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GigaPan EPIC Pro User Manual

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EPIC Pro User Guide
© 2012 GigaPan Systems
GigaPan and the GigaPan logo are registered trademarks of Carnegie Mellon University licensed for use by GigaPan Systems.
© 2012 Carnegie Mellon University All rights reserved.

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  • Page 1 EPIC Pro User Guide © 2012 GigaPan Systems GigaPan and the GigaPan logo are registered trademarks of Carnegie Mellon University licensed for use by GigaPan Systems. © 2012 Carnegie Mellon University All rights reserved.

  • Page 2: Table Of Contents

    The GigaPan Solution GigaPan EPIC Pro Parts EPIC Pro Special Features Navigate the EPIC Pro Menu Set up the EPIC Pro Quick Menu Electronic Trigger Cable Compatibility Setting up the GigaPan EPIC Pro Get your equipment ready Charge and Install Batteries...
  • Page 3 6.7 My panoramas have vignetting 7. Tips and tricks 7.1 Shoot more than you need 7.2 Shooting in different environments 7.3 Night shots 7.4 City scenes 7.5 Create Games: Hide & Seek 7.6 Panoramas in Motion: Capturing a Crowd...

  • Page 4: Introduction

    GigaPan Viewer. Join GigaPan.com to view and share with friends, take snap- shots and embed panoramas on your own website. Here is an overview of how easy and fun it is to use the GigaPan System, in 4 simple steps:...
  • Page 5 The Gigapan Stitch software assembles, aligns and blends the individual images into one large panorama. The GigaPan Stitch software then uploads your panorama to GigaPan.com to share with friends and the GigaPan community. You also have the ability to em- bed your uploaded panorama on any website.

  • Page 6: Gigapan Epic Pro Parts

    1.2 GigaPan EPIC Pro Parts...
  • Page 7 EPIC Pro Menu. Tripod Mount - Attaches the EPIC Pro to your tripod. Bubble Level - Measures that your EPIC Pro is level on your tripod and on the ground. Battery Chamber - Holds the EPIC Pro battery. Turn the latch counterclockwise and...

  • Page 8: Epic Pro Special Features

    Cancel Button - Cancel selections in navigating the EPIC Pro Menu. Power/OK Button - Hold down for a few seconds to power the EPIC Pro ON or OFF, or use to select items when navigating the Menu. Trigger cable port - Use with electronic trigger cable to actuate the shutter and cause the camera to focus if you are using auto focus.

  • Page 9: Navigate The Epic Pro Menu

    GigaPan Pro User Guide 1.4 Navigate the EPIC Pro Menu Turn the EPIC Pro on by pressing the Power/OK button. The first menu option, ‘New Pan- orama’ , will appear. To navigate to other menu options, push the down button. To reach sub- menus within a menu option, push the OK button once you reach the desired main menu option, then the down button to access the submenu choices.
  • Page 10 EPIC Pro Menu Tree for Firmware Version 171 New Panorama 360 Panorama Options Time/Exposure Mult Picture Brackets EV Step Size Mirror Lock-up Lockup-time Shutter Teach Start Del/trig Pic Order Timelapse/Series Battery Status Save/Load Config Factory Reset Expert Options Checklist Shutter Mode...

  • Page 11: Main Menu

    Options Menu Time per Pic - The amount of time that the EPIC Pro will wait until it moves the camera to the next position. It is important to allow enough time for the camera to process the current photograph and move the data to flash memory.
  • Page 12 Remote or Manual. The Remote setting will use the electronic trigger cable to connect the EPIC Pro to the remote shutter port on your camera. If the Manual method is used, the user must manually actuate the shutter and press the OK button on the EPIC Pro to advance to the next photograph.
  • Page 13 ‘Save Previous’ option before turning the power off. Save Previous –Save the previous panorama settings to the EPIC Pro’s memory, including an approximate reference point that will be used in the future to give the EPIC Pro a point of reference to begin shooting.
  • Page 14 Time/Exposure - This was previously named ‘Time per Pic’ in firmware version 128.1 and is the amount of time that the EPIC Pro will wait until it moves the camera to the next position. It is important to allow enough time for the camera to process the current photograph and copy the data from the cameras buffer memory to the flash memory.
  • Page 15 Remote or Manual. The Remote setting will use the electronic trigger cable to connect the EPIC Pro to the remote shutter port on your camera. If the Manual method is used, the user must manually actuate the shutter and press the OK button on the EPIC Pro to advance to the next photograph.
  • Page 16 PC connector at one end and a mini plug at the other end. You connect the PC con- nector to the camera and the mini plug to the EPIC Pro remote trigger cable port. If your camera does not include a PC connector, you can purchase a hot shoe adapter that has a PC connector.

