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For almost 15 years I have been taking panoramic images, initially stitching individual images together with various software. Then when Sony introduced Sweep Panorama in 2010, I started using Sweep Panorama (in camera stitching) and although relatively low resolution (1080 pixels height), presumably using video technology in the camera, it worked well and completely speeded up the taking and post processing of images. However, I recognise that the Sony cameras that initially offered Sweep Panorama do not appear on the recommended list of cameras for QC, and I have not submitted any.

 

More recently, Sony Cameras that are on the recommended list, offer higher resolution Sweep Panorama mode, and produce panoramic images with 1856 pixels height. I always crop these images to 3:1, 4:1, 5:1 or 6:1 aspect ratio, and I have recently submitted some, and they have passed QC. However, I have been very careful about the quality of individual images, and I have found, when looking at closely, that Sweep Panorama images, can have quality problems, and I do not submit them if I have any doubt about the quality.

 

Does anyone else have experience of using Sony Sweep Panorama and submitting to Alamy? Would I better, especially for images with 3:1 or 4:1 aspect ratio, simply using a wide angle lens and crop the pictures, where appropriate, to 3:1 or 4:1?

 

 

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I've got a NEX 6 which has the sweep feature, but I've not used it for stock.

 

My best results have been obtained stitching portrait format shots, as that gives a more satisfactory aspect ratio.

 

Not sold any to date however, so interested to know what does sell in pano format.

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Nope, it's composed of 4 or 5 individual portrait images taken with my 5DM2 and stitched together in Adobe Photoshop. I now shoot with a Sony but I haven't tested the sweep pano function yet. I'll try to do it soon and report back on my results.

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Derek

 

You would be far better taking a series of portrait photos and stitching these in an appropriate software program. It will give you more pixels to play with.

 

Do not restrict yourself to a wide angle lens. Use any and all to create panos. However, don't overdo the pano effect and think carefully as you would do with any normal 3x2 photo in regards to the composition.

 

I don't think I have any panos here but do elsewhere and have sold.

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Nope, it's composed of 4 or 5 individual portrait images taken with my 5DM2 and stitched together in Adobe Photoshop. I now shoot with a Sony but I haven't tested the sweep pano function yet. I'll try to do it soon and report back on my results.

 

The NEX-6's sweep panorama mode can work very well, so I imagine that the A7's is at least as good. Let us know what you think.

 

I haven't submitted any sweep panoramas to Alamy yet, but I'm working on it.

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Derek

 

You would be far better taking a series of portrait photos and stitching these in an appropriate software program. It will give you more pixels to play with.

 

Do not restrict yourself to a wide angle lens. Use any and all to create panos. However, don't overdo the pano effect and think carefully as you would do with any normal 3x2 photo in regards to the composition.

 

I don't think I have any panos here but do elsewhere and have sold.

Jools

 

I usually have pleny of pixels to play with using Sweep Panorama. A sweep panorama with 1856 pixels height has 7424 pixels when cropped 4:1 aspect ratio. When taking a sweep panorama, I tend to identify a potential scene, capture it using Sweep Panorama, then do the detailed composition, when cropping it during post processing - almost the opposite when taking a 'standard' shot, where I would do most of the composing before taking the shot, then only tweak the composition during post processing. However, my latest camera, the Sony A5100 (like my previous NEX 3), can been zoomed to different focal lengths in Sweep Panorama mode, so there is a greater degree of composing before taking the shot, unlike my Sony RX100M2 and RX10 where sweep panorama mode automatically sets the lens to minimum focal length, with no override.

 

Derek

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Derek

 

You would be far better taking a series of portrait photos and stitching these in an appropriate software program. It will give you more pixels to play with.

 

Do not restrict yourself to a wide angle lens. Use any and all to create panos. However, don't overdo the pano effect and think carefully as you would do with any normal 3x2 photo in regards to the composition.

 

I don't think I have any panos here but do elsewhere and have sold.

Jools

 

I usually have pleny of pixels to play with using Sweep Panorama. A sweep panorama with 1856 pixels height has 7424 pixels when cropped 4:1 aspect ratio. When taking a sweep panorama, I tend to identify a potential scene, capture it using Sweep Panorama, then do the detailed composition, when cropping it during post processing - almost the opposite when taking a 'standard' shot, where I would do most of the composing before taking the shot, then only tweak the composition during post processing. However, my latest camera, the Sony A5100 (like my previous NEX 3), can been zoomed to different focal lengths in Sweep Panorama mode, so there is a greater degree of composing before taking the shot, unlike my Sony RX100M2 and RX10 where sweep panorama mode automatically sets the lens to minimum focal length, with no override.

