2. How do you choose your gigapixel subjects?

When you look at a beautiful scene as a whole, an emotional moment arises that triggers a desire for more. As a viewer, I have to be emotionally touched. This lays the foundation for a gigapixel recording.

3. What is special about your gigapixel captures?

What is special about my panoramas is the very high resolution and the extreme quality of detail, which I achieve with a full-format camera and lenses with a focal length of up to 800mm. I deliberately use selective sharpness for the foreground and background. An image animation takes the viewer from the highlight of the panorama to the overall picture.

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4. Where do you see the technical challenges?

The long focal lengths and the resulting small image angles require great precision when positioning the camera. The subject is alive - so there can always be small changes in the image, for example due to moving motifs (traffic, birds, etc.) or due to shifts in light and clouds. But that's exactly what makes gigapixel work so exciting! Because it makes a difference whether you photograph a mountain peak with a cross in high resolution or a busy traffic intersection in rush hour traffic.

5. Does the VR Drive run precisely enough?

From my experience, the VR Drive allows the camera to be positioned in degrees that are accurate to one decimal and can be repeated as desired, regardless of the sequence in which the images are triggered. This is a mandatory requirement for my Gigapixel captures to be successful.

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6. What advantages does the VR Drive offer you in your gigapixel work?

The Roundshot VR Drive is a complete device that combines all the necessary functions:

• no additional computer required - completely autonomous work on site even in bright conditions, as the touchscreen is also very easy to read
• a very good assistant for program creation: the most important data is queried in a clear manner, which leads to panoramas with reliable results. This means that the gigapixel recording can be prepared at your desk and you can concentrate on shooting in the field
• open interfaces for LAN, W-LAN, external power and a direct link to the camera; the VR Drive controls the USB functions available in the camera via USB, such as image triggering, white balance, checking the available storage space (SD cards) or shutter control
• the possibility of a variable number of images per row. This significantly reduces the number of images and thus the capture time
• a very high level of flexibility in the repetition of individual images or a series of images within a panorama - thanks to the high precision, the image positions to be repeated are approached with extreme precision; These images are then seamlessly integrated into the panorama when the panorama is stitched together

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7. How did you structure your workflow?

• As a first step, I create a new panorama at my desk using the program assistant, with which I define the necessary program parameters step by step
• In the field I set up the VR Drive with camera and define the image section using the visual angle mode function of the VR Drive (point at the bottom left / top right in the panorama)
• If the image section and environmental conditions are correct, I press “play” and the gigapixel recording begins; during program execution, which lasts several hours, I can flexibly correct any possible interference using the “back” function or by canceling the program and restarting it
• It may be necessary for me to break a panorama into partial panoramas; depending on the subject, I use either speed or quality mode as well as different sequences, for example to shoot moving subjects without ghosting
• Back at the computer, we start sorting out the images. The Image Bundler does this fully automatically, groups the relevant images, sorts out the duplicates and creates an xml file (Papywizard), which specifies the import structure for all common stitching programs. This xml file is very important for gigapixels and is the key to success. The images are transferred to the program in a clearly defined order and structure, even if they were taken in a random order (partial panoramas, repetitions).
• The finished gigapixel panorama is then presented in a viewer on the Internet

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8. Have you suggested new VR Drive firmware features in the past and how do you use these enhancements?

Yes some. One of my suggestions, for example, was to make corrections using the new “repeat x/y” function. This new function makes it possible to jump back to any point in the panorama and recapture parts of it.

The trigger for this was my experience that the VR Drive - no matter from the position or sequence - always moves to a point very precisely.

I attach great importance to the speed mode for gigapixel recordings because it allows the images to be taken very quickly from a continuous movement and, thanks to the resulting inertia, unnecessary vibrations are avoided. To do this, I have suggested a change to the VR Drive rewind speed, which will be implemented in a next software release.

I have always been very happy to pass on feedback to the Seitz team for firmware enhancements and bug fixes. Seitz has always implemented these suggestions promptly - our exchange of ideas has always been very stimulating and constructive. The VR Drive is my reliable companion for all of my extensive and numerous gigapixel projects.

Thank you Helmuth for this exciting interview!