2011-06-24

Panorama HR - Sony HX9V, HX7V, HX100V,TX100V, WX10 ...


The Hx9V can capture a lot of detail in dark areas but it is easy to destroy the detail in the bright areas by blowing them out. Focus and exposure is set for the whole panorama when you press the shutter halfway for the first time before pressing it full.
I had a look at some panoramas and noticed often the blown out highlights.

Let me give you a tip how to avoid that and still capture everything.
1. make a test sweep of the panorama you want to shoot and locate the brightest area.
2. frame the brightest spot, press and hold the shutter half way.
3. move the camera to the start position while still holding the shutter half pressed.
4. shoot the panorama
5. on the computer you might notice that some areas are to dark
6. use faststone image viewer to get the detail out of the shadows - see here and stay below 50.



Finally the quality I wanted in a sweep panorama!


NEW quesabesde.com just published a pre-production HD sample where you can see the limits of auto stitching from the panorama function.


Here is a link to a panorama HD shot from a Sony HX100V

A friendly fellow send me this full size 43MP panorama HR to share with you.
where proud DSLR owner need a fancy fisheye lens, the new Sony X series makes this with a sweep.
When Sony introduced the sweep panorama, the results from my HX1 and HX5 were a bit disappointing. The stitching was good and the new motion detection worked well in most situations but the quality was the one from a stitched video feed - too low res for most uses.

Sony did listen to the users who demanded a better resolution.
They took my favorite sweep panorama size (portrait large 4,912 x 1,920 149 deg 10MP) and quadrupled size and quality to 10,480 x 4,096, 149 deg 43MP.



I asked Chris if he could get me a sample from his pre-production Sony HX9V and like to share the results with you now.

pre-production HX9V - top normal panorama mode - bottom HR panorama mode (original size)
the top part has been enlarged 200% to match the exact frame.


the nice thing with the HR panorama is that with the right adjustments you can actually improve the image what with the standard panoramas was mostly futile


pre-production Sony HX9V panorama original size crop

pre-production Sony HX9V HR panorama original size crop

pre-production Sony HX9V panorama original size crop

pre-production Sony HX9V HR panorama original size crop

pre-production Sony HX9V panorama original size crop

pre-production Sony HX9V HR panorama original size crop

pre-production Sony HX9V panorama original size crop

pre-production Sony HX9V HR panorama original size crop

This are not longer the video stream panoramas, this is full sensor resolution quality now.
Great job Sony and a big thank you to Chris.

... oh you want a link to the originals?
no problem here and here

You will find the new HR panorama in this new cameras:

Sony HX7V
Sony HX9V
Sony HX100V
Sony WX7
Sony WX10
Sony TX10
Sony TX100V

4 comments:

  1. Hi, I really love the HR sweep panorama concept. But, compared to 360' Panorama Stitch by Lumix TZ20/ZS10, what is the maximum angle of HX9V Sweep Panorama? And does it has exposure bracketing (that gives you 3 different exposure pics)?

    I'd prefer HX9V clean detail over ISO400 (compared to the blurry Lumix in high ISO), but Lumix's 360' Stitch and the exposure bracketing feature really make me hard to make a decision.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Citra you can make a manual 360 degree panorama stitch with every camera and software the way Panasonic does it. You find the angles in the HX9V on the net technical data section.
    No auto panorama takes 3 exposure shots for HDR, you have to take them manually and combine them to a HDR panorama with Autopano.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Thank you for quick reply.
    Is there some kind of "panorama assist" frame for manual stitch in Hx9v (I read that Lumix have it)?

    For the HDR, of course not in panorama mode, I mean in standard picture, Lumix has exposure bracketing (3 pics) in it's manual.

    ReplyDelete
  4. Zdjęcia Warszawy jak żywe :) Pozdrawiam
    Great Warsaw pictures :) Regards

    ReplyDelete

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