Photo Stitching

[Don1970]

What Programs are available for photo stitching? , and which do people prefer. Havent really used it before, except with a point and shoot Canon about 8 years ago, and that was pretty rough!

Cheers
John

[ricktas]

photoshop
photoshop elements

Hope we get to see some photos from you soon, esp now that your trip to NZ should be done and dusted.

[Don1970]

Thanks Rick
The NZ trip unfortunately had to be canned due to work commitments (about the only curse of a good season!), however, will try to get a photo or two up soon.
John

[fenderstrat1963]

I use hugin - I'm still learning it though so can't really compare it to anything.

[vk2gwk]

The Canon camera comes with software (menu item in ImageBrowser) that does a reasonable stich. But I very much prefer the photo stiching in Photoshop CS6 which is superior. Having said that: you got to start with good images to get a good result. Make sure that all images are exposed the same way (shot manual or with Av - aperture priority to avoid change of DOF or hyperfocal distance). Especially with wider panoramas on a sunny day you have the problem of one part being brighter - into the sun - than another. So I prefer to shoot panos with a cliudy sky and without direct sunlight.
If you shoot RAW and need to post process make sure all shots get the same "recipe".

[ameerat42]

I use hugin - ...

I'm with fenderstrat, mostly...

But that Canon software you were talking about is (most likely) Photostitch 3.1. I also have used it, and found that it, like ALL the stitching software, has limitations but does mostly OK.

No matter whatcheruse, you've gotter learn it, and its limitations. Don't expect any one of them to do it all for you.

I've also tried CS2 Photoshop, and though OK, I found that I prefer the standalone ones.

Another that is great for almost anything that can be stitched is Autostitch - the free version. But it cannot handle moving objects as well as Hugin and even Photostitch can.

I'm waiting for someone to release a program called "Silver Threads and Golden Needles". (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qPJgifZiNaw)

How does that sound?

Am.

[Ezookiel]

Canon's Photostitch did me well for years, but it's not a patch on the abilities of Photomerge in CS5. The CS5 version is vastly more capable, and especially does a much better job of making the seams invisible.
As has been stated above, every program works better with good images to start with, by keeping the camera level as you pan, keeping aperture the same, etc, but I'm assuming you have the basics and are just looking for which program to use.
If you're just getting started the free versions such as Photostitch by Canon, or the other free programs mentioned above will be more than enough for a while.
Some surfaces - such as over water - were very hard to do with Photostitch, as the light on the water never seemed to be able to be invisibly blended at the seams, but CS5 does that remarkably well. I was quite surprised at just how well it handles it. CS5.5 or 6 doesn't even have to cost you a heap, if you know anyone that is a student, then the student version is full featured, and only $189 or thereabouts from memory.