 

Derek

 

 

Hi Derek!

 

Not sure I'm reading it. If, as I think you are saying, your pano only has 1856 pixels at height then you're missing out on a massive amount of data than if you were to do a pano comprised of several portrait shots. 

 

As a full frame Canon user, my panos start out with a height of roughly 5000 pixels. Composition wise, don't just think about the crop after. Think about it carefully before!

 

Here is a pano I have elsewhere. It has sold twice if memory serves.

 

11083830_443508725816019_101770478807004

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  • 2 weeks later...

I use to use the sweep function, they have always been accepted by QC. I did notice, the height will very pending on the width. (slower you do it, the more you get in but be careful of going to slow or it will refuse to do)  Honestly its not perfect, i could always find a strange defect e.g. color, objects, people etc in the image, if i looked carefully enough.  

 

Very few of the sweep files, i have taken have ever made it on to my account.

 

chatham-dock-power-station-historical-cl

 

At first i never knew how to create them, but now i prefer building\creating the panoramic file. It's more fun, far more detailed and offers far larger sizes. Just feels more rewarding  :)

 

tower-of-london-special-100th-year-anniv

 

Always been a Sony Alpha Shooter  :D

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I use to use the sweep function, they have always been accepted by QC. I did notice, the height will very pending on the width. (slower you do it, the more you get in but be careful of going to slow or it will refuse to do)  Honestly its not perfect, i could always find a strange defect e.g. color, objects, people etc in the image, if i looked carefully enough.  

 

Very few of the sweep files, i have taken have ever made it on to my account.

 

chatham-dock-power-station-historical-cl

 

At first i never knew how to create them, but now i prefer building\creating the panoramic file. It's more fun, far more detailed and offers far larger sizes. Just feels more rewarding  :)

 

tower-of-london-special-100th-year-anniv

 

Always been a Sony Alpha Shooter  :D

 

Interesting. How does QC react to the small defects in your Sony sweep-panorama images? I find that they are usually pretty minor and very difficult to spot. Also, do you turn the in-camera sharpening down when using sweep-panorama? I haven't gotten up the nerve to submit any of mine yet, even though they look fine to me.

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I use to use the sweep function, they have always been accepted by QC. I did notice, the height will very pending on the width. (slower you do it, the more you get in but be careful of going to slow or it will refuse to do)  Honestly its not perfect, i could always find a strange defect e.g. color, objects, people etc in the image, if i looked carefully enough.  

 

Very few of the sweep files, i have taken have ever made it on to my account.

 

chatham-dock-power-station-historical-cl

 

At first i never knew how to create them, but now i prefer building\creating the panoramic file. It's more fun, far more detailed and offers far larger sizes. Just feels more rewarding  :)

 

tower-of-london-special-100th-year-anniv

 

Always been a Sony Alpha Shooter  :D

 

Interesting. How does QC react to the small defects in your Sony sweep-panorama images? I find that they are usually pretty minor and very difficult to spot. Also, do you turn the in-camera sharpening down when using sweep-panorama? I haven't gotten up the nerve to submit any of mine yet, even though they look fine to me.

 

Ones i've found with defects, i've haven't submitted. In one image, i once remember seeing the same person right in the far back in with two faces  - which was kind of amusing. unless it was an alien? 

 

Nope. I'm sure they will be fine; -just check them very well and check again before you submit.

p.s. If you do one of a panoramic in a city just make sure you check all the buildings, sometimes not all the buildings will be sitting normally. I had one where they where slightly bent to the right.  

 

Maybe these issues where fixed in firmware updates for nex/E-mount?

 

i'm basing this from my experience with my a77, which hasn't had any new firmware updates for a long time...

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Ones i've found with defects, i've haven't submitted. In one image, i once remember seeing the same person right in the far back in with two faces  - which was kind of amusing. unless it was an alien? 

 

Nope. I'm sure they will be fine; -just check them very well and check again before you submit.

p.s. If you do one of a panoramic in a city just make sure you check all the buildings, sometimes not all the buildings will be sitting normally. I had one where they where slightly bent to the right.  

 

Maybe these issues where fixed in firmware updates for nex/E-mount?

 

i'm basing this from my experience with my a77, which hasn't had any new firmware updates for a long time...

 

 

Yes, I've seen the occasional two-headed alien, warped buildings, and even trees with twin trunks in sweep panoramas. You've got to get the movement just right, it seems. I suppose that using a tripod with a pan head might make a difference. Have yet to try that.

