How do you stitch DSLR photos into 360 panoramas automatically?

What do you upload?

The photos as they come out of the camera, the whole shoot in one go: RAW or JPEG, bracketed or not, fisheye or standard lens, loose, by folder or in a ZIP.

Nothing to set before sending: the photos are sorted by viewpoint, and the lens and the place of each shot are worked out from the photos themselves.

Should you shoot RAW and bracket?

It gives the most latitude in a room with windows. Exposures are merged and the same setting applies to all the shots: the light stays continuous from one shot to the next.

JPEG works too, bracketed or single exposure. With a single exposure, the panorama keeps the light of the photo: a dark photo gives a dark panorama.

How do you avoid broken seams?

• Set the head on the nodal point of your lens: nearby objects stay in place from one shot to the next.
• Let the shots overlap: the seams are computed in that overlap.
• Lock the tripod column: the same height at every viewpoint sets the scale of the tour.
• Someone walks through the frame? Retake the shot on the spot: the retake is recognised and replaces the first.

What happens to the photos once uploaded?

• They are grouped by viewpoint from their capture time and their content, even when the tripod moved in a few seconds.
• The lens and the place of each shot are computed, zenith and nadir included.
• The shots are stitched into a JPEG up to 16,000 x 8,000, levelled on the verticals of the scene.
• The tripod is removed and the floor rebuilt.
• Shots that were not used are counted at the end: you see right away if a viewpoint is missing.

Does the tripod really disappear?

On every panorama, yes, with the floor rebuilt from what surrounds it. Widely spread legs can stick out of the retouched area: in the tour editor, a slider sets its size. On the downloaded panoramas, they remain to be retouched.

Stitching DSLR photos: the questions people ask