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Re: Which pano head is good

On Oct 24, 2006, at 5:32 PM, 360Precision Email List wrote:

On 24 Oct 2006, at 18:18, email@hidden wrote:

Looks like someone else with SolidWorks (and access to a 3-axis mill) shoots panoramas. ;-)

No, they have no idea how to shoot panos but they do know how to steal from their best customer. Plus we use a 5-axis machine anyway.

Well, I'm sorry to hear that they are not just "copying" your exterior design, but actually stole your work. That is both reprehensible, legally stupid, and puts them at a massive disadvantage for improving anything down the road. Like you said, they will get what is coming to them (and it won't be more sales from this list, I'm sure). Plus, they really need to make a trip to the anodizer if that head is to be used under any bright lights!


Personally, I prefer smaller, lighter, cheaper and faster - particularly since I don't print out my panos (they are HDR for 3D environments) and I carry my gear on my back when in the wilderness. I've made some specialized camera gear for others (with Pro/E Wildfire and a nice 5-axis mill), but for myself I've made two "precise" heads for about $15 each out of parts from Home Depot that will last a very long time. All batch stitch-able with minimal nadir footprint (must be for HDR), just not adjustable like the 303.

I've always wondered why you shoot such low res HDR panos when all the top industry experts we work with are pushing the boundaries with massive high resolution panoramas. You simply cannot get the detail, accuracy or photo-realism with panos from an 8mm Sigma lens. True, for lighting 3D environments you can use a much lower resolution version but for reflections seen on large reflective surfaces the lack of resolution is a killer. Take a front perspective render of a car set in a leafy environment, there's no way a 6000 x 3000px panorama will give you the quality in the cars reflection that studios would accept for print work.

I guess it *has* been over a year since I explained the idea of a "multi-resolution reflection sphere" to you (in Venice). If the entire sphere was to have the resolution that the front glass or hood of the car can sample reflections from (say, in a leafy environment), then it would be a 2.7 Gigapixel pano! (Try to stuff that into a renderdrive!) This technique for putting "resolution where it's needed" isn't new to experienced 3D professionals, but when I explain it to photographers it can take a really long time for them to wrap their heads around it. Hence I can understand why some studios simply tell the photogs to "shoot 10,000 pixels across or use a Spheron" (as I think you said), and then they fake whatever they are missing in retouching.

Besides, my "work" HDR panos are not typically shot using an 8mm (and even then it's 8k x 4k), unless it's on a set where the union lighting crew can't spare more than 2 minutes after a shot has wrapped, or outdoors under fast fading light. My "fun" HDR panos, and the ones I sell on some websites *are* shot this way, and it seems to be more than enough for most consumers, even for print needs. It's all about angle of incidence and how well someone can use their 3D tools. Heck, some people are still using chrome balls and getting decent work done!

I guess my mantra is not "bigger is always better," but rather "find the smartest, most elegant solution to the problem." The photographers and studios I work with appreciate that when time is short and every dollar (or euro) gets counted. "Conspicuous waste" is so 1990's. ;-)

-Mark

Again, truly sorry about the apparent theft of your company's designs, and I didn't intend to advertise them. It sucks to be ripped off, even if it has little or no impact on your business.
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References: 
 >Re: Which pano head is good (From: Jonathan Greet <email@hidden>)
 >Re: Which pano head is good (From: email@hidden)
 >Re: Which pano head is good (From: 360Precision Email List <email@hidden>)



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