New to Pano shooting- Autopano Pro or PTgui ?

[K.C.]

I'll be shooting single and multi row panos and I'm trying to decide which software to invest in, Autopano Pro or PTgui.

Gear will be a SONY A850 with CZ 24-70 and a 5DII with everything from the 17 up to a 70-200 on a RRS Ultimate Pro Omni-Pivot package.

So which app do I want to use ?

[langier]

As I recall, there's a demo version of each available. Why not download each and try 'em both.

I did this a couple of years ago and ended up buying Autopano Pro.

Of course YRMV.

[K.C.]

Yes demos are available but I was looking for feedback from long term users.

[ErikKaffehr]

Hi,

I have used Autopano Pro for a long time and been entirely satisfied. I have not tested PtGUI.

This video is a screen recording of merging a bunch of handheld images in two rows using Autopano pro. The images are 12 MP and the video is in real time.

http://echophoto.dnsalias.net/ekr/images/MRPano.mov

Best regards
Erik

Yes demos are available but I was looking for feedback from long term users.

[Justan]

I've used ptgui for almost 3 years and find it an excellent platform, and very fast to work with.

[JeffKohn]

Some random points from my experience with both:

- AutoPano Pro is often better at finding the vanishing point
- AutoPano Pro is maybe a little more novice-friendly
- PTGui has more projection options, including one called Vedutismo that I really like
- PTGui sometimes does a better job finding control points, and also has a good manual control point editor
- PTGui is faster (especially at analyzing the images and finding control points)
- The Masking functionality in the lastet version of PTGui Pro is extremely useful in some cases
- PTGui has support for both HDR Tonemapping and Exposure Fusion when dealing with bracketed exposures.

[K.C.]

Thanks for the replies. That's the kind of information I'm looking for.

[BernardLanguillier]

- PTGui has support for both HDR Tonemapping and Exposure Fusion when dealing with bracketed exposures.

Autopano also since 2.6 RC. But I have not tried yet though and I do like the fusion algos of PTgui. 2.6 is also much faster than 2.5.

Another key differentiator of PTgui is the ability to stitch according to a grid, which is a lifesaver for panos with long lenses where you end up with some frames of pure sky without enough details to stitch.

Cheers,
Bernard

[K.C.]

Another key differentiator of PTgui is the ability to stitch according to a grid, which is a lifesaver for panos with long lenses where you end up with some frames of pure sky without enough details to stitch.

Thank you Bernard!

[John Nollendorfs]

I'm surprised no mention of PS5?

I use stitching for copying art, and occasionally for landscapes, and l like using PS5 for work flow.

I use bridge to set up my RAW files, then use Bridge to select the files to stitch in photoshop directly. Very quick direct workflow. You may want to check to see if PTGui supports your RAW formats if you chose to go with that program.

[BernardLanguillier]

I'm surprised no mention of PS5?

I use stitching for copying art, and occasionally for landscapes, and l like using PS5 for work flow.

I use bridge to set up my RAW files, then use Bridge to select the files to stitch in photoshop directly. Very quick direct workflow. You may want to check to see if PTGui supports your RAW formats if you chose to go with that program.

I have a PS5.1 license also, but my view is that PS5 is pretty far behind in terms of stitching performance and ability compared to PTgui and Autopano Pro.

There is little value in managing raw conversion in the stitching software in my view. I find it preferable to optimize raw conversion if your software of choice (ACR for you it seems) prior to stitching. The little time saved by having an integrated workflow is more than lost by the very slow stitching performance of PS as soon as you beyond 4 or 5 images. I sometimes use DxO to convert images shot with lenses with complex distorsions as it does a much better job than anybody else to correct the geometry of the frames.

The only time when I use PS5 is for very irregular cases like stitching images shot with a T/S lens with a combination of tilt and shift because the engine of PS is a general pattern matching algo that doesn't seem to be make too many assumptions about the photographic nature of the images shot.

Cheers,
Bernard

[K.C.]

As a total novice at Panos it only took a couple of trials runs with CS5 to realize it's NOT the app for large multi-row images.

So far it's a tuff decision, but PTgui is looking like the way to go. I'm sure Autopano Pro will catch up but the point Bernard made about working with the grid for large expanses with little detail puts PTgui at the top of the list for me.

I really appreciate the feedback from everyone !

[ErikKaffehr]

Hi

Hi Bernard,

My approach is to try to get all images in the ballpark, essentially avoid clipping before converting to TIFF. I definitively remove chromatic aberration before merging the panorama and a moderate amount of capture sharpening may also be a good idea.

When the panorama has been merged it will be flat. I adjust tonality to taste in Lightroom. All work is done in 16 bits, Prophoto RGB.

Merging in PS is actually saving some effort, so I do it sometimes. But I use Autopano Pro for the real stuff.

Best regards
Erik

...
There is little value in managing raw conversion in the stitching software in my view. I find it preferable to optimize raw conversion if your software of choice (ACR for you it seems) prior to stitching. The little time saved by having an integrated workflow is more than lost by the very slow stitching performance of PS as soon as you beyond 4 or 5 images. I sometimes use DxO to convert images shot with lenses with complex distorsions as it does a much better job than anybody else to correct the geometry of the frames.

..
Cheers,
Bernard

[JackS]

My vote goes for PTGUI. Like you I tried them all and always came back to Ptgui.

There even was a time I used Realviz Stitcher, and still thought Ptgui was better choice for me.

Jack

[fike]

I am a happy PTGUI user.  I can't add anything more to the list of features already discussed, but I can add my vote. 

[K.C.]

Thanks Fike, and everyone else. I bought PTgui Pro today and now just need to put in the time to learn it. Seems like a well thought out and powerful application.