Pano advice

User Name · Sep 11, 2016

I'm wondering if anyone can share some advice for making the most of Pano mode. I've been playing around with it and getting ok results, but I'm thinking it should be able to do a few things that I've not yet managed to figure out.

-Is there any way to increase the number of photos it takes? In hemispherical, I've played with the field of view setting, but it doesn't seem to have an obvious effect. My panos always end up 11, 13 or 15 frames, and the numbers I end up with seem totally unrelated to what I set the FOV slider to.

-What is the best settings for the GoPro, if they can be adjusted at all? The EV comp setting seems only for video. Is Photo completely automatic?

Thanks in advance. Here's a little planet style pano I took this evening.

View media item 407

Pedals2Paddles · Sep 11, 2016

More photo settings are available by using the GoPro front panel menu, or connecting to the GoPro by WiFi with your phone using the GoPro app. GoPro does not make all of their settings for everything available through the API to other devices and apps like Solo.

As for the rest, someone else will have to speak to that.

franknitty69 · Sep 13, 2016

-Is there any way to increase the number of photos it takes? In hemispherical, I've played with the field of view setting, but it doesn't seem to have an obvious effect. My panos always end up 11, 13 or 15 frames, and the numbers I end up with seem totally unrelated to what I set the FOV slider to.

angle and fov is used to calculate the number of photos taken. angle is how narrow or wide you want to completed pano to be and fov is how much the particular lens can see when taking a photo. regardless of lens you are using, you can reduce fov to force solo to take more pictures. fov is used in both cylindrical and spherical.

-What is the best settings for the GoPro, if they can be adjusted at all? The EV comp setting seems only for video. Is Photo completely automatic?

the best settings are still going to be the best settings you would use when taking a normal photo. the sticky on this site has the best settings. unfortunately, you can't set photo options for the GoPro with the solo app. you have to set them before taking off. but truthfully, the only settings you would alter for photo would be White Balance, ISO and EV Comp. If you are on GoPro v4, then you could also set shutter speed. i set my photo settings for either day or night:

day
WB: Native *i fix in lightroom, if you don't use Auto
Color: Flat *i fix in lightroom, if you don't use GoPro
ISO Limit: 800
Sharpening: Low *i sharpen in post, if you don't use High
Exposure Compensation: -0.5

night
WB: Native *i fix in lightroom, if you don't start at 5500K and adjust as necessary. take test shots.
Color: Flat *i fix in lightroom, if you don't use GoPro
ISO Limit: 200 or 400
Sharpening: Low *i sharpen in post, if you don't use High
Exposure Compensation: 0

User Name · Sep 13, 2016

Thanks for the info. For the FOV setting, that's what I assumed it would so, but I've taken it all the way down to the minimum, and still only get 11 to 13 photos, and never above 15. Maybe more just isn't necessary... just with some close in foreground structures, pano stitching programs can have a hard time and I was thinking more photos would be better.

franknitty69 · Sep 13, 2016

more photos are better sometimes. more control points, but it can also confuse some stitching apps. apps like ptgui and autopano will handle extra overlap without any issues.

i'll double check what the max number of photos possible is.

barepixels · Oct 27, 2016

Frank, have you check the max number of photos possible is?

Crisp Rice · Oct 27, 2016

I use ptgui and have created pianos with as many as 30 photos when I moved subjects around so the models were in the same photo many times. Ptgui handled that fine albeit I had a lot of work with masking. When I take aerial pianos I have been taking them manually so that I can pick and choose my best shots with level horizons and better autofocus, I was not getting good results with the automatic pano function. I started taking two or three of every shot with wider overlaps to enable better stitching by eliminating the blurry or crooked images. I do realize that the biggest problem is clouds moving and that adds another level of problem so shoot quickly to minimize fixing your points.
Edit: Leaving pianos as it made me laugh.

mbol4608 · Jul 13, 2017

User Name said:
I'm wondering if anyone can share some advice for making the most of Pano mode. I've been playing around with it and getting ok results, but I'm thinking it should be able to do a few things that I've not yet managed to figure out.

-Is there any way to increase the number of photos it takes? In hemispherical, I've played with the field of view setting, but it doesn't seem to have an obvious effect. My panos always end up 11, 13 or 15 frames, and the numbers I end up with seem totally unrelated to what I set the FOV slider to.

-What is the best settings for the GoPro, if they can be adjusted at all? The EV comp setting seems only for video. Is Photo completely automatic?

Thanks in advance. Here's a little planet style pano I took this evening.

View media item 407

How did you get Pano to work? I hit Panel and it takes 11 video shots but doesn't put them together. Are you putting them together manually? Do I need to switch from video to photo?

User Name · Jul 13, 2017

The Pano mode on the Solo (3RD or Solex app) just takes the photos, you need to stitch them together on a computer. There's several programs that can do it, although from my experience, Autopano gives the best results with the least effort.

Simmonsj98 · Jul 21, 2017

Can you shoot video and a pano on the same flight?

User Name · Jul 21, 2017

Definitely, assuming you're using a supported GoPro model. That was one of the selling points of the Solo - that it offered full control of the camera so you can switch modes in-flight.