Panoramas - PTGui vs Autopano

[Cameron]

I'm looking to get either PTGui or Autopano and was hoping I could get some opinions from those who have used either or both extensively. I've downloaded the trial versions of both and like each for different reasons. PTGui seems to be more configurable while Autopano's UI is easier to use. I'll continue to play with the trials but would love input from anyone who's used them.

On a similar note - do most of you who do multi-row panos have pano heads that control the vertical rotation as well as the horizontal nodal point? I recently purchased the RRS nodal slide which works great for single-row panos but am considering adding the other parts to allow for vertical panning as well. :dunno

[dbd]

While I have happily stitched several thousand panoramas with PTGui, I haven't been using Autopano to compare.

If you want to compare multirow stitching in the two applications, you do not need special hardware for landscapes with no close foreground objects. Shoot some multirows and compare. In fact, using landscapes with close objects, shot without perfect camera positioning might be a useful comparison of how the applications perform when things aren't pefect.

Dale B. Dalrymple
http://dbdimages.com

[Cameron]

Dale - thanks for the tips. I played with both some more and settled on Autopano due to my preference for the interface (both handled my test panos without a problem).

I tried a 2 row pano of downtown Kansas City using my 70-200 (at 200mm). I had 30 frames (vertical) which were stitched together to give this:

http://www.cameronswinton.com/photos/470206096_PuyR7-L.jpg

There's a lot of detail in this pano! (note the yellow arrow - below is 100% crop)

http://www.cameronswinton.com/photos/470209269_wGm5H-L-1.jpg

The lighting is nothing special, this was mainly to see how it would turn out. I plan to go back (parking garage where I work :wink ) when there is some more dramatic lighting.

[gmitchel850]

I have nd use ptGUI for tonemapping and HDR. It does an excellent job on panoramas, too.

However, I find that Photoshop CS4 can do an excellent job with te combination of Auto-Align Layers and Auto-Blend Layers.

Here is an example. Seven photos were handheld. Tonight I will post an improved version that captures all of the mountain. When I panned without a tripod, one shot was lower than the others and the pano was missing a strip of sky as high as the mountain. I've fixed that with a combination of the Patch Tool, the clone tool, and the Healing Brush tool. I just need to do basic retouching and it's done.

http://www.thelightsright.com/files/Demonstrations/GrampianPanorama/GrampianPanorama.jpg

http://www.thelightsright.com/node/455

Cheers,

Mitch

[theNOIZ]

In the past I've use Panorama Factory, but I've had the best luck with ptGUI. If I'm without my tripod, I know that if I make a decision to shoot a pano, I can depend on ptGUI to stitch things together with surprising results. Beachbill turned me on to ptGUI last November. He did some hand held pano shoots in downtown Salt Lake that turned out very nice.

http://shaunnelson.smugmug.com/photos/463207825_Djwy2-XL.jpg