"Superresolution"?

[MarkT]

Does anyone have any experience with this technology: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Superresolution (see esp. the links at the bottom of article: http://www.photoacute.com/).

Might this be something to look into for future PWP versions, or is it "smoke and mirrors"?

(... okay, back to Ver 7 experimenting...)

[jsachs]

Photoacute looks like an interesting program - basically it seems to combine a bunch of features that can improve image quality slightly, some of which PWP already can do (such as combining multiple exposures to reduce noise or removing Chromatic Aberration). The one nice extra seems to be very precise image registration ofimage sequences and some way to deal with moving objects that do not line up in the mulitple exposures. No real plans in this area but it would be interesting to see what kind of improvement you can get with it. I have also used PhotoMatix which is another program that combines multiple exposures and my actual results are not as impressive as the example images they have on their web site, but it is nonetheless useful for some images.

If you really want more resolution, the better route to take is probably shooting images in sections with a longer lens and then combining them using a panoramic stitching program. There are still problems with moving objects, but the better stitching programs do a pretty good job of reducing or eliminating ghosting. I particularly recommend Autopano Pro which I have been using lately.

[MarkT]

Interesting, thanks for the insight Jonathan. I've been really pleased with the alignment and de-ghosting powers found in <a href="http://www.sns-hdr.com/">SNS-HDR</a> (I use the Lite version and it's brilliant) when combining images - alignment would be my one wish for an addition to PWP's Stack processing...

Have you had a chance to compare Autopano Pro to <a href="http://research.microsoft.com/en-us/um/ ... >Microsoft ICE</a> for stitching? ICE seems pretty powerful, and you can't beat the price.

[jsachs]

Autopano Pro 3 is by far the best stitching program I have used - unfortunately it costs 99 euros.

[Bernard]

I am using AutoPano Pro since several years now, it is able to stitch and make the seam invisible between two photos taken with different exposures (up to half a stop).
I believe this is quite unique : in large FOV panos, you are not obliged to shoot with a constant exposure, as is usually recommended.
Bernard

[MikeG]

As we've strayed onto Autopano - just received notification of the latest 'World's largest photo' - London, 2012.
I hope that this link works:
http://btlondon2012.co.uk/pano.html

[JvdW]

Another very good stitcher is HUGIN (http://hugin.sourceforge.net/), it handles exposure differences too and it is freeware.
It can do a lot of things with multiple images but it takes some time to learn how to use it correctly (like every program with advanced options).

John

[Jo Irps]

I have been using "almost" successfully PTGui since a few years.
Sometimes the results are not satisfactory, missed stitching can be seen, and the projection is sometimes a bit akward.
In that case I am using "Microsoft Image Composite Editor" which ist free. Its a very good stitcher and is regulary updated.
I have come to use this stitcher more and more as it has a better projection tool too.
I have never tried Autopano Pro.