Forum

Topic: Web Site and Forum / SCANDAL! no, but a minor quibble

The contests do have issues. What is needed is to only be able to vote on an image once, not change votes. A voter should not be able to see the rank of the other images until the end, as a high ranking image garners the low votes to push it down. Perhaps only allow images to be upvoted by a voter once voted upon, not downvoted. It is too ripe for manipulation by downvoting the current leader, it should not be possible to see the leader while voting is underway. Perhaps a voters overall vote tally should average to 3, so if they vote 5 on one image and 1 on twenty others, those 20 others would get counted as a vote of 2.95 and the 5 would be 3.1.

Perhaps a voter should not be allowed to vote until they have actually viewed say at least 1% of an images tiles in the viewer. (They should really not be voted on on how well the 800 pixel wide representation looks!!!)

Topic: Web Site and Forum / SCANDAL! no, but a minor quibble

Many contest entry gigapans which are quite nice are receiving identical quantities of “1” ratings. It seems like some people are bottom-rating every entry but their own. Can we adjust the voting to a more tamper-proof method? Maybe have 1 vote per member for your favorite instead of rankings?

Topic: Gigapan Mechanism / Computer setup your using

Hi Peter,

It is true that GPU’s are much more powerful than the CPU, however, photoshop uses the GPU (OpenGL) in very few circumstances and most of them will not matter when dealing with gigapan photos. The only thing when I’m editing a large file that the GPU handles is zooming and panning around the image. This is a basic openGL task and most (not all) cheaper end bracket of graphics card will handle this sufficiently.

Now im not saying to skimp on graphics but, higher end graphics cards are not needed, your money is better spent on SSD’s and RAM.

Topic: Gigapan Mechanism / Pro Battery Life

Brand new Epic Pro, used second time. Battery charged using remote charger. Battery does not seem to hold a charge longer than a week.
Went out shooting yesterday 50 degrees, battery quit after 254 frames. Does this seem right?

Topic: Web Site and Forum / Printing

I recently created my own mounting frame for a 48″ × 134″ print of my Spider Rock GigaPan. This method would work for widths up to 17 feet, the stock length of the MDF window casing I used to form the frame. More photos, a drawing and the materials list are on my site: http://mrpiv.com/Pivin_Family_Album/GigaPan_Tip…

Topic: Web Site and Forum / Printing

You’ve hit upon the real problem with very large prints – mounting is not only a pain but often crazy expensive. I work in the sign industry, so I have a bit of experience with this topic.

Fomecor and Sintra (a plastic) are two common backer materials that can usually be found in lengths up to 96" because the standard large sheet size for them is 4′ × 8′. A sign shop that has a roll-fed laminator (most do) and the proper double-sided film can mount a print to those backers fairly easily. Make sure that they’re used to doing this type of mounting though.

The solution that I would suggest for the 200" print that you have would be to split it into sections and use the aforementioned Fomecor or Sintra options. (Fomecor is lighter and usually cheaper.) You will have to split it into at least a triptych (3 sections)to get each panel down below 96", but depending upon the content and composition, you might decide to go for 4 or more panels.

If Gigapan is going to offer prints of up to 24" x “as long as you want” they really need to source an adhesive-backed substrate, preferably a removable wall graphics film, but that would have to be printed on a sign printer and not the photo inkjet – probably Epson – that I’m guessing they have. About the only practical use for a single print 200" wide is as a wall mural. Also, any adhesive substrate would make mounting to a backer considerably easier and cheaper as well, although a roll-fed laminator would still be the best method to actually apply it to the backer.

I have a photo of a 50″ × 192″ wall graphics film mural of one of my gigapans on my Facebook page here: https://www.facebook.com/ImagesoftheUpstatecom

I hope that helps.

Topic: Web Site and Forum / Printing

Now being the proud owner of a beautiful printed Gigapan that is 24 inches by 200 inches, I am pondering how to hang and display it. I do have a nice wall available that is large enough to accommodate it, but I am unsure as to the best way to actually hang it up. Any suggestions or success stories would be most appreciated.

First thought, just use some metal clips on the print, and nail the clips to the wall. http://www.bassile.com/category.php?category=me… This would prevent holes in the print and I could re-stretch it if it gets slack.
Of course, this does not provide any physical or UV protection for the print.

