Digital Home Thoughts - News & Reviews for the Digital Home

"[P]hotographer Gerald Donovan shot a nearly 45 gigapixel panorama of towering spires, desert and sky with his new GigaPan Epic Pro.... You'll find the zoom-in-practically-forever image at our source link..."

Engadget's article on this massive project contains a bit of confusion concerning certain details, but also provides a "making of" video, and links to Gigapan's Press Release as well as the main equipment involved. The photo on the left above is but a small slice of the total Dubai Panorama, and although parts of the actual panorama appear to be either out-of-focus or distorted - perhaps from the stitching process - in most sections you can zoom in to amazing detail. A photo of the GigaPan Epic Pro is on the right above, and while the $895 list price likely eliminates it from the casual photographer's kit, there can be no doubt that it can produce stunning results in the right hands!

"The GigaPan Epic capture detailed panoramas with almost any point-and-shoot digital camera. The Epic is a small robotic mount that automates the picture taking process, includes fully integrated software and works seamlessly with GigaPan.org. The GigaPan Epic, complete with the GigaPan Stitcher software, is available now for $379. The GigaPan Epic 100, available soon for $449, is a second model designed for larger point-and-shoot digital camera models."

This device creates giant panoramic images automatically. It uses your digital camera and takes multiple shots and then converts them with the included software to create one giant image. It will definitely create very large images. But at $379, in my opinion it is for the pros. Most digital cameras today come with software that will stitch 4 or 5 shots together very easily.