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The "GigaSig"

scho

Well-known member
Here is my Sigma DP3M coupled with the Gigapan Epic 100 robotic pano unit. Works very well and is easy to setup and use. After calibrating (one time operation) I just preset the DP3M aperture, shutter speed, ISO, and focus (using AEL button) that I want to use for a particular pano, turn on the epic 100, set the upper left and lower right corner boundaries for the pano and it is done. The unit tells you how many shots will be taken and the rest is fully automatic (stand back and watch it snap all of the images). I dump the SD card to a desktop folder, point AutoPano Pro 3 to the folder, and it finds the pano shots (can be for multiple panos), organizes them, shows previews for each pano, and then you either edit or have Autopano go ahead and render the final pano files. Pretty slick and quick. So far I have been pleased with the results and the DP3M is perfect for this unit if you want very high resolution, large panoramas. If you are doing many, large panos extra batteries might be needed. We all know about the poor battery performance of the Sigma DPs and the pano robot will also chew up batteries after about 10-12 large panos (uses 6 AA batteries, rechargeable recommended).

The "GigaSig"

There are 3 motors. One in base for rotation, a servo button pusher for shutter release (can be switched for electronic shutter release if supported), and a motor that tilts the camera support plate up/down.

Rear view of control panel.


Sample pano from the GigaSig. Stitched from 12 images. Click thumb below for quarter size image. Link will give you a dropbox full size pano.



FULL SIZE PANO (about 80 mb)

Another pano. Six image stitch. Click thumb below for quarter size image.

 

Rich M

Member
Carl.....so nice......it's Epic!! :ROTFL:

Seriously......I can imagine this outfit in so many different settings. The prints would be awesome.
 
Carl,
I can see it now: a new gallery featuring world class panoramas at the Belaggio in Lost Wages, Nevada. "La Gallerie SCHO." No one goes to the Lik gallery any longer. Lines form around the SCHO gallery as no one has ever seen anything like it before.

My only question is the following: which Cray super computer are you using to process the files?

With your eye and choice of subject matter you're going to kill it with this setup! Can't wait to see what follows.

Lawrence
 

scho

Well-known member
Amazing detail. So crisp. Well done!
Thanks Louis.
cool gizmo
esp. like the button pusher.
Yes and fun to watch it do its' thing.
Carl.....so nice......it's Epic!! :ROTFL:

Seriously......I can imagine this outfit in so many different settings. The prints would be awesome.
I'm looking forward to making some very large prints for pixel peeping.:)
Carl,
I can see it now: a new gallery featuring world class panoramas at the Belaggio in Lost Wages, Nevada. "La Gallerie SCHO." No one goes to the Lik gallery any longer. Lines form around the SCHO gallery as no one has ever seen anything like it before.

My only question is the following: which Cray super computer are you using to process the files?

With your eye and choice of subject matter you're going to kill it with this setup! Can't wait to see what follows.

Lawrence
No Cray computer Lawrence. Just a humble little MacBook Air. I tried the bundled software first (Stitch), but it was pretty bad and crashed frequently. Now using AutoPano Pro from Kolor and it is excellent. Zips through the panos lickety split without a peep of complaint from my MBA. CS6 Photomerge also does a decent job, but toils a bit.
 

scho

Well-known member
Today I tried doing a super wide pano of the local marina with the GigaSig. I ran into some timing problems towards the end of the shooting sequence because I hadn't allocated enough processing time for each shot (now using 16 seconds per shot to avoid this problem arising from slow write time with the DP3M). Resulting pano had one small glitch near the bottom, but otherwise processed OK. Total of 24 images for a 185 MP panorama. Click on the pano thumb below for a quarter size image. There are also two 100% screen grab crops from the full size original (control click for full size in new window).





 

Tim

Active member
My only question is the following: which Cray super computer are you using to process the files?

Lawrence
I'm going to need a T3 connection just to look at his samples :facesmack: :ROTFL:

Seriously super high res Carl. I can just about read the text on that silver tag to the far right on the benches sample. Plus there is another one in the brown grass to the right.
 

scho

Well-known member
I'm going to need a T3 connection just to look at his samples :facesmack: :ROTFL:

Seriously super high res Carl. I can just about read the text on that silver tag to the far right on the benches sample. Plus there is another one in the brown grass to the right.
The pano I posted just above is twice as large and also very high res. Here is the dropbox link for the FULL SIZE pano that I forgot to add to the post. It was cropped slightly for printing down to 151 MP. The detail in the 40 inch wide print I made is really stunning.
 
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