A quick look at two apps for making panoramic photos with an iPhone
The Pano app
Sunset on Hove seafront 1 [top photo is a crop of the lower image]
This evening I popped out to the beach to try out the 360 iPhone app. I used an iPhone 3gs, which doesn't handle the low light levels quite as well as the iPhone 4, but it was what was to hand. The sky was amazing and I ended up reverting to Pano to take advantage of it. This produced a better image overall, although if you are doing a complete 360 degree image it takes quite a while to take the 16 individual images required from which the panorama is processed. To help you line up successive shots the app gives you a semi transparent guide strip of the end of the previous shot, although this can be a little difficult to see at times depending on subject matter. The stitching process, which has to be done before you can take another panorama, also takes a long time on larger images. Although not perfect, the results are definitely better than the 360 app. To find out more about Pano go to http://debaclesoftware.com/
The 360 app
The 360 app creates panoramas from a slowly continuously rotated iPhone. It didn't fare well in this shoot out against Pano. Its only advantage is in being slightly quicker. I find it strange that it puts the ends together in the middle if you overlap slightly. Even this cropped image isn't smooth, and the low resolution makes it even worse. It may have creative potential for exploiting the 'faults' to abstraction, but not much good as a 'straight' image. Apparently the new gyroscope feature on the iPhone 4 helps makes panning smoother, and would probably make it easier to use this app. For the moment all I can say is it might be improved if it was in steadier hands than mine or on a tripod, but this IS an iPhone app... I will have another go in better light to see if I can improve on the results from it. And if anyone wants to donate an iPhone 4 to the cause it'll be welcome! If you want to try 360 for yourself go here http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/360-panorama/id377342622?mt=8
Sunset on Hove seafront 2 [top photo is a crop of the lower image]
The 360 app creates panoramas from a slowly continuously rotated iPhone. It didn't fare well in this shoot out against Pano. Its only advantage is in being slightly quicker. I find it strange that it puts the ends together in the middle if you overlap slightly. Even this cropped image isn't smooth, and the low resolution makes it even worse. It may have creative potential for exploiting the 'faults' to abstraction, but not much good as a 'straight' image. Apparently the new gyroscope feature on the iPhone 4 helps makes panning smoother, and would probably make it easier to use this app. For the moment all I can say is it might be improved if it was in steadier hands than mine or on a tripod, but this IS an iPhone app... I will have another go in better light to see if I can improve on the results from it. And if anyone wants to donate an iPhone 4 to the cause it'll be welcome! If you want to try 360 for yourself go here http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/360-panorama/id377342622?mt=8
Meanwhile I'll leave you with a couple of shots taken with Pano where I had fun on my balcony and the bandstand. If you'd like to see more you can find some on my flickr page http://www.flickr.com/photos/juliaclaxton
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