How would you change Gigapan's Epic camera robot?
By Darren Murph 
posted December 4th 2009 11:59PM
posted December 4th 2009 11:59PM
posted December 4th 2009 11:59PM
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@iPhoneMessenger
Lol. You are gonna get flame.
@iPhoneMessenger
OH GOD, WHAT HAVE YOU DONE
Give it an option to autobracket shots to later process into HDR photos.
@LloydChiro
I thought the whole point was identical fixed exposure across all the component photos to give a consistent exposure across the resulting combined image. So, do a couple of bracketed exposures first as a test; not by taking hundreds of extra photos during the scan!
@LondonConsultant You would get three identical fixed exposures for the whole thing, then later combine them into HDR. On my laptop, that would take about three weeks to process...
@LloydChiro
While you are taking first 10 photos in a row, light conditions and moving objects (like clouds) will change dramatically. So unless you shoot in a studio environment, making HDR will be a PITA. But it would be interesting to try.
BTW, can't you just set your camera to autobracket automatically when used with gigapan?
Make it like a tempurpedic mattress where I can try it for 30 days free. Now that I think about it, everything in life should be like that, including people.
@MJGAMER 1991 XBL
Must... resist... "your mother"... comment..
ive been shooting 360 panos for years now as a hobby and as computers get faster im not sure i see the need for this. i can all ready shoot a 360x360 pano in 6 shots and stitch it in seconds now that the stichers support multithread, my core i7 kills it. why is this needed at all?
@(Unverified) What software? I have wanted to give it a try but have only used the Microsoft App. and that does not span all the cores on my i7.
As for this if I was to use one I would want it to support direct triggering of DSLRs or other cameras either by cabled remotes or IR. None of this hackish pressing of the shutter button.
@Deckmaster ptgui the the best stitching software. period. its basic, cheap, and very good. supports multicore
@Deckmaster yeah, the biggest hassle in the beta was the shutter button - the canon point&shoots don't have remote trigger, and the olympus superzoom doesn't fit in the frame... chdk might help there, especially with HDR bracketing and positive acknowledgement that the shot got taken.
@(Unverified)
The gigapan's was primarily made to automate shooting hundreds of shots to make extremely large images (gigapixel images). The instructions recommend you put your camera at maximum zoom and shoot in passes much smaller than 360 degrees.
@(Unverified) Wow, you really missed the point, didn't you? The device is intended to make hundreds of shots so that the picture becomes infinitely zoomable.
ATTACH GUNS
@hoodieninja Anyone else think of a sentry gun when they saw the picture?
@hoodieninja My thought was Add some Godamn Frickin' Lazer beams" but, you know, guns would be good too.
@Fluidity
Funny, I actually put a laser on it one night and took a long exposure as it swept around.
http://www.upvector.com/aux/misc/gigabeam.jpg
Lasers!!
Nice! those lasers spruce up that place.
@shea241
dude, thats the coolest thing ive seen all day. +1! :)
A nice improvement would be a Christmas sale price so I can justify purchasing one :-)
The discount offered to education institutions would be a good start.
I've found the Epic 100 chews through batteries, I usually need to replace them after 200 or so photos. Maybe an included AC adaptor or a set of rechargeable lithium-ion batteries would be helpful?
@brendanleo Or perhaps an external rechargeable battery pack. Could use that for my SLR too....
Programmable rate of pan and tilt, for use as a timelapse rig. Oh, and something that works with larger SLRs would be nice.
@key
I'm not sure the steppers would be precise enough for a good time lapse pan & tilt. It'd be neat to try! Wonder if anyone's modded it to do that.
lower the price
Wow, I never heard of this thing! Just spent about an hour looking at pictures at gigapan.org. Definitely want one, it's AMAZING! Can't believe it doesn't cost at least $1k!! I especially love the snapshot ability on the website, it's pretty funny!
Also, thank you Engadget for finally keeping me logged in.. except, now I'm not seeing a "Submit" button.. (and of course get those random "Do you want to continue running this script?" errors)
- provide a detached/wireless keyboard to allow improved stop/continue operation without messing up camera position.