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So far, I only have a few images for sale on Alamy that were taken using Sony Sweep Panorama. Although many of my sweep panorama images are fine for Greeting Cards, Canvases, and framed prints that I sell, I am ultra careful when submitting to Alamy QC, as I would not want one bad image to spoil my batches of submissions.

 

Regarding minor imperfections that can occur in Sony Sweep Panorama images, such as people with two heads in the distant background, Sony introduced 'Intelligent' Sweep Panorama for their lower end cameras with 1080 pixel height. I found that system to work very well, and handled movement in pictures, most of the time, without fault. However, these 1080 height pixel cameras are not on the approved list for Alamy. The cameras that are approved, with 1856 pixel height, do not offer 'Intelligent' Sweep Panorama, so the pictures you can take are more restricted.

 

Overall I think Sony Sweep Panorama is excellent, and is fine for most purposes, but has to be used with care for Alamy.

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So far, I only have a few images for sale on Alamy that were taken using Sony Sweep Panorama. Although many of my sweep panorama images are fine for Greeting Cards, Canvases, and framed prints that I sell, I am ultra careful when submitting to Alamy QC, as I would not want one bad image to spoil my batches of submissions.

 

Regarding minor imperfections that can occur in Sony Sweep Panorama images, such as people with two heads in the distant background, Sony introduced 'Intelligent' Sweep Panorama for their lower end cameras with 1080 pixel height. I found that system to work very well, and handled movement in pictures, most of the time, without fault. However, these 1080 height pixel cameras are not on the approved list for Alamy. The cameras that are approved, with 1856 pixel height, do not offer 'Intelligent' Sweep Panorama, so the pictures you can take are more restricted.

 

Overall I think Sony Sweep Panorama is excellent, and is fine for most purposes, but has to be used with care for Alamy.

 

Yes, being careful and making several different sweep attempts seems to be the way to go. I see you have a number sweep-panos (I assume) in your collection, Derek. Any buyer interest in them yet? I wish panoramas displayed a bit better on Alamy (and elsewhere). They are awfully small, even when zoomed.

 

P.S. Do you ever notice faint magenta and green bands in grey skies in your sweep panoramas? I've had that problem. Nothing I do gets rid of them.

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Of the panoramas on my web site, all from 2010 are Sony Sweep Panoramas, which is probably about 50% of the images. I now regard my web site as a shop window, rather than for direct selling.

 

A few years ago, I actively marketed my web site, via traditional printed adverts in local magazines, and that did produce reasonable sales of say about 6 to 8 per month for panoramic canvases. However, that was not cost effcetive, when taking account of the cost of advertising, and I also reached the stage of hoping I would not get too many orders, due to the effort involved in making the orders, as I did everything in house. I would rather be out there taking pictures, than spending hours in my workshop making orders. I now get orders made by third parties, but of course that drastically cuts my margins, and I can't put the selling price up too high, for direct web sales.Also, I do not have the enthusiasm to market the web site via social media.

 

That is why I am now concentrating on selling my images via Alamy or direct to magazines, although I have a number of local outlets for my panoramic greeting cards.

 

Probably what was the most effective way I found of selling my images, was via local galleries and gift shops, even with the commission, it did produce profit.

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Thanks to the tips, I have just had my first out-of-camera 8192x1856 panoramic accepted. Extraordinarily you can't see the joins at all.

 

That's good to hear. I feel emboldened now. Once I've finished filing my income tax returns  (it's that time in Canada), I'm going to upload a couple of sweep panoramas. Have had a few accepted elsewhere already.

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Just have a close look at the motion blur. The shutter speed always seems to be about 1/160 but the motion blur is often rather obvious. Apart from obvious errors the trick seems to be to pan as slowly as possible without getting the dreaded grey stripe.

So tax year end in Canada isn't April 5th?

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Just have a close look at the motion blur. The shutter speed always seems to be about 1/160 but the motion blur is often rather obvious. Apart from obvious errors the trick seems to be to pan as slowly as possible without getting the dreaded grey stripe.

So tax year end in Canada isn't April 5th?

 

April 30th here. Fortunately, with my income, I don't have much to worry about.

 

I try to stay away from moving subjects when using sweep-panorama. They can turn out OK, though. It's a bit of a crap-shoot.

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Still being paranoid but heading towards a green subs page again I may have another look at some of my old ones. They just look so titchy as a thumbnail, but I suppose a buyer could zoom one up with a browser add0on as I do.

I'm still amazed that they turn out with no joins, though.

(hint: if the sinbin calculator goes by number of submissions, you're better off making small, even tiny subs.)

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