Panorama stitching software

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[hopeless]

I've previously used Autostitch which is great because you don't have to line up the image and select control points etc.  Really simple but it was very limited too (I think the output res was ~1600px wide max).

Then I used Serif Panorama Plus (v1 I think, it was free with a scanner) which used the same technology as Autostitch but with a UI.  The results weren't bad but I then had to go through the final image and clone out all the ghosted people who had moved position during the exposures.  Really annoying and on a large print you could still see some evidence.

Last week I took a bunch of pictures but wanted a better way to stitch them together (and PanoramaPlus was on the old laptop).  I tried out AutoPano Pro and was blown away by the results.  Not only does it stitch automatically, it also gets rid of the ghosted people which will save hours of post-processing.  I couldn't find a flaw in any of the final images, although some people do appear in the image twice but this is ok.  I'm seriously impressed actually.  I guess I'm not too demanding though: I use 3-7 exposures and I don't usually do wide angle panoramas. 

Example:


But... AutoPano Pro is €99 which is a not insignificant amount of money.  Does anyone have experience with AutoPano Pro or other stitching software? 

I had considered selling prints to offset the costs but you can't get ready-made panoramic mounts & frames so it would be a big job.  Might look into a custom framer and see if it's possible.  There's a shop on the beach that would probably stock them and there are tourist buses stopping here every day (and yeah, the example posted isn't the best shot but I'm going back to reshoot this weekend)

[Stef.]

No experience with this software but have to say the result looks pretty convincing! If you intend to shoot a lot of panoramas it might be worth getting but I would shoot a panorama with different exposures to see how it deal with more difficult cases?
Stef.

[d7d (aka Ronin, aka Shot by scott)]

I use Autostitch. It good for what it costs (FREE), you normally need a lot of ram when stitching a few photos wit a decent resolution. also you need to re set you custom settings everytime you start it. but other than that it works good.
http://www.cs.ubc.ca/~mbrown/autostitch/autostitch.html


http://flickr.com/photos/dynax7/495887355/in/set-72157600095448394



http://flickr.com/photos/dynax7/2220945143/in/set-72157600095448394



http://flickr.com/photos/dynax7/2141355364/in/set-72157600095448394


what is important when stitching is to watch to use Exposure lock so that all images are take wit the same exposure (to avoid banding in the final product)

[minolta mad]

Hopeless,
Somewhere in my favourites folder i have some websites that make custom sized mounts and frames, that are actually very reasonably priced.
I'll try and find them and post the links.


Rob [minolta mad]