- the detached keyboard could also allow to step back after one round and do some segments again that had moving objects during the first round
- better battery life and/or detached battery holder
- the autobracket idea above is a good one
Hmm.. found the submit button by tabbing past the two checkboxes! Well, in addition to the previous comment, I don't know how I'd change it, but I guess I would have to agree with "key"'s suggested changes.
wow... u guys r still doing these "how would you change" articles... dont you have anything else interesting to talk about?
@Teqknowledgee the middle of friday night isnt exactly high news times. be happy you have an article to comment on!
- Better battery life
- Remote control (wireless or wired, I don't care)
- Command interface (for controlling from a laptop / mobile)
- A freaking backlit display (Really annoying!)
Otherwise, I love it :-)
@shea241
One more thing -- external power supply option!
Make it faster so I won't have the Sun in when picture then the fog clouds in another
"Toss your thoughts in comments below, cool shutterbug?"
...wait, is that a question or a statement?
I'm just always a little amazed that so many people have this and read engadget. the worlds a big place.
Make it disappear.
Make it more cartoony and add rockets and a machine gun. Then I could play real life TF2.
I have shot big panoramas handheld for quite a few years now, and in my opinion there is no need for the Gigapan Epic. If you shoot in daylight, you do not need a tripod. Moreover, the Gigapan keeps shooting row after row of pictures, but if you are shooting a panorama with a blue sky, you do not need tens of pictures of the sky.
I strongly suggest users give a try to Autopano Giga, a stitching software that allows one to paste different pictures, like a wide angle shot and many zoomed in shots, into the same picture.
Let say you are shooting the usual panorama; you start with a few wide angle shots, and then you zoom in only on those areas where you see significant detail.
Then you stitch all together with Autopano. You do not have to carry the Gigapan with you, you do not have to carry a tripod, you need not worry about batteries, and you do not get hundreds of pictures with no value.
I think panorama photographers should concentrate on getting the most out of the minimum number of pictures.
Besides, once you have generated a huge file with the Gigapan system, you can only upload it to Gigapan's own website, which gets very limited exposure if compared with Flickr or the like.
Here below is the link to a 17 pictures handheld panorama made by me; but other users (me too) have shot handheld panoramas with hundred of images
http://photos.paolosmeraldi.com/Other/Camogli/Group-1-P1010104P1010123-17/571036720_CW9mE-L-2.jpg
http://photos.paolosmeraldi.com/
We were part of the beta testing program with Gigapan. For very high-def panos, it's a very simple system, but cumbersome and I have never found a commercial use for the product. However, I happen to know a robotics engineer and he is working on turning the Gigapan into a panning time-lapse device. So far, the results are pretty good, and we are nearly finished with the testing phase.
Bryon Paul McCartney
www.bryonpaulmccartney.com
The resolution of that system is truly outstanding. Too bad it isn't video. If you want to see a video version of immersive technology, check out www.lucid.it.
Lucid Team
www.lucid.it
It needs a support bar at the other end so the camera doesn't tilt to one side (the Pro that will come out will have that).
The Pro that should be coming out will hold at least 8 pounds or more.
The Gigapan should have a digital shutter trigger (2.5" or 3.5" plug).
Battery life isn't a problem if you get an external rechargable battery. I've taken about 2000 pictures on one charge and the battery was only half used.
Make it have a delay before triggering the shutter (not just a delay after the shutter trips and then the mechanism moves) so that way you can take long exposures.
Fast auto-tracking for high speed subjects. Then you can leave it to take pictures of the kids playing in the yard while you go have a beer.
mount a sniper rifle
Make it linked to Twitter and/or Twitter!
Also, a built-in deodorant for those unexpected moments.
I'm also of the mind that this isn't really needed, that with practice (both behind the camera and on the computer) you can make great panorama's, even at night, without a tripod.
