Tuesday 2 March 2010

You get what you pay for

Dave from Kailua-Kona pointed me to some photography panorama software after I got a little fed up with Hugin. His advise was PTgui which isn't free (actually, it's quite expensive) but apparently is Very Good. I used to think that of Hugin so wasn't particularly optimistic.

So, here are two panoramas from just outside UKIRT taken a couple of weeks ago. I took four photos at four different positions. At each position I used Photomatix to create a fused image with exactly the same settings. Those four final images were then used to create a panorama using Hugin and PTgui.

It was just a quick go at capturing Mauna Loa and Mauna Kea's summit in one go while staying out of the 40-mph winds! Bear in mind that the PTgui version has watermarks all over it as it was the free trial version. Click on the images for the larger versions - the comparison will be clearer!

The final image from Hugin:

The final image from PTgui (with watermarks):

There's no comparison. I've put in an order with PTgui!

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

Tom, I had a feeling PTGui would sell itself. :) That said, it will, and any stitching software will, have problems with ultra-wide angle lenses from time to time, or if you don't overlap enough. The more points you can match the better. What PTGui especially excells at are panos made with multiple lines of photos... think 3x5 grid as an example. It's an amazing piece of software that will continue to amaze you over time.

Glad you liked it! Your quick test shot came out quite nice.

Dave
Kailua-Kona

Tom said...

Oh, I'm sold! I also have to say it's so much faster than Hugin as well.

I grew attached to Hugin over the last year but PTgui blows it out of the water as far as I'm concerned.

Thanks for the tip!

Tom

Anonymous said...

I use Panorama maker 4 (there's a version 5 out now that I haven't bought.... yet!)

Not tries PT Gui, but I think once you find something that works and gives you consistent results that you are happy with then you stick to it.

Have you tried PT Gui out on some of you other panos? Just in case this was a fluke? ;-)

Tom said...

Hi Ant - yes, I tried it on a few others! I ended up buying the cheaper version of the software that doesn't create HDR or fused panoramas (it's an extra $100) but might upgrade. I've been getting used to creating the pictures first with photomatix and then stitching as I lost confidence in what Hugin was doing, so I'm used to doing it that way. It's a much slower process though.

Tom