mm lens, that is getting pretty heavy for the little robot thing.

 

For my DSLR I use a Manfrotto 303SPH QTVR spherical panoramic head. It is manual but works great if I am taking 50 photos or so. Its smallest detent is 5 degrees, with limits how long of a focal length lens I can easily use.

An E-410 with the telephoto kit lens (300mm equivalent) is about 650g, and it looks like their heaviest listed

camera is maybe the G9 at 320g, so it's about double the weight for the DSLR. The size of the DSLR is 5.1 x 3.6

inches, compared to 4.2 x 2.8 for the G9, so it's a bit taller and wider as well. Do you think the robot might

be able to handle it? (I sent a query to the Gigapan people as well.)

I don’t know about the E-410.

 

Someone has been working with a Nikon D200 and finds it works with both the 60mm and 105mm lenses, but he had to make an adapter plate to get it to work. With longer lenses he says the unit can't handle the weight.

The other problem that he has had is the nodal point with the D200 doee not come out correct, not a problem with longer lenses but wide angle lenses will have paralax errors.

 

Life would be easier if we knew if and when they are going to come out with a DSLR sized Gigapan, they are talking about the possibility of such a thing.

The existing Gigapan mount already hits the sweet spot. I thinks a version built to support a DSLR is going to be difficult to do while keeping within reasonable cost constraints. The mechanical robustness needed to swing and damp a 400mm objective on a DSLR won't be cheap, but is do'able right now with a digital compact.

 

I've found it helpful to enable the 2sec timer on the camera with the Gigapan. This gives enough time for everything to settle down before the exposure is taken. Observe how the camera itself moves as the robotic finger presses the shutter - not good at all for sharpness.

Scott, I've just been looking at the pictures you have linked to - feckin' excellent I say. It's amazing how easy it is to navigate and zoom in on the pictures and see so much detail. I like it.

Robust computerized Alt-Az (Pan-Tilt) mounts with greater freedom of movement already exist at low cost for telescopes, and folks routinely mount dSLR cameras for astrophotography (when mounted on a wedge). These mounts are <a href="http://ascom-standards.org/" >ASCOM</a> compliant, so maybe it'd be more sensible to write a piece of generic software to interface with such a mount and forgo hardware development. Of course this will mean being tethered to a computer, unless they make a generic custom hand controller with embedded firmware.

Interesting. What are some representative makes and models?

 

I think Canon digicams can be USB tethered and controlled. If the mount can fall under software control as well, this enables a whole lot of interesting uses.

Robert, here are a couple of examples from <a

href="http://www.ioptron.com/products_con.aspx?pro=GO%20TO%20MOUNTS&id=14" >Ioptron</a> and <a

href="http://www.telescope.com/control/product/~category_id=mounts_and_tripods/~pcategory=accessories/~product_id=09441"

>Orion</a>. More if you Google "Go-To telescope".