  • Page 17: Set Up The Epic Pro Quick Menu

    ‘Save Previous’ option before turning the power off. Save Previous –Save the previous panorama settings to the EPIC Pro’s memory, including an approximate reference point that will be used in the future to give the EPIC Pro a point of reference to begin shooting.

  • Page 18: Electronic Trigger Cable Compatibility

    1.6 Electronic Trigger Cable Compatibility Your EPIC Pro arrived with seven electronic trigger cables. Review the chart below to find which cable is compatible with your camera. Camera Model Cable Type Canon Canon N3 cable EOS-1Ds Mark III EOS-1Ds Mark II EOS-1Ds EOS-1D Mark IV EOS-1D Mark III EOS 1D Mark II N EOS 1D Mark II EOS 1D EOS 5D Mark II EOS 5D...
  • Page 19 GigaPan Pro User Guide Camera Model Cable Type Nikon Nikon MC-DC2 D90 (2008) D5000 D7000 Nikon Nikon MC-DC1 D80 (2006) D70S Olympus Olympus RM-UC1 E-620 E-600 E-520 IS E-510 E-450 E-420 E-410 Pentax Canon E3 cable K10D K200D K110D K100D Super...

  • Page 20: Setting Up The Gigapan Epic Pro

    Your EPIC Pro will arrive with its battery ready to be charged. There are two ways to charge the battery – you can charge the battery while it is in the EPIC Pro or remove the battery to charge it on its own.
  • Page 21 3. Place the battery level in a space that has ample ventilation. A light on the power cord will blink red until charged. A blinking green light signals that the battery is now charged and ready to use. To check the EPIC Pro battery status: When the battery is low, a low battery icon will flash in the lower right corner of the EPIC Pro LCD display. When the battery is so low that proper functionality is no longer possible, a “Please recharge the battery”...

  • Page 22: Mount The Epic Pro On A Tripod

    2. Remove the tripod quick release plate and attach it to the EPIC Pro’s tripod mount at the bottom. Quick-Release Plate Tripod Mount 3. G ently tighten the screw until the quick release plate is firmly attached to the EPIC Pro. 4. Clip the plate back onto the tripod. 5. Use the bubble level to center and level the EPIC Pro. Adjust the tripod legs and mount as necessary. Bubble Level...

  • Page 23: Mount Your Camera And Lens

    GigaPan Pro User Guide 2.4 Mount your camera and lens Use these steps below to mount your camera and lens on the EPIC Pro. Refer to the EPIC Pro diagram and part names in Chapter 1.2 as you follow these steps.

  • Page 24: Set Up Your Camera

    LCD display. Connect the cable to the camera. 5. Set the EPIC Pro ‘Time per Pic’ in the ‘Options’ submenu to ensure enough time for the camera to be ready to capture another photograph. You need to account for the shutter speed and enought time to write the image to flash memory. It is important to allow...
  • Page 25 ‘Checklist’ by setting it to OFF, you will be prompted to set the camera’s zoom. Press OK after this prompt. Now the EPIC Pro will prompt you to align a unique point with the top of the cam- era viewfinder or the top of the LCD screen. Ensure you choose a feature that you can easily identify and use the directional keys to move the camera so that this unique point is at the top, middle of the lens.

  • Page 26: Set The Manual Focus Or Auto Focus

    2.8 Set manual focus or autofocus Focus is very important when capturing panoramas with the EPIC Pro. By paying close attention to the focus both before and during shooting, you can create panoramas wih ulta high resolition and incredible clarity in their detail. By not paying close attention to focus, the amount of time and effort spent capturing a large 1000 photograph panorama may not generate as good of results as the same panorama using a shorter focal length and 400 photographs.
  • Page 27 GigaPan Pro User Guide Auto Focus There are situations when auto focus is a better choice, than manual focus for increasing the sharpness of a panorama. One example is a crowd of people or a building that are at an angle and span a large distance. You will not be able to increase the depth of field to cover the entire distance, especially if you are using a longer focal length.

  • Page 28: Minimize Parralax Error

    2x2 panorama. Use the in- structions in Chapter 3 to take a panorama, and preview the images in your camera. If you don’t see a good overlap despite following the instructions, go back and adjust your EPIC Pro set-up. Good Overlap Insufficient Overlap 2.9 Minimize paralax error...
  • Page 29 Loosen the knob underneath the camera rail and move the rail so that the esti- mated location of the lens entry pupil is located at the midpoint of the EPIC Pro arms, which is the yaw axis. Determine the position of the camera rail using the millimeter markings on the rail.

