[Scobra]

Not sure if many Pentaxians are into gigapans like I have been for a long time, starting with a Kx, Kr, K-5, and now K-3 mark 1, but recently I coupled my K-3 to an old Five Star 500mm and rigged up a temporary power supply form a car lighter socket to shoot this gigapan. The entire camera, lens and Gigapan were all bought second hand and totalled around US$1000. Lotsa fun for little money! Video about the day's shooting begins in the video below at 43 seconds until about 2min 18 seconds.


https://youtu.be/HCYqKZZSYgQ?t=43

actual gigapan can be viewed here

Looking south towards Wollongong from Sublime Point Lookout Austinmer

[Paul the Sunman]

I admire your patience.

[btnapa]

K-3 and Five Star 500mm 200 image Gigapan

Nice work. I know a little bit about Gigapan but never used it. How long did it take the computer to complete the task from start to the final image?

What was the ISO on K3?

Thanks

[clickclick]

Neat stuff. I can see this being another rabbit hole I could get sucked down.

[EssJayEff]

I bought my K-01 specifically to use with a Gigapan because its small size and weight meant it could be used on the base model for a lower price than the midrange model. Then I discovered I had free access to one, so I gave it try. I only used it on one outing, with okay results for using it only once. I headed in a different direction, however, with my photography and never revisited the device. This was back in 2014 . . . so I just sent an email to the person who helped coordinate my access to it then to see if it is still available. It's a holiday weekend, so we'll see what develops. Yup, could be another rabbit hole!

[Scobra]

Nice work. I know a little bit about Gigapan but never used it. How long did it take the computer to complete the task from start to the final image?

What was the ISO on K3?

Thanks

The time to stitch the panorama depends on many things, such as the number of cores in your computer, the mp size of each image, the type of stitching software, and the number of images. Gigpan Stitch is fairly basic and fast, because it does not perform anti-ghosting.

If you read the "Stitcher Notes" on the side panel, this example took less than an hour: Total time 37:38 (11 seconds per picture) Alignment: 4:42, Projection: 8:52, Blending: 24:04(Preview finished in 18:09.)

The "Stitcher Notes" also show the ISO was 400.

The "Stitcher Notes" are scraped from the metadata of the images and automatically uploaded with the panoramic image if you use Gigapans' own stitching software (you have the option to not upload if you wish).


As a comparison, here is the largest one I have ever taken, with a K-5, took almost 19 hours to stitch (on a different laptop):
Cusco from Mirador Monumento el Gran Inka Pachakuteq

You cant expect too much clarity on an old manual focus lens like I used, and also due to atmospheric haze from the ocean, heat shimmer, and f/8 on the crop factor K-3 is equivalent to f/12.. But I am happy with the result except for the vignetting. Gigapan Stitch EFX contains anti-vignetting as an option but it was still visible in this image. Made worse by me increasing contrast with Photomatix.

---------- Post added 8th Apr 2023 at 01:43 AM ----------

I bought my K-01 specifically to use with a Gigapan because its small size and weight meant it could be used on the base model for a lower price than the midrange model. Then I discovered I had free access to one, so I gave it try. I only used it on one outing, with okay results for using it only once. I headed in a different direction, however, with my photography and never revisited the device. This was back in 2014 . . . so I just sent an email to the person who helped coordinate my access to it then to see if it is still available. It's a holiday weekend, so we'll see what develops. Yup, could be another rabbit hole!

I also have the midrange model, the Epic 100. It could handle my K-5 with Tamron 300 zoom no problem at all, as long as you kept some spare AA batteries at hand. The midrange model has had a bit of a renaissance lately with super zoom bridge cameras, due to their light weight. The mid-range model also has cable shutter option for Canon & Pentax cameras, which is a handy bonus!

The thing with this type of panoramic photography is you are limited by the weather (clouds, rain, wind, all play havoc), power supply, and suitable vistas are not in everyone's backyard. Also, large gigapans can wear out your shutter pretty quick, when a single shoot can eat up thousands or even tens of thousands of images. But that challenge is what I like!

[btnapa]

As a comparison, here is the largest one I have ever taken, with a K-5, took almost 19 hours to stitch (on a different laptop)

It looks fantastic. I love this Gigapan stuff. Not bad for an old manual lens.

[Scobra]

This one turned out better, didnt pre-process with Photomatix, still some vignetting evident in the sky, but not too bad and could probably be further reduced with another program: View of Copacabana and Lake Titicaca 2023

[Sagitta]

This one turned out better, didnt pre-process with Photomatix, still some vignetting evident in the sky, but not too bad and could probably be further reduced with another program: View of Copacabana and Lake Titicaca 2023

You're making me want to bust my Gigapan out (if I can find the bits for it). I bought my K-70 with it partly in mind, actually. I don't have many 'light' long lenses (my 100-500 is a push/pull and could double as a baseball bat), but even at wider lengths it does an impressive job of things. I realized quickly gigapan images tend to do best on dry, still days when the air is calm as even on a gorgeous day the objects in the distance will invariably get warped from air disturbance.

If you haven't tried astro panos with it, I highly recommend it!

[Scobra]

I realized quickly gigapan images tend to do best on dry, still days when the air is calm as even on a gorgeous day the objects in the distance will invariably get warped from air disturbance.

Air quality and broken cloud cover are the two biggest bugbears in outdoor gigapans. For cloud cover, you can get a rough idea by studying satellite weather photos the night before. For air quality, I find that Sunday morning is usually the best day for shooting, because mornings have less heat shimmer than middays or afternoons, and there is less traffic on Sunday mornings so therefore fore less smog.

[Scobra]

In some ways Gigapan shooters are like storm chasers, you get the best results by studying the weather chart the night before and getting there asap if the conditions look promising.