Was recently at Disneyland and FunSpot (worlds largest arcade in NH) ended up with a ton of really good panorama's (even with no one in the scene holding still at DL) all shot handheld and stitched in PtGui:
http://disney.rocket9.net/page2.htm
http://pinball.rocket9.net/FunSpot.htm
This is an area though where practice makes perfect... starting out I couldn't get 1 attempt in 4 to result in a panorama worth showing. Can get something good about 90% of the time now.
Wow! As a practicing gigapanographer for the last 8 months, I can say there's some good stuff here, but also some ridiculous posts. To those who say shooting handheld panoramas is *possible* in the day, I agree-- however the level of detail found in a Gigapixel photograph trumps any handheld capablilities-- especially a paltry 17 shots. Gigapan is meant for making astoundingly HUGE photographs QUICKLY. Check out the one handheld 5 gigapixel shot a friend of mine, Zefart, completed to critical acclaim here: http://gigapan.org/gigapans/33411/
@ Rocket9net; nighttime photographs (not even wrt a multi-shot panorama for now) are difficult enough, even WITH a tripod. Explain to me how one would take a clear, gigapixel image, at night-- without one?? I have attempted to make a 2-gigapixel night stitch that simply did not work out because the Gigapan itself was simply blowing *SLIGHTLY* over a 3-second exposure at 105mm in the wind. Then it started to rain because of the sheer length of time I had to have the robot out there (2 hours to shoot, 1 hour to set up got me 1/4 of the way there). Add to this the question of HDR across the entire image-- you want to make something like this handheld?
Also, in response to your 14 megapixel Funspot photo: http://gigapan.org/gigapans/34468/, which clearly utilizes the capabilities of the Gigapan and would not be possible without it. This is currently in contention for the Guinesss World Record of most appearances of a single person in one shot, and has a resolution of 3 gigapixels.
@LloydChiro: Pick up a D3 or D90 and use the auto-bracketing function to take -2, 0, and +2 shots. Definitely a hack and not as precise as we'd all like, but I've had promising results in the picture found here: http://gigapan.org/gigapans/38060/. Batch processing and tonemapping the photos before stitching saves MY i7 a lot of work.
All I could ask for, as listed above, is a rechargeable battery brick, a more robust nodal point calibration/robotic arm assembly, and computer controlled focus, exposure, and triggering adjustments (as alluded to above). In short, make it closer to a PixOrb rig! ;)
The GigaPan system ROCKS and if you look here, you will see what I mean:
http://gigapan.org/searchGigapansByTag.php?tag=ricew&order_by=most_popular
and this GigaPan is worthy of cover location on an architectural magazine: http://www.gigapan.org/gigapans/37836/
and some more information on dpreview.com:
http://forums.dpreview.com/forums/read.asp?forum=1038&message=30225606&q=radcliffe+gigapan&qf=m
Also, always use rechargeable batteries. My biggest image so far has been 1001 photos, but when I have blue sky, I am going for a 1500 photo image and I am positive that I can do it with only 6 batteries.
@cineflock... A clear gigapixel nightime image handheld would be quite a trick, making a panorama's at night, without a tripod, is doable. Tripods are great if/when you have one, but for a night (and in the rain) panorama please see my MD State Fair shot, midway down on: http://rocket9.net/page2.htm
It's presented on here at 9800x1200, scaled down a fair bit for web presentation. Technique I use for shooting long duration at night (and for pano's during the day with lots of movement) is pretty easy. I take advantage of rapid fire mode, shoot each shot half a dozen times or more. First one is always blurry, later ones, often much better and sometimes very still (I think I used about ~1.5 second exposure on the state fair shot). Then when making the panorama, first take the best of the bunch. And when stitching, if there's movement in the scene, take the non-moving part from multiple's of the same.
Another very neat thing about GigaPans are GigaPan snapshots, which can be documented as well, and here are some interesting GigaPan snapshots:
Happy Holidays: http://www.gigapan.org/gigapans/38916/snapshots/113053/
Two Ladies Fleeting: http://gigapan.org/gigapans/15029/snapshots/44250/
Maggie and Renuka: http://www.gigapan.org/gigapans/10339/snapshots/28702/