In camera panorama - opinions?

[davidedric]

Hi,

No tripod and a nice sunset, so I decided to use the Panasonic G7's in camera panorama setting. I think it's not at all bad, though not a wall hanger of course, and it's very straightforward to do Any thoughts?

Dave

[Shadowman]

Nicely done, does this do a 16:9 crop or something similar or does it actually combine multiple exposures?

[NorthernFocus]

I think it's awesome. Hard to believe one can produce such and image in-camera and handheld. Incredible what the technology can do these days. My only beef with the pano and hdr functions in the cameras in my kit is that they can't produce those images as RAW files. By definition not as big of an issue with hdr. But being forced to shoot jpeg also forces me to be much more meticulous than normal with exposure.

[pnodrog]

It has done a pretty good job. The only obvious area that needs a tidy up is on the right hand side. Patch that up a bit, even up the sky and you probably could hang it on the wall.

[Mike Buckley]

Hard to believe one can produce such and image in-camera and handheld.

Exactly my thought.

[NorthernFocus]

It has done a pretty good job. The only obvious area that needs a tidy up is on the right hand side. Patch that up a bit, even up the sky and you probably could hang it on the wall.

Didn't notice that. Actually from a composition standpoint I'd have recommended cropping some off the right side anyway. And it's much easier than cleaning up that seam. Problem solved..

[davidedric]

After John's question, maybe a short explanation of "what happens".

With this camera, one of the top dial options is panorama. (I think the camera selects ss and aperture). When you press the shutter, you pan from left to right (the tricky bit is the speed of pan) and the camera takes multiple exposures. You have the choice of setting the pan to portrait or landscape - portrait makes more sense to me since the result will be long and thin anyway. The camera then stitches these together into (again I think consistently) a 7.6mp x 2.5mp jpeg, that you can then manipulate in the usual way.

I haven't done a controlled experiment to see exactly what the variables are, since I first thought of it as a bit of a gimmick. I think I should do some more investigating.

Dave

[davidedric]

Duly cropped

[NorthernFocus]

Now you're talking. Nice.

...I first thought of it as a bit of a gimmick. I think I should do some more investigating...

I'm ashamed to say that I ignore all of the whiz bang new features in my cameras. I don't even use auto exposure nor any of the AF modes that utilize multiple focus points. About as far as I go is moving the single focus point around, using BBF, and in camera crop modes. I did take a few shots with HDR mode in the little Sony a6000. Ironically with a cell phone I use hdr, pano, etc. Odd

[Mike Buckley]

I'm ashamed to say that I ignore all of the whiz bang new features in my cameras.

Fortunately, all of my cameras are so old that they have been discontinued and don't have any new whiz bang features. I've heard they create raw and jpeg files of the exact same image but I've never tried it.

[Manfred M]

I have tried this mode on my cameras, but as I generally shoot landscapes around sunset (I tend not to be up in the mornings), I find that this mode does not work for me as it is a jpeg only mode and I get blown highlights.

I find it takes very little effort to do this manually and have Photoshop stitch the images together, where I can use raw files as the building block and the higher dynamic range associated with using that data.

[Acorn]

Like a good wig, Dave. No signs of any joins.

[davidedric]

I find it takes very little effort to do this manually and have Photoshop stitch the images together, where I can use raw files as the building block and the higher dynamic range associated with using that data.

I don't think anyone would disagree that you can get better results that way.

On the other hand, if someone had told me a few years ago that a $500 camera could pull this straight out of camera I would have been (very) surprised.

Dave

[DickyOZ]

My current camera doesn't have sweep panorama and I miss it. My old Fuji HS20 and HS50 both had it and they gave some great images.
A really useful trick is to set the sweep direction to vertical and then rotate the camera 90 degrees and sweep horizontal. That way you get a much 'taller' images which gives a lot more crop room.

[MrB]

It prompts the thought - how many photo enthusiasts get a new camera, switch it on without ever studying its features, always use manual mode and raw capture, and consequently have no idea what its technology is actually capable of?

Cheers.
Philip

[Dave Humphries]

It prompts the thought - how many photo enthusiasts get a new camera, switch it on without ever studying its features, always use manual mode and raw capture, and consequently have no idea what its technology is actually capable of?

Me!

[NorthernFocus]

It prompts the thought - how many photo enthusiasts get a new camera, switch it on without ever studying its features, always use manual mode and raw capture, and consequently have no idea what its technology is actually capable of?

Cheers.
Philip

I suspect most people who shoot manual mode and RAW know their cameras pretty well but for various reasons prefer to retain control.

[Manfred M]

It prompts the thought - how many photo enthusiasts get a new camera, switch it on without ever studying its features, always use manual mode and raw capture, and consequently have no idea what its technology is actually capable of?

Cheers.
Philip

Actually Philip - I tried the HDR and Pano functions - I just did not like the lack of control over the final product.

[rpcrowe]

Me!

Me too!