GigaPan Epic Pro helps create 44,880 megapixel panorama of Dubai skyline, world's largest digital photo

By Sean Hollister

posted May 10th 2010 4:06PM

How did the world's foremost manufacturer of robotic camera mounts advertise its flagship product? Simple: it grabbed it, a Canon EOS 7D ~~and some round-trip tickets to Dubai~~, and set about shooting the largest billboard in the world. Local photographer Gerald Donovan shot a nearly 45 gigapixel panorama of towering spires, desert and sky with his new GigaPan Epic Pro and a couple of the company's engineers for logistical support. You'll find the zoom-in-practically-forever image at our source link, a PR and making-of video after the break, and the cash to buy yourself a similar rig in your offshore bank account.

Update: Gerald Donovan writes in to let us know that while GigaPan did help him sort out technical issues in uploading the approximately 1,000,000 images that make up the finely-detailed panorama, the company did not sponsor or commission his work. Incidentally, he's been shooting panoramas of Dubai for some time now. GigPan did revel in the aftermath, however, as a PR after the break shows.

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World's Largest Photo: Record-Breaking Photo Taken With GigaPan EPIC Pro

Dubai Tops Paris for Gigapixel Supremacy

PORTLAND, Ore., May 10 /PRNewswire/ -- First, it was a breathtaking image of Paris that set the record as the world's largest digital panorama at 26 gigapixels. But that record was broken as GigaPan announced today that an image taken of Dubai has taken the top spot as the world's largest digital photo. The gigapixel image that can be viewed at photo sharing site GigaPan.org, topped out at 45 gigapixels. If printed, this photo would be the size of nearly 1200 billboards.

Recently, photographer Gerald Donovan took a majestic image of a landscape in Dubai using the GigaPan EPIC Pro robotic camera mount based on technology employed by NASA's Mars Rover. He shot the photo using a Canon 7D camera coupled with GigaPan's EPIC Pro robotic mount, which took nearly 4,250 pictures over a three- and half-hour time frame. With the help of GigaPan Engineers Randy Sargent and Paul Heckbert, they stitched together the thousands of photos into one very large image using Autopano stitching software and uploaded it to the GigaPan.org site.

"This was intended as a technical test," said Gerald Donovan. "It was about exploring the limits of the hardware and software out there."

Of course, if anyone thought of visiting Dubai without leaving their living room, this is an excellent opportunity to do so because the level of detail is so intense. The tallest building in the world is at the center of the image, a perfect complement to the largest panorama in the world.

To view the record-breaking image and other famous images like Barack Obama's Presidential Inaugural Address, go to GigaPan.org. No special downloads or programs are required. All photographers can upload their gigapixel images to the site, no matter what hardware or software is used, record breaking or not.