  • Page 30: Using The Gigapan Epic Pro

    Taking a 360 degree panorama is easy and is similar to shooting any other panorama. Instead of setting the EPIC Pro to the upper left and lower right corners of the panorama, you just have to set it to the top and bottom.
  • Page 31 3.3 Repeat a previous panorama The EPIC Pro can save the data for your previous panorama, so you can repeat it and correct it if something went wrong with your first try, or if you just want to try the same panorama with a different camera setting.

  • Page 32: Epic Pro Additional Instructions And New Features

    This is especially true for panoramas that cover a large field of view. You can improve the overall exposure by capturing multiple photographs with different exposures for each position. You do this by using the EPIC Pro ‘Brackets’ setting and the ‘EV Step Size’ setting. The panorama shown above is a good example...

  • Page 33: Frequently Asked Questions

    Choose whether you are going to use the camera AEB (automatic exposure bracketing ) or the BULB mode where the EPIC Pro controls how long the shutter is asserted. In order to use the BULB mode, all of the shutter speeds need to be slower than about 1/10 of a second.
  • Page 34 What is a simple method of determining the center exposure, number of brack- ets, and the exposure value separation? Use an evaluative metering mode to determine the center ‘Time/Exposure’ setting and then simply choose three brackets with a larger EV separation such as 1.7 EV or 2.0 What is an accurate method of determining the number of brackets and the exposure value separation? Determine the exposure for the brightest, average, and darkest areas that you would...
  • Page 35 GigaPan Pro User Guide Two methods are shown below. The first method simply requires you to count the number of shutter values required to travel between each extreme to the average exposure. The second method requires you to divide by two or multiply by two until you reach the other meter reading. Let’s use an example where you meter 1 second in the shadows, 1/4 sec- ond average exposure, and 1/160 of a second in bright areas where you want to be able resolve details.
  • Page 36 The resulting fused or tone mapped images are then stitched by Gigapan Stitch. Some of your fusion or tone mapping options are: •...

  • Page 37: Mirror Lock-Up

    Lock-up’ is especially important for longer focal length lenses that are larger and heavier. The longer focal length indirectly means that the magnification is greater and that any lens movement is magnified more, and more likely to cause blurry photographs. Select the ‘Options’ submenu from the EPIC Pro ‘Main Menu’. Select the ‘Mirror Lock-up’ menu item and press OK. Select the value ‘ON’ and press OK.

  • Page 38: Shutter Teach

    Scroll to the ‘Shutter Teach’ menu item and press OK. Select ‘ON’ and press OK. You will now enter “shutter teach mode”. The display will ask you to use the left arrow button to tell the EPIC Pro when to trig- ger the shutter.

  • Page 39: Timelapse/Series

    You can use the ‘Timelapse/Series’ function to take a series of panoramas over a period of time. You can use either the external trigger and a remote, or a timer to tell the EPIC Pro when to start each successive panorama.

  • Page 40: Save/Load Config

    4.5 Save/Load Config There are three configuration memories A, B, and C that you can use to save settings. The configurations may allow you to save a significant amount of time switching between lenses or cameras. Saving or Loading a configuration From the EPIC Pro ‘Main Menu’, select the ‘Options’ sub menu and press OK. Select the ‘Save/Load Config’ menu item and press OK. Select one of the configuration memory locations A, B, or C and press OK. 4.6 Last Pic Hold When the ‘Last Pic Hold’ function is set to ‘ON’, the EPIC Pro will keep the half button press signal asserted so that the camera is ready for the next panorama. This is very useful for time lapse panoramas.

  • Page 41: Shutter Feedback

    Connect the mini plug end of the cable to the remote trigger port of the EPIC Pro. The remote trigger port is located underneath the right hand side of the EPIC Pro LCD panel. Note, that you can buy a hotshoe adapter if your camera does not have a PC port.

  • Page 42: View And Share

    5.1 View and Share At GigaPan.com, you can: • Explore thousands of GigaPans from around the world, take snapshots, comment and share. • Discover amazing ways GigaPans are being used to communicate, promote, document and provide an amazing new vision.

  • Page 43: Embed Your Panorama

    Copy the HTML code paste it into your website or blog. NOTE: To embed a panorama owned by someone else, please contact the author for per- mission and a copy of the embed code. Click on the author’s name to view his or her profile, and select ‘Send a message’. You must be logged in to your GigaPan.com account to send a message.

