Panoramas - iPhone vs Mirrorless cameras

Waterton Lakes  Above: iPhone (panoramic mode)  Below: Z7ii mirrorless (7 images stitched)

One of the great features of smart phone cameras is their ability to do panoramas.  A simple push of a button and a few moments scanning the foreground results in a large and remarkable image capable of generating a very large print.  There is no mucking around in post, no need for a stitching program like Photoshop, and the resulting image tends to be very pleasant.

DSLR, mirrorless, and compact cameras can do panoramas, but not without a modestly intensive process.  Numerous images have to be taken then joined with a stitching program.  You don't need an expensive program like Photoshop.  For example, Microsoft ICE is a stitching program that creates panoramas and is free.  It has not been updated since 2021, but it available for download.  

The size of the stitched image heavily depends on the size of each frame before stitching, the number of frames, and the total angle of view.  The lower image was 107 mp after stitching.  It could create an 18x64 inch print without interpolation.  The iPhone image was 50 mp and capable of creating a 12x48 inch print.  The reality is that both images are plenty large enough to use in whatever capacity is desired by most people.

The fact that panoramic modes in smart phones are capable of creating large, attractive, and seamless images with no need for post alterations means that they are probably the best at doing the job.  There is also no issue with messing with variables in the software for stitching or holding onto the 7 or so original images to make the final version - it is done within the device itself and saved as a single image.  Sometimes the stitching process makes joining errors as well.  

Another interesting aspect of the iPhone image is that it was saved in an HEIF format meaning that it was a fairly compact file with no artifacts.  The stitched image, on the other hand, was saved as a high quality jpeg and would be lossy with minor artifacts.  You could save it as a lossless TIFF image, but it would be enormous (over 300 mp - a third of a gig).  

The bottom line - if you want to do a panorama, consider using a smart phone.  I like to choose the 1x or 2x camera as it makes the background a more significant part of the image.

Thanks for reading.

Eric Svendsen     www.ericspix.com


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