Photo stitching options

[chipy]

want to try stitching some photos i took on vacation. i searched the forums and a few options showed up:

1) hugin
2) autostitch
3) canon photostitch
4) autopano pro

i have a canon 40D so #3 sounded natural but not sure how well it works. autostitch and hugin seem to be recommended. Fuzzy seems to like Autopano Pro.

i don't mind learning new softtware - that's not a problem. i'm all about quality so i'd like to get a software that is going to give me the best results. the first three options look like they're free, so the question is whether Autopano Pro is worth the money. not sure what its benefits are over the other programs so i was wondering if Fuzzy or someone else with experience can explain this to me.

thanks guys!

EDIT: what about PTGui or RealViz/Autodesk Stitcher? has anyone tried those?

 

[fuzzybabybunny]

I used Hugin exclusively for many years, but in the end I still shelled out money for Autopano (Get the newer Autopano Giga - it seems faster and better at stitching than Autopano Pro). It's just so simple and intelligent. Just drag a bunch of component images into it and tell it to stitch - it'll figure out the rest on its own. Invaluable when you start dealing with larger, more complex panoramas which things like Hugin just can't do. Hugin, being free, is a great start for someone new to stitching though.

 

[chipy]

thanks Fuzzy... i'll look into Giga. i looked at Autodesk Stitcher but it's $350! not sure if i want to spend that much.

also, going off on a tangent but i was checking out your pics on smugmug. for the ones where you're inside a restaurant/bar whatever, were you using an external flash? or did you take the photos with a higher ISO? they look nice and don't look to have much, if any, noise. not sure if the rooms had good enough lighting or not. a lot of those rooms look like the lighting wasn't optimal, that's why i ask. thanks man.

 

[Dark Penguin]

Can I assume you don't have photoshop?

 

[chipy]

Can I assume you don't have photoshop?

yeah, that's a good assumption. i used to have a bootlegged version years ago but i stopped using stolen software. i either buy software or use freeware/open source. having said that, i loved photoshop and i'm thinking of making a purchase.

 

[soydios]

Microsoft Image Compositing Editor

it's free for all versions of Windows, and works better than Photoshop's photomerge in my humble opinion

http://research.microsoft.com/en-us/um/redmond/groups/ivm/ice/

 

[chipy]

thanks soydios, will look into the MS option as well.