I was recently at Thomas Mangelson’s gallery in Jackson Hole, Wyoming, and he has prints being offered in a ‘Modern Museum Mount’, http://blog.bumblejax.com/acrylicplexi-prints-p… which is an amazing looking image sandwich between two layers of acrylic plexiglass. The image is permanently adhered to a rigid sheet of clear acrylic that makes handling a large print much easier and significantly eliminates the possibility of damage, while also providing a new “wet” look that only this process can provide. Using the Museum Mount also offers deeper colors and a more three dimensional feel to the image because there is no longer an air barrier between the photograph and the acrylic protecting the print – with traditional framing, the air space between the glass and the print refracts light slightly, whereas this process does not. UV protection is included in the adhesive and the acrylic has UV absorption properties as well.

I do not have a press to sandwich the image and don’t know where to get the large sheets of double sided adhesive, but this is the most ideal as it provides physical and UV protection to the image. I found sheets of 1/4 inch acrylic, 24 inches long and 96 inches wide for $130 http://www.eplastics.com/Plexiglass_Acrylic_She… or 100% UV absorbing http://www.eplastics.com/Plexiglass_Acrylic_She… and here is a video on how these mounts are made http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QWowpe84rXw&feat…

Seems like a good idea for Gigapan Systems to consider when they start offering our prints for sale by the photographer, but expensive…

Last idea, IKEA offers some hangers that are 24 inches wide and include a top and bottom clip, I could get multiple of these to hang the raw print http://www.ikea.com/us/en/catalog/products/3007…

Any other thoughts, methods, or systems for displaying these long prints?

Topic: General Gigapanning / Bubble of Gigapan

Hi everyone, I’m a newbee to the Epic Pro Head but like @Akjos commented I have had a have similar problem with leveling. Whilst talking to to my friend (a groundwork engineer) He pointed out the following problem for example:-

if Tripod stabilisation = +/-.5 degrees in movement off of horizontal/vertical
& Tripod head " " = +/-.1 " "
& Epic Pro motor head = +/-.05
$ Camera inc. lens = +/-.25
How far out are any of us on the Epic Pro head bubble. Hopefully this makes some kind of sense.

I’ve taken hand held and tripod panos for some years and have recently bought an Epic Pro. The bubble however like that on the tripod, although a guide, doesn’t take over the eye. My advice is to do a practice pan after leveling the whole setup. Try to do it on the horizon plane if available and adjust tripod accordingly. Which ever way you achieve level is never going absolutely accurate especially using the bubble system, but your natural eye is still your best friend. i.e if it doesn’t look right it most probably isn’t. The horizon is your best horizontal guide. I took two test panos this week and the most accurate was 1.5 degrees out over 700 metres wide (approx) using tripod & Epic pro bubble. This can be corrected in post production if necessary but understandably it’s better to get it as accurate as possible in the first place. I would be grateful for anymore advice.

I hope this helps

Topic: Web Site and Forum / Old forum posts ported to this forum?

I tried to get a link and or access to the old forum information via some emails back and forth to support on another issue but I just got pointed here. They are definitely pushing it under the carpet which is sad because it might help in certain cases. My original issue was the website said the D70 is compatible with the epic pro but it’s not so that’s a goof on their part – I thought they’d come up with a remote cable with an ir interface to trigger that D70 but nope.

Topic: General Gigapanning / how to make a gigapanorama over 65,000pixels wide?

Love the info here and learning more about gigapanning. Do any of you have experience using the Canon 5D Mark III? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KDULltPMs0o

Topic: Competitions / Competition missing from the site.

…also the Water in Gigapixels competition that hasn’t posted results yet.

:-(

Topic: Digital Cameras on Gigapan / Nikon D7000 and Epic 100

I had to smile a little at this question. I know it was posted a million years ago but I put my 400mm lens and D700 on the machine. It weighs about 5 lbs and works great. However, try to put a couple more ounces on it and beep, sorry.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/nathantw/672366645…
http://www.flickr.com/photos/nathantw/672367799…

Topic: Competitions / Competition missing from the site.

not sure if its just me but i can’t find “Favorite Destinations” in the competition page.
Eddie

Topic: Web Site and Forum / Printing

That’s right, Nathan, and I should have thought of that. The “print now” message is if I want to order prints of my own panos.

