Forum/thread	Message
Forum: Q & A Thread: PC or Mac - hardware and software	Re: PC or Mac - hardware and software Posted: 11 hours ago go to thread Hi Stalwart hard in this situation not to get into the Mac vs PC debate. I was a Mac "early adopter" (about 1985...) and used them professionally for many years, gradually overlapping into a mixed Mac/Pc (NT) environment. Pre-OSX crash-o-matic Macs did me in eventually. But that was then. I think they are absurdly overpriced although I know people at all levels (including very advanced programmers who don't really care what platform they write the code on) who are happy with macs. I think against them is also the fact that they tend to be closed boxes and much more difficult to upgrade or expand unless you pay for top end models. I recently built a 6600 quad based Pc from scratch and I wouldn't advise anyone else to. I also sourced a Pc from Dell for friend (an XPS I believe) and was very very impressed by the build quality. It was a much better deal than self build. I agree with the poster who suggested getting someone to build what you want for you - assuming you know what you want. I agree that XP is preferable to Vista although not by such a big margin as I originally thought. You can get an OEM version of XP with a custom build machine. Dell won't supply XP these days. Of course there are a multitude of free and shareware applications readily available for Pc's to consider too. I reckon you can get a very high spec XP Pc custom built for far less than an equivalent Mac. My opinion only. Roy alert moderator
Forum: Q & A Thread: Who's ordering the new Canon 5D Mk II?	Re: Who's ordering the new Canon 5D Mk II? Posted: 30 Nov 2008 at 13:47 GMT go to thread Rip off Britain is right, and it isn't just Canon is it? Think Adobe, etc etc etc? And the exchange rates at present... Meanwhile any reckless (aka wealthy) panographers out there got an order in for the DX3? Roy alert moderator
Forum: Q & A Thread: stiching a segmented scan	Re: stiching a segmented scan Posted: 28 Nov 2008 at 14:32 GMT go to thread I tried the Canon utility but it wasn't too good at all. In the end I used John's suggestion. Cropped all the scans to a uniform size, told PTGui that it was a 2000mm telescope and the result was about perfect first time. BTW when I tried to edit my last post my browser (Firefox) catapulted me into one of the horrible placeholder sites that you sometimes see when a site's been hijacked. These also prevent you using the browser's "back" button to return to the previous URL (sometimes repeated clicks on this will beat them, I've noticed). I mention this only in case it's evidence of a problem. My own PC is, AFAIK, malware-free and firewalled/av'd adequately. Roy alert moderator
Forum: Q & A Thread: stiching a segmented scan	Re: stiching a segmented scan Posted: 28 Nov 2008 at 13:51 GMT go to thread Thanks everyone. Still struggling... I'd heard (repeatedly) how good CS3's stitching abilities were but if this example is anything by which to judge I'd describe it as abominable. I've played about with masking and tweaking positions but at best it's, er, useless. Makes you realise just how good PTGui is. The only other stitcher I have installed is PTAssembler, which I haven't tried as I can barely recall how it works and what I do recall isn't encouraging. I do however have the Canon Stitch program which came with my old Pro1 camera. If only I can locate it. I remember that it worked quite well - it was what lured me into stitching panoramas to begin with! I would have thought that this function could be usefully added to PTGui, maybe? Roy alert moderator
Forum: Q & A Thread: stiching a segmented scan	Re: stiching a segmented scan Posted: 26 Nov 2008 at 18:38 GMT go to thread Thank you John I am at this moment doing it in PS. But I'll have a go with your suggestions too. Roy alert moderator
Forum: Q & A Thread: stiching a segmented scan	stiching a segmented scan Posted: 26 Nov 2008 at 17:55 GMT go to thread I'd appreciate a tip on how to achieve the following. I have an old school panoramic photo (old school in both senses!) taken with a panning camera, which I have scanned in chunks and wish to re-assemble. Because of the nature of the image the scanned sections differ in size so PTGui is requesting that I crop them. I suppose I could, with some difficulty, chop them about in CS3, but this seems like hard work. Can I assemble in PTGui without doing this? My initial attempts (which I will continue pending a suggestion) have failed so far. Also, given the fact that the image is effectively a single shot, what would be the correct format? Thanks, Roy alert moderator