  • Page 44: Place Your Panorama On Google Earth

    5.3 Place your panorama on Google Earth Share your panoramas with the world in Google Earth. There is a GigaPan layer where you can explore GigaPan panoramas from around the world. Recording your panorama’s location using GPS will make it easier. You’ll need Google Earth 4.2 or higher to share your panoramas.
  • Page 45 Click “Save Changes” when you are done editing. There are two ways to view your panorama in Google Earth Application a. Click the “View GigaPan” button from the the Google Earth Placement page and from the gigapan page Click “View in Google Earth”.
  • Page 46 You will be prompted to download a file. (Some browsers will download this file automatically) Save the kml file to your hard disk. Open the downloaded KML file in Google Earth. You will most likely see your GigaPan hover in mid air. To appropriately position your panorama go back to step 6., but before saving go ahead and modify the positioning values such as Heading or Elevation. As you are making the changes, you will be able to preview them on the Google Earth plugin that is a part of the placement page. Once you are satis-...

  • Page 47: Troubleshooting

    Consider increasing the ISO to allow for a higher shutter speed if there is not enough light. b. Attempt to shield the lens and EPIC Pro from the wind by placing it to the side of an object such as a tree, car trunk, or a large collapsible portrait reflector. In extreme conditions, consider placing the EPIC Pro inside of a small camping tent.

  • Page 48: My Photos Have A Narrow Depth Of Field

    The EPIC Pro’s platform is moving faster than your camera can take pic- tures. a. Navigate to ‘Options’ > ‘Time per Pic’ in the EPIC Pro Menu. b. Use the directional keys to increase the time that the EPIC Pro will wait before moving. While using auto focus you did not focus the lens before starting your panorama.

  • Page 49: The Electronic Trigger Cable Is Not Actuating The Camera Shutter

    6.5 The electronic trigger cable is not allowing the camera to autofocus Navigate to ‘Options’ > ‘Expert Options’ > ‘Shutter Length’ in the EPIC Pro Menu. Increase the value of the ‘Shutter Length’ setting to a value greater than ‘Time per Pic’...

  • Page 50: My Panoramas Are Distorted Or Misaligned

    Go through the Set-up steps in Chapter 2. Note: Remember that you must repeat this every time you change the camera, lens or focal length. b. Make sure that your camera is tightly mounted on the EPIC Pro unit. c. Make sure that the EPIC Pro is firmly mounted on your tripod.

  • Page 51: My Panoramas Have Vignetting

    Newer Canon cameras support ‘periph- eral illumination’ settings for certian lenses. Increase the amount of overlap to an percentage higher than the EPIC Pro de- fault of 30% using the ‘Picture Overlap’ setting in the EPIC Pro Menu.

  • Page 52: Tips And Tricks

    Another good idea is to set your lower-right corner so that it’s just after the point when the number of horizontal and vertical photos increases. For example, if the EPIC Pro shows you 20 horizontal and 10 vertical images, move it lower and to the right so that it reads 21 horizontal and 11 vertical.

  • Page 53: Shooting In Different Environments

    EPIC Pro moves and before actuating the shutter. 8. If there is substantial wind gusts, consider placing the EPIC Pro and lens behind a car trunk, tree, building, or a collapsible portrait reflector. Use a higher shutter speed that is at least...
  • Page 54 Another option with the EPIC Pro is to use autofocus if the subject is suitable. (See Chapter 2.8 for more information about autofocus.) If there are obects that are moving, you may want to use a higher ISO such as 400 or 800 to be able to use a faster shutter speed to freeze movement.

  • Page 55: Night Shots

    Here are a few tips for shooting panoramas at night. The key is to Increase the exposure time for each photo and make sure that the EPIC Pro and your camera are free from vibrations. If your camera body or lens has Image Stabilization, turn the feature off. Nikon refers to image stabilisation as VR vibration reduction.

  • Page 56: City Scenes

    7.4 City scenes In cities, you need to be more aware of objects in motion—specifically vehicles and people. You may also find that buildings can get distorted when you stitch your panorama. To avoiding moving objects, watch for people or street traffic that might get in the way of your shots - pause the panorama before they do and resume the panorama after they have left the frame, or pause go back and resume where you left off.

  • Page 57: Create Games: Hide & Seek

    Just follow these instructions when you are uploading your panorama to turn it into a fun hide & seek game: 1. When you upload your panorama to GigaPan.com, click on ‘Edit’. 2. Check the ‘Is a Game’ box. 3. List the objects you’ve hidden in your panorama comments.

  • Page 58: Panoramas In Motion: Capturing A Crowd

    7.6 Panoramas in Motion: Capturing a Crowd Sporting events, races or crowds of people are great opportunities to take an epic shot that captures every detail of the moment. You’ll be sure to capture every face in the crowd. When shooting a panorama of a sporting event that has a lot of motion, capture the whole scene and crowd, and then re-shoot the areas in motion individually.

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