Panoman 3 Review: higher resolutions supported

Recently I talked about the newly released Panoman 3, an update to Panoman 2 which you might be familiar with as it was included with the APAC version of the N82. Panoman allows you to take a series of pictures and it automatically stitches them together creating a single panoramic image. Panoman 3 brings a host of new features, but most importantly it addresses one of the most commonly asked for feature: support for higher resolutions! Panoman 3 has also improved stitching quality quite dramatically and exposure differences between adjacent frames are smoothly blended. Other new features include:

- Exposure correction: PanoMan can automatically correct exposure, but this feature can turned off
- White balance: you can alter the balancing according whether it is sunny or cloudy
- Sound: play a sound with every frame captured
- Storage: store images on the phone or memory card

Panoman 3

Panoman 3 was tested on the N95 8GB, but should work just fine on any S60 3^rd edition device.  Just like the N95 8GB’s built-in Camera software, Panoman only works in landscape mode. The interface is very simple and is purely automatic in operation. Once fired up, there are three options on screen: Exit, Start and Options. On the top left part of the image the software displays the image resolution used and the number of panoramic images captured with the maximum being 12. The guys at Panoman explain that: “Due to the improvements made in heap consumption, you can capture up to 12 frames within one session.” A small preview area is shown, giving you an idea of the images being captured by Panoman. Pressing Start not only takes the first picture, but it also signals Panoman to start monitoring the scene until it finds the right frame and automatically captures an image. The last taken image is superimposed over the previous one, creating a single image.

Due to the mobile nature of this software, Panoman’s approach of using a fully automatic system is a wise decision, especially since most users are going to be making these panoramic shots holding the phone with their hands. In this scenario they are going to need as much help as possible and having a fully automatic system makes sense. But I can see some users using a tripod like the Nokia DT-22 and wanting a fully manual system. For this reason Panoman should consider adding more manual controls like manually taking panoramic shots. As it stands, there is no way for you to choose when the software is going to take the next shot, it automatically chooses this for you. Allowing the users to override this and allowing them to manually take shots should be high on the list of features to add.

I also think that Panoman should take some ideas from the built-in camera software. In fact Panoman is a modified image capturing software and for this reason they should add some creative features found on Nokia’s sofftware like colour tone selction, grid lines and exposure compensation. It would also be nice if they could squeeze in some scenes that automatically adjusts the proper settings. This makes sense and keeps in line with Panoman’s vision of easy-to-use no-hassle software.

Once you’re happy with the results you press “Stop” and Panoman starts processing the image. Alternatively you can discard the image and start all over. When the processing is done you are greeted with a preview of your newly created panoramic image. The end result is actually quite amazing considering that the shots were hand-held and all you needed to do was pan the phone from left to right. I must admit that the process of creating these images was even a bit addictive. From the images taken 90% of the images come out 100% accurate. But in certain situations due to hand movement you can get inaccurate results, especially in detailed scenes. But again this has more to do with person holding the phone and their ability to have a steady hand and not the software. Having one of those software will definitely improve the results with Panoman. Untill Nokia adds Optical Image Stabilization it would be handy if the Panoman guys could thrown in some kind of software image stabilization.

When it comes to software options Panoman stays to the basic which is a good thing. You can set the resolution anywhere from 640x480 to 2592x1944 which should be more than enough. You can change the storage medium: Memory card or Phone memory. You can also turn of the capture sound , turn off the exposure  correction and lastly you can set the White Balance to Auto, Sunny, Cloudy or Incandescent.

 

Conclusion

Panoman is easy-to-use software and the end result is nothing short of amazing, especially considering that all you needed to do was hold the phone and pan from left to right. While the results are not always 100% accurate, this has more to do with having a steady hand or not. The results can be greatly improved with the use of a tripod. I’m really happy that Panoman now supports higher resolution images with panoramic images that can consist of up to 12 images. While Panoman 3 is a great software it’s not perfect and could sure use more manual and creative controls. If they manage to add these, this would make a great piece of software even better. Panoman 3 gets 8.8 out of 10.

Comments

[Roman]

Nice review!

[Roman]

Nice review!