Forum: Q & A Thread: Barrel distortion in cylindrical panoramas	Barrel distortion in cylindrical panoramas Posted: 11 Nov 2008 at 18:11 GMT updated: 11 Nov 2008 at 18:11 GMT go to thread I have been working up some external panoramas of the buildings in which I have done sphericals. One problem that I notice repeatedly is that there is always a pronounced curvature to horizontal elements above (and presumably below, in theory) the vertical pov of the shots. Typically these are taken using a 17 mm lens in portrait format (X 1.5 on a Nikon DX body) which itself exhibits a fair amount of barrel distortion. There are usually four to six shots in each sequence. I have done quite a lot of experimentation without any real improvement. If I remember correctly there is always going to be curvature in panoramas of this kind. But is there anything that can be done to minimise the effect? Roy alert moderator
Forum: Q & A Thread: Equirectangular viewpoint	Re: Equirectangular viewpoint Posted: 8 Nov 2008 at 21:47 GMT go to thread Thank you John. alert moderator
Forum: Q & A Thread: Equirectangular viewpoint	Re: Equirectangular viewpoint Posted: 8 Nov 2008 at 20:36 GMT go to thread Thank you John I mentioned the VPC only in case re-optimising after VPC with the yaw value modified would break something. I freely admit to not being aware of the PS offset filter. I'll play with it although at first glance I can't quite work out how to shift things around seamlessly. Roy alert moderator
Forum: Q & A Thread: Equirectangular viewpoint	Equirectangular viewpoint Posted: 8 Nov 2008 at 14:37 GMT go to thread I have a feeling this counts as a stupid question. Assuming I have completed a pano using VPC for the nadir patch and then wish to print the equirectangular image, what is the easiest way to reorient it so that the POV is effectively rotated by 180 deg (yaw)? alert moderator
Forum: Q & A Thread: Re; PTAssembler - any situations where it betters PTGui?	Re: Re; PTAssembler - any situations where it betters PTGui? Posted: 7 Nov 2008 at 12:48 GMT go to thread That'll be a "no" then... alert moderator
Forum: Q & A Thread: Re; PTAssembler - any situations where it betters PTGui?	Re; PTAssembler - any situations where it betters PTGui? Posted: 5 Nov 2008 at 12:15 GMT go to thread The title says it really. I bought a PTA license before PTGui. I recently updated to the latest version. The first time I ran this it crashed - and I mean really crashed. Are there any situations where it is preferable to PTGui, which I already know sufficiently well to get decent results? alert moderator
Forum: Q & A Thread: Shooting in public spaces	Re: Shooting in public spaces Posted: 5 Nov 2008 at 12:11 GMT go to thread irieman Good luck at Lewes tonight (?) Weather is not looking too promising! alert moderator
Forum: Q & A Thread: Shooting in public spaces	Re: Shooting in public spaces Posted: 4 Nov 2008 at 14:35 GMT updated: 4 Nov 2008 at 14:37 GMT go to thread Thanks again to everyone contributing here. Many useful suggestions and observations covering aspects of this subject that hadn't occurred to me when I posted the initial question. As an aside, having now done quite a lot of people-free panos, I'm actually quite interested to experiment in order to establish just how best (or, initially, worst) to approach populous environments. Additionally, I recently had an unpleasant experience in shooting a church interior - an exceptionally beautiful example at that - where I was looking forward to doing two or three panos from different positions, plus some HDR shots of the quite exceptional glass. I explained what I was doing to the churchwarden who was present (it's a building that's quite heavily visited and containing some valuable furniture etc) and offered, as always, to make the panorama available, subject to an agreement about copyright and use. We had a pleasant conversation. She then went away, called the vicar, and returned to tell me to stop shooting - having told him that I was "doing a book..." - a notion that she had generated spontaneously it seems. Fortunately by the time she'd returned I'd already shot one - as a previous poster has observed. I've come to the conclusion that in future I'll only say the bare minumum about what I'm doing unless there's a good reason to do otherwise. alert moderator
Forum: Q & A Thread: Shooting in public spaces	Re: Shooting in public spaces Posted: 3 Nov 2008 at 15:52 GMT go to thread Thanks everyone, lots of useful stuff there. Andrew's link to "monopod world" is extraordinary. I wouldn't have guessed that anyone could assemble so much information about what, on the surface, is such a limited subject: wrong again. I'm certainly going to have to some experiments at home first. alert moderator