GigaPan Epic imager released, your party photos will never be the same
By Laura June 
posted January 30th 2009 9:55AM
posted January 30th 2009 9:55AM
[Via Photography Blog] Launch of "Epic" Signals New Era of Panoramic Images
GigaPan Delivers High-Res Panoramas for Point-and-Shoot Cameras with NASA Technology
PORTLAND, Ore.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--The GigaPan Epic, launched today, empowers experienced and novice photographers to capture detailed panoramas with almost any point-and-shoot digital camera. Powered by out-of-this world technology from the NASA Mars Rover, GigaPan makes it easy and fun to create giga-pixel panoramas.
Professional freelance photographer, David Bergman, took his first GigaPan panorama of President Obama's inaugural address, an Epic shot seen around the world. The sweeping image of the new President addressing millions of Americans has such phenomenal detail that by zooming in it is possible to recognize individual faces. Millions have visited GigaPan.org to find themselves in the crowd.
"I knew that this was an important picture, and the story I wanted to convey was the sheer size of the crowd. No single lens could have captured the scene at that quality," said Bergman. "I couldn't have done it without GigaPan."
The GigaPan Epic is so easy to use, Bergman was able to capture this historic shot the very first time he used it. The Epic includes fully integrated software and works seamlessly with GigaPan.org. Everyone can capture the same incredibly detailed images right out of the box. The GigaPan Epic, complete with the GigaPan Stitcher software, is available now at http://www.gigapansystems.com for $379.
Here is how it works: First a digital camera is attached to the Epic, a small robotic mount that automates the picture taking process. Next, the hundreds or thousands of resulting images are downloaded to a computer and the GigaPan Stitcher software automatically combines them into a panorama. Then the GigaPan.org Web site makes it easy to post GigaPan panoramas for sharing with a global community, and the GigaPan Viewer allows people to zoom in and out to explore the panoramas in detail.
"Today we are offering the general public breakthrough high-resolution imaging technology that is the result of years of research by scientists at NASA and Carnegie Mellon University," said Henry Hillman Jr., Founder, President and CEO of GigaPan Systems. "The potential applications for the Epic are limitless. The GigaPan.org site already features more than 10,000 panoramas, and our beta users have taken fantastic panoramas not only of President Obama's Inauguration, but of Yankee Stadium, Chicago skylines, Hawaiian landscapes and thousands of extraordinary images."
GigaPan Panoramas Around the World
High-resolution images captured with the beta version of the GigaPan Epic have already been displayed in exhibits around the world and online at the GigaPan.org Web site.
The City of Chicago's new tourism Web site, http://www.explorechicago.org, features enormous GigaPan panoramas of Chicago. As part of the launch of the new website, millions of visitors to Chicago's O'Hare airport will see an exhibit of 30-by 10-foot mural-size giga-pixel GigaPan photographs of iconic Chicago locations, including the skyline, Millennium Park, and the CME Group Financial Trading Floor. Photography instructor and multimedia artist Jennifer Gooch was one of the GigaPan beta users invited to take GigaPans of Chicago, and her work will be on display in the exhibit.
"The GigaPan Epic is empowering. With just a basic point-and-shoot camera the Epic allows you to create extraordinary images," said Gooch. "As a photographer, I find the Epic to be the ultimate landscape tool. It allows me to not only take really large pictures, but also to explore the pictures in ways we've never been able to do before."
The GigaPan Epic was originally used as part of a cultural exchange program, the Global Connection Project, which aims to help connect communities and people around the globe through images. Many of these images are available for viewing online with the unique GigaPan viewer, at the GigaPan sharing community, http://www.gigapan.org. Visit to see how GigaPan images offer viewers a new, unique perspective on the world.
Pricing and Availability
The GigaPan Epic robotic camera mount with integrated GigaPan Stitcher software and GigaPan Viewer is the first complete solution for high-resolution imaging. The GigaPan Epic is available now for $379. The GigaPan Epic 100, available soon for $449, a second model designed for larger point-and-shoot digital camera models. For more information and to purchase the Epic and Epic 100, visit http://www.gigapan.org.
About GigaPan Systems
GigaPan Systems was formed in 2008 as a commercial spin-off of a successful research collaboration between a team of researchers at NASA and Carnegie Mellon University. The company's mission is to bring this powerful, high-resolution imaging capability to a broad audience. For more information, visit http://www.gigapansystems.com
These things exist, it's how google does street view.
http://www.popularmechanics.com/technology/industry/4232286.html
Yes Google does do that with a van-load of equipment, but what I was getting at was in a more portable, hand-held format like the old Parashot from Cyclovision for the Nikon Coolpix 950.
http://www.dpreview.com/news/9906/99061401parashot.asp
http://www.rth.org/parashot/
Looks like Engadget had reported on something called a "Bubblescope" in 2007, but it doesn't look like it ever got out of the vaporware stage. (Not that I would have bought one, their sample images looked pretty craptacular.)
http://www.engadget.com/2007/06/30/bubblescope-promises-simple-360-degree-photography/
Cyclovision is long gone, but you can still get single shot panoramas with our GoPano lens. It can do panoramic video as well.
http://www.eyesee360.com/gopano/
how can I see this playing a role in a CSI episode sometime...
never watched CSI, but stuff like this has been used for crime scene for years...scanners create a 3D model of the room and stitches the photos it takes onto the digital canvas...investigators can then do a virtual walk-through of the room long after the scene has been cleaned up to check if they missed anything and possibly animate a scene for a jury.
thats fine and dandy for the small p/s but what about the big guns AKA D700/D3/5dMkii
Where's Waldo?
It's pathetic that the thing has a plunger to physically push the shutter button. With all the computer power in these cameras, why can't there be common electronic (USB?) protocol to comtrol them remotely? Canon adheres to some standard protocol, I forget the name. Why don't all the cameras?
I dont see a lot of benefit in here. Also, Photosynth and ICE (Image Composite Editor) from Microsoft Labs does a great job of stitching several images to panoramic. And I am pretty sure there are several others that I may not be aware of that do the job just as fine or even better.
Zoom in to President Obama, then pan slightly to the left.
Hmm...are Clarence Thomas and Samuel Alito sleeping through the Inaugural?
Great resolution!!!
Can they make a super high speed one for the Casio Ex-F1?
So, theoretically I could use this to construct a full 360-degree view of a room, like a Quicktime VR?
An automated way to produce a high-quality texture map of a location with full coverage is absolutely awesome! Could you imagine the implications for low-budget films attempting 3D environments?
Pfft all you need is to take your overlapping photos with the same settings (auto settings the camera picks will be different each shot is left to its own devices) and Autostitch... heres a few of mine with all pics taken by hand:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/makemydinner/2731129439
http://www.flickr.com/photos/makemydinner/2810474909
http://www.flickr.com/photos/makemydinner/2699175731
Even ignoring the electronic robot features, the Gigapan Robot does more than what you could do with a simple pan head - It rotates the camera around the nodal point of the lens both horizontally and vertically, which greatly improves the quality of stitching. - Lighter weight non electronic nodal pan heads are available elsewhere See for example www.nodalninja.com
What is particularly interesting to me is the Gigapan Stitcher software - It stores the giant image in individual tiles which make zooming in much faster than it would be with a single giant jpg or tiff file. - The software can output to a tiff file for printing, but it doesn't seem to be set up for easy photoshop correcting of the blend points of overlapping images. - More work on the software is needed.