Topic: General Gigapanning / Product suggestion

How about T-shirts with a picture of a GigaPan on the front and an explanation of what it does on the back? Then when people ask us what we’re doing we can say, “Read the shirt!”

Topic: General Gigapanning / Duplicate images

I’m having the same issue with double shots. I’m using a Nikon D90. When I use “mirror lock up” I get two exposures. It’s a bummer since I’m using an 800 mm lens.

Topic: General Gigapanning / Printing?

Hello everyone,

As we mentioned in our January 17th 2013 newsletter we sent to gigapan.com members, GigaPan will soon provide the opportunity for photographers to participate in a revenue sharing program on prints to sell to others via the Gigapan.com site. We are working on the launch of this program, which will be released later this spring!

In response to Bkaylor and Aloysious’s posts, you don’t have to add your gigapans to the Print Gallery in order to print your own. If you are viewing your own list of gigapans when logged in, they are all enabled (for you) to print. If you wish to add your gigapan to the Print Gallery, click the ‘edit’ button underneath and check the box, “ALLOW OTHERS TO PRINT THIS GIGAPAN?”

Any further questions/assistance needed, please contact us at http://gigapan.com/cms/support/contact-support

Topic: General Gigapanning / Need Longer Trigger Press...

My camera a Sony Alpha 99 has several modes of bracketing. One of the modes is an S mode bracket that requires a trigger press for every shot of a 5 or less segment bracket. This is the mode I use with the GigaPan.
Another mode in my camera is the C mode and it requires the longer trigger press to release all 5 shots. Did you check to see if your camera has multiple bracket modes?

Topic: Web Site and Forum / Old forum posts ported to this forum?

@nathantw I’m not surprised by the silence, unfortunately. I’d surmise they took it down because they didn’t have time to maintain it, not because they wanted to hide its contents. GigaPan Systems is clearly understaffed when it comes to web resources/issues. What’s important to power users like us is just not their main focus.

Topic: Web Site and Forum / Old forum posts ported to this forum?

Wow, I wasn’t expecting silence from the Gigapan people.

Topic: Web Site and Forum / Printing

Good questions. I was wondering the same with the sale of the prints. I also noticed that all my prints had a print now next to it and I too was looking to turn it off. HOWEVER, if you look at everyone’s Gigapan you’ll notice that there aren’t any “print this Gigapan” next to it. So it looks like you’ll need to authorize it like they said. To double-check just don’t log in and look at your picture. You shouldn’t see a print feature…at least I hope. I didn’t even check.

Topic: Web Site and Forum / Printing

I got a message that printing was possible through gigapan.com and pointing me to the FAQ. It says I need to manually authorize gigapan.com to print and sell my images. It fails to say what prices apply or what commission, if any, I would receive.

I’m considering whether to allow printing and have not authorized anything. Despite this, I see that ALL my 200+ panoramas are open for printing. I want printing disabled and gigapan.com to give me and everybody else more information about sales. This is bad!

Topic: General Gigapanning / Need Longer Trigger Press...

When I am shooting an indoor panorama, there is typically low light and quite a bit of contrast. This means that I need to shoot a bracketed set of photos (for HDR) and the exposure times are typically quite long. Because of this, I find that the 8 second maximum trigger length often is insufficient. (1 sec, 2 sec, 4 sec plus the faster side often adds up to greater than 8 seconds.)

Any chance this could be updated in the firmware to as much as 30 seconds (or more)? It would be way cool being able to shoot some evening panos too but that really isn’t much of a possibility at this point.

Thanks!

Topic: Gigapan Mechanism / Taking Shutter 5Times

Hi,
I tried to “Shutter Teach” mode OFF.
Taking Shutter only 1times!
I do not know why 5 times…

Thankyou very much.

Topic: Gigapan Mechanism / Taking Shutter 5Times

Hi,

switch off the “Shutter Teach” mode (=> letter “T” at the upper right display corner, see EPIC Pro manual at page 7), set “Multi Trigger” to 1 and activate single shutter release at your camera (no continuous shooting).

HaPe