# Best panorama photo stitching software.



## Imagination_landB (Dec 17, 2012)

Free or not what's the software that you use to stitch your pictures together , I already have CS6 for it but I just want to know if there's something better!


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## CanonGirl (Dec 17, 2012)

I use PTGui, which I like much better than Photoshop CS6 for panorama stitching.


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## Renegade Runner (Dec 17, 2012)

I am not heavy into panoramic stitching but the Panorama feature in Windows Live Photo Gallery works.


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## faccray (Dec 17, 2012)

PTGui for me... I prefer it to CS6


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## bvukich (Dec 17, 2012)

http://hugin.sourceforge.net/


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## M.ST (Dec 17, 2012)

I use Autopano Giga and I am very happy with the results.


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## SwissBear (Dec 17, 2012)

i use hugin and im happy with it. only HDR could be handled a bit more intuitive.
But it works great and gives superb results. It might be a bit more complex than others, but then again you have controll and can easily correct bad autostitches.

Autopano Giga is only good, if you shoot on a pano-head (with angular raster) - you must have exactly the same number of pics per row.


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## cayenne (Dec 17, 2012)

Another vote for hugin.

I downloaded it when I first got my 5D3 in May....watched the tutorials and all on the site and some on Youtube...and it worked out just great for me.

It isn't super intuitive, but after reading on the site and watching the tutorial videos, I was able to stitch together some great pano shots....one whole one of Jackson Square in New Orleans came out nicely...


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## tombu (Dec 17, 2012)

If you're using windows, you should definitely try Microsoft Ice. It's fully automatic, but it works almost always. 
Oh, and it's really fast.
http://research.microsoft.com/en-us/um/redmond/groups/ivm/ice/


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## chasinglight (Dec 17, 2012)

Give hugin a try. It is free, pretty easy to use, and produces remarkable results. As an added bonus it has the ability to perfectly correct perspective, distortion, etc. http://hugin.sourceforge.net/


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## bycostello (Dec 18, 2012)

elements works fine for me...


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## rpt (Dec 19, 2012)

I use Autostitch. Does anyone else?


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## RustyTheGeek (Dec 19, 2012)

At first glance I thought the title read: Best *paranormal *photo stitching software. Kinda had me goin' there for a sec!


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## bran8 (Dec 19, 2012)

CS6 works great if you select cylindrical when you combine the photos.


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## jimmy kamballur (Dec 19, 2012)

autopano

http://www.panoplus.net/index.html#.UNGBuKw_eSc


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## canon816 (Dec 19, 2012)

I own PTGui Pro and CS6. For simple and easy to align images ptgui will suffice but for anything with complex situations, i.e. difficult to assign control points, or super large with multi-laters PS6 has a much better stitching engine.

If you already have PS6 and you are not getting results you are happy with then you might want to learn the software a little better. There are several auto align selections and each one is tailored to a specific type of panorama and depending on lens characteristics one may perform better then another.

IMO PS6 is the best one out there and I have demoed several and have extensive experience with PTGui Pro. Nice thing is PTGui is cheap.


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## mws (Dec 19, 2012)

Hugin works well. It's free, has a insane amount of options, but has a bit of a learning curve.

http://hugin.sourceforge.net/


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## strikerwy (Dec 19, 2012)

I shoot quite a number of panoramic images. After much research and dabbling with several, I settled on PtGui as well. The interface is stupid easy, it processes images crazy fast, and the results are flawless. I shoot using a Manfrotto 303sph head at times, but I also shoot quite a number freehand. It deals with each type with equal aplomb. Some of my work has been printed from these files on metal prints at 4'x8'. One commercial application printed one panorama at 22' in length. They look beautiful. Here are some samples to show how well the software deals with overlap/edges. There was NO manipulation done to the software results.


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## emag (Dec 19, 2012)

Windows ICE is fast and does a fairly good job. Just dump the photos into it and rather quickly it will make the pano, disregarding photos that don't belong. For online viewing, you can upload the panos to Photosynth. I've recently done some interior panos of an old 19th century coastal defense fort (Ft. Barrancas) in Pensacola. Magic Lantern to take the photos (auto HDR), Lightroom to stack and blend the images. I find that the blended images usually need some enhancement after blending and it's easy to stay in Lightoom and do that. I use ICE to make the pano and upload to Photsynth.

photosynth.net/search.aspx I post as 'emag325'

Hugin is my second choice, it does an excellent job but is far slower. It's a good front end for much of the software useful for panos.

I'm strictly a hobbyist and most of my work is done on a Vista laptop, those of you with more powerful computers will likely find other methods that work well for you.

Like most aspects of photography, this is one where you can take many paths to get to various flavors of your destination.


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## keithcooper (Dec 19, 2012)

*AutoPano Giga*

Does everything I need, and is simple and easy to use...

Used it last year to create this 14 metre long print from a 21GB full res image

Wrote up an article about how and why if anyone is curious

http://www.northlight-images.co.uk/article_pages/14m_pano_print.html







Here's me pointing out some details


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## Sporgon (Dec 19, 2012)

PtGui 

All our commercial pictures are stitches - the Beverley Minster picture is a 12 frame stitch, 6 on bottom, 6 on top. 

On our website you can see this in Superzoom mode, that is you can just keep zooming in and in. You wont find any joins or errors !


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## emag (Dec 19, 2012)

*Re: AutoPano Giga*



keithcooper said:


> Does everything I need, and is simple and easy to use...
> 
> Used it last year to create this 14 metre long print from a 21GB full res image
> 
> ...



Keith - wonderful article, I only had time to skim it here at work but will delve into it at home. You are a Master, thank you for sharing your knowledge and experience.


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## cayenne (Dec 19, 2012)

dilbert said:


> I downloaded PTgui and hugin. Both are quite complex. hugin delivers visibly inferior results to PTgui and Microsoft's ICE from a "lock and load" perspective. hugin's interface is crazy.
> 
> Given that I have never seen Microsoft's ICE deliver the wrong output, I can't see any reason for me to use PTgui, especially since ICE is free and PTgui is not.



Can you describe in a bit more detail what you saw in hugin that made it so inferior to PTGui?
I've not tried PTGui yet, but would be interested in knowing what to look for between the two.

Thanks in advance,

cayenne


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## RLPhoto (Dec 25, 2012)

Automate panoramics in CS3 for me. It just works.


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## alan e (Dec 27, 2012)

Hi
microsoft ICE is what i use ..it does an excellent job ,its extremely easy to use..i couldn't believe how good it was when i first started using it and its FREE !!
regards
Alan


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## cayenne (Dec 27, 2012)

alan e said:


> Hi
> microsoft ICE is what i use ..it does an excellent job ,its extremely easy to use..i couldn't believe how good it was when i first started using it and its FREE !!
> regards
> Alan



Well, it is free *only* if you buy and use MS Windows.



cayenne


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