David Tan's forum messages

Trausti - FFC said:

You put me between a rock and a hard place. The panos themselves look good at first look, and non panorama related people would probably not find anything wrong with them at all.

Trausti - FFC said:

Hong Kong Cafe. Blown out windows. Window in the staircase has purple fringing, stitching error above the left upper corner of the staircase opening (seen in the yellow stripe on the ceiling), scratches and dirt on walls is "as-is", which would not be expected in a top-level pano, where dirty little secrets like that are removed for providing a clean virtual visit. Such clean-up takes extra time, and therefore it also adds to the price of the final project.

Trausti - FFC said:

Sinou Kaffee Lobby. The whole scene is a bit over exposed, and again purple fringing is present, but more generally than in the Hong Kong Cafe pano. Cleaning up walls/ceilings/floors is not an issue in this pano, since it is a "rustic/authentic" place looking the way it does. No stitching errors spotted with my half-blind eyes.

Trausti - FFC said:

Bike Shop. To me it appears too much out of focus generally speaking. The "DT Swiss" sticker on the round table is in focus, so is the "Token" stand logo... everything else is much more blurry. There is dust on the lens, causing "orbs" in several places (best seen in the black ceiling). Purple fringing is also present in this one. Paper trash on the floor behind the 3 bikes that face the shop front serves no purpose... best to have such things removed before shooting, or in post processing. Dirty tape-glue stripes on the round table along with one of the drawers partially open with something in a squeeze and scratches and dirt on that table... equally make the whole pano less clean and nice.

Trausti - FFC said:

What makes a good panorama project into an excellent project, is the personalized GUI it is provided with. A well designed layout is essential for making a client feel that THEY are getting something unique. Providing a standardized layout with a few standard buttons here and there... is simply the death of creativity. We are not all equally well gifted design wise, and I suffer severely in that department as well, but I do try to improve.

Trausti - FFC said:

Too many commercial projects are provided with standard output design... be that through using FFC or other solutions, and it does get "tired" sooner rather than later to see the same designs over and over again, equally it is a real pleasure to see well construed layouts for projects, where we don't just have a "spinning image", but a full fledged interactive experience with sound, video, image slideshows etc. etc. etc. A spinning image (standard pano) is in many ways like a silent B/W movie from the beginning of last century, while projects with other media incorporated is like going to a modern cinema with high quality everything.

Trausti - FFC said:

I have done a LOT worse than what you linked to, and I still make stupid mistakes that dumbfound me when I finally spot them (some are so big that it is amazing I didn't notice at once).

Trausti - FFC said:

Personally I would place those panos in the "Average" category. Price wise I really can't say, since I don't know what is normal to pay for projects of whatever quality in your area. If these were for a European client, I think that without design, each pano could be as cheap as 100 euros (and again, it would depend on WHERE in Europe it was).

Trausti - FFC said:

HIGH quality pano price is in the range of 600-1500 USD.
AVERAGE quality pano prices range from 100-600
LOW quality pano prices are anywhere from 10-100
This is based on what I have been told over the past few years by people who make a living from panorama works, and the large differences in price are very much influenced on geo-location.

Robert Harshman said:

Never sell yourself short, add value and up sell.

Trausti - FFC said:

A real pro, will use the tools and techniques which make the task easier and better for him/her.

Trausti - FFC said:

Not everyone uses the same cameras, tripods, heads, remotes, software etc. Individual skill and likes/dislikes do play a part in peoples choices.

Trausti - FFC said:

Again, just because something is possible, doesn't mean it is the best way or the way it should be done.

Trausti - FFC said:

For me, EZ leveler is a very good tool, and I would not be happy if I forgot to bring it with me to a shoot, but I would survive. Trausti

Hans Nyberg said:

I never use any type of levelers and have the panohead directly on the tripod column. Leveling is easiest done with the tripod legs but of course that does depend on what tripod you have. I prefer a tripod with snaplocks on the legs as this makes it very easy.

Robert Harshman said:

Adds yet another basic shooting platform decrease in stability, much like a center column. Most medium format shooters never use a tripod with a center column as it greatly increases camera shake and loss of sharpness.