Ultimate high-def zoom?

[LumenLux]

From time to time, some fellow forum members have come forth with some outstanding implementation of "zoom" in PTE. With that in mind, I am posting intact a message-link I received. This is truly impressive. On the other hand, if one is concerned with the potential of "boring" pans in our PTE presentations, the capability displayed here could mean "disaster."

2009 Inauguration Photo - SUPER HI-DEF

This is absolutely the BEST in 'high definition'..... Really amazing.

Zoom in ('double-click' any area) ....and watch it focus. Then zoom some more... and wait for focus.

What a surveillance tool this is!

This picture was taken with a robotic camera and weighs in at 1,474 megapixel. (295 times the standard 5 megapixel camera)

It was a Canon that pulled together over 200 individual shots. Each zoom in takes a second to focus ...and then you can see some amazing reactions.

Bonus points if you find Yo-Yo Ma .... Taking a picture with his iPhone.

To open, click on the http line below, and don't forget to try double clicking on various areas of the photo.

http://gigapan.org/viewGigapanFullscreen.p...6648c2b4b06233c

[Ken Cox]

see the big guy behind the "Pres" havin an aft snooze --- looks like a supreme court justice -- must be thinking of a verdict / ruling

Robert if you cant find him i will send you a picture of him

ken

[LumenLux]

see the big guy behind the "Pres" havin an aft snooze --- looks like a supreme court justice -- must be thinking of a verdict / ruling

Robert if you cant find him i will send you a picture of him

ken

Nah, missed him. I was trying to read the music of the military ensemble, but was not clear enough. I think Lin would have had that with his method. Or JPD? Or?

[Lin Evans]

Hi Robert,

This image was done with the little "Gigapan" robotic panorama tool which holds a digicam and is easily programmed specify the upper left and lower right quadrant for a stitched panorama. The robotic device has been available for some time now and presently only accepts digicams (not one for dSLR's yet). You can use their software or your own such as Autopano Pro to do the stitching. The battery driven, tripod mounted robotic device moves the camera a specified distance then presses the shutter release with a little plunger attached to a mechanical arm. This processs is repeated over and again until all overlapping captures necessary to stitch the image have been acquired.

Once you have completed the stitch, then you can view on your own system or upload (takes a long time) to their site (free) and link to your website. Their Gigapan software allows zooming to the maximum focal length used in the capture and seamlessly switches the views in and out as you zoom.

Almost any digicam can be used and of course the ones with greatest zoom produce the most impressive results. The actual "optical" resolution of any single frame is equal to the optical resolution of the camera used but of course the overall resolution in pixel count is equal to the cumulative frames minus the percentage for stitches.

In practical terms, this is limited to around 200 frames per stitched pano with about 100 franmes being suggested as a practical limit. The authors of Autopano Pro have actually created multi-gigabyte stitches far in excess in terms of resolution and scope beyond the Gigapan process, but for home use the little robotic unit is quite amazing and costs under $400 U.S.D. As of today, a 13 gigapixel stitch of Harlem has already been done and the 20 gigapixel stitch of Paris is planned for this summer:

http://www.paris-20-gigapixels.com/en/

Here's a link to their site if anyone wants to read more about the technology:

http://gigapansystems.com/home.html

And here is a link to some of the pretty impressive Gigapan stitches - on this one too much chromatic aberration at max zoom but very impressive. I suspect the photographer used digital zoom to get the extreme closeups:

http://gigapan.org/viewGigapan.php?id=5322...indow_width=984

The above stitches are about a gigapixel in total image size. The project now being developed will shortly render a 20 gigapixel image of Paris.....

here:

http://www.paris-20-gigapixels.com/en/

and here:

http://www.autopano.net/blog/2008/12/15/ne...-20-gigapixels/

Best regards,

Lin