Rally to Restore Sanity and/or Fear

[TCav]

Jon Stewart and Stephen Colbert held a Rally on the National Mall in Washington, DC. Perhaps you heard about it.

I took my Sony TX7 and tried out the Intelligent Sweep Panorama feature.

[Tullio]

Restore what?!?

Now, here's my question...did you change the ratio or cropped the images? I'm not familiar with the TX7 but if it offers 16:9, it might be a better image ratio for panoramas.

[TCav]

Originally Posted by Tullio

Restore what?!?

This was initially to be two events: Jon Stewart's Rally to Restore Sanity, and Stephen Colbert's March to Keep Fear Alive. They were combined, when Stephen Colbert forgot to get a permit. See http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rally_t...ty_and/or_Fear

Originally Posted by Tullio

Now, here's my question...did you change the ratio or cropped the images? I'm not familiar with the TX7 but if it offers 16:9, it might be a better image ratio for panoramas.

Many Sony cameras have an automatic panorama feature. You engage the feature, press and hold the shutter button, and sweep from left to right. The camera takes multiple images and stitches them together automatically. That's how I captured these.

[JimC]

As an FYI for those reading this thread, newer Sony interchangeable lens models also have that feature now.

The NEX-3, NEX-5, A33, A55, A560 and A580 all have sweep Panorama available, with no tripod or manual stitching required (as the cameras do it for you automatically). It's a pretty neat feature.

They also have a 3D sweep panorama feature available (works the same way, only it produces an image you can see in 3D with a compatible display and 3D glasses). It works by calculating what a dual lens system would have captured and uses a slight offset to the images taken in that mode to produce the same type of effect.

[Marawder]

4th pic is really overexposed...and pretty much everything that's in sunlight looks too bright in the photos !

Guess Sweep Panorama doesn't take very high quality images...

[TCav]

Originally Posted by Marawder

4th pic is really overexposed...and pretty much everything that's in sunlight looks too bright in the photos !

Guess Sweep Panorama doesn't take very high quality images...

I found that, if I started from a dimly lit area, and swept through more brightly lit areas, the camera would maintain the exposure settings from when I first pressed the shutter button, through the entire process, which would result in a severely overexposed middle portion of the sweep. It took a few shots for me to figure out what was happening and how to compensate for it. I would have liked to have seen the camera compensate for the changes in lighting as I swept, or even done a little HDR, when producing the final image.

BTW, the vertical resolution of the image is limited to 1080, so presumeably, the camera just captures a video as you sweep, and builds a panoramic still image from the video. This is great for panoramic snapshots, but certainly will not replace more professional efforts to do the same thing.

[Hards80]

yea. i think both assumption you make are right. it probably does just use the video.

also, i think it sort of has to use the initial exposure, as it would have no way to predict the exposures you will sweep to and generate an average.

but for casual panoramics, especially in even lighting, looks to be a handy feature, and one that many people enjoy playing with

but as you say it is no replacement for doing it yourself and getting an average exposure or doing some kind of hdr.

[Wizzard0003]

My Fuji HS10 has the same feature, you can pan horizontally or verticaly...

It can be fun but it really is more of a gimmick... I agree that you can get better results doing
pan's stitching images together with good software...

Still, the images posted are interesting...

Edit:
You may be able to get better results if you lock exposure to a part of the scene that's a good
compromise between light and dark before starting the pan... You'd still get shadows that are
too dark and highlights that are too light but overall it may be more balanced...

Just a thought...

[TCav]

I just tried changing the panorama settings so it would pan vertically, then I rotated the camera vertically, and swept. The vertical resolution in the resulting photo is 1920, so I think it is using the video to build a panoramic still image. Also, with a vertical resolution of 1080, I could sweep almost 210°, but with a vertical resolution of 1920, it would stop at about 120°.

It's neat, but it's a toy.

BTW, these were shot with a Sony TX7, which is a little pocket camera. There's no way to lock the exposure.

[Wizzard0003]

Originally Posted by TCav

BTW, these were shot with a Sony TX7, which is a little pocket camera. There's no way to lock the exposure.

You point at an area near what will be the center of your pan that you feel is a good compromise exposure wise
and then half press the shutter button and HOLD... Then, still holding the shutter half pressed, point at your pan's
starting point... Press the shutter the rest of the way and start panning...