App Review - Pano 3.0

I’m not quite sure what has taken me so long to try this app (ahh hangon, now I remember, I’m doing a renovation & I’ve run out of cash) but I sure wish I had sooner!

Pano by Debacle Software is an App that allows you to ‘almost’ seamlessly stitch together single iPhographs into panoramic iPhographic works of art.

Don’t get discourage by the use of ‘almost’ in the description above because seriously your not gonna get frameable panoramas with a 2 mp cameraphone & without hardcore computing power, a special tripod & dedicated SLR etc. But to be honest this is far better than any point & click digital camera panorama I have seen

What really amazes me is just how well it works. At a pinch you could almost use it to create 360 tours for Real Estate Agents & the first task I set it was just that, taking tours of how my renovation is coming along so I could send to my family

Before we get started here are some tips.

1. The pano’s will stitch better the further the objects are from you.
2. Swivel the iPhone as if the lens (not the middle) has an invisible pole thru it vertically (or horizontaly if your making a vertical pano). Don’t swing your arms from left to right or turn your body just the iPhone

Got it? Ok lets go!

The user interface is clean & simple to use

1. Splash screen as it loads

2. always start your pano’s from the left. You can press the cog (settings) button to go into landscape mode

3. Now normally this is where I would be tearing my hair out with the dreaded ‘review this shot’ page. But because you are trying to align images together you may need a second go to get it perfect or to dodge that person who walked into the frame at the last minute. So for once it’s actually a welcome addition because unlike other apps that you want to be able to capture & save images fast, Pano’s are not really the kind of things where time is of the essence. Quite the opposite you will often be waiting for people to get out of the frame or cars to move.

4. A transparent panel of the last iPhograph will appear on the left so that you can line up the next iPhograph

5. Once you have taken all of your source iPhographs, just press the cog & select ‘make my panorama now’. It stitches them together surprisingly quick

6. Your preview of your panoramic iPhographic & its been saved to your album

7. Here is the finished Pano. You can click it for a lager view. I tweaked it a little in iPhoto because stupid me was writing this review just on dusk whilst having coffee with mates, so it’s a bit on the dark side.

Not only does iPhography.com award Pano with a ‘Highly Recommended’ but it gets my own personal award of being added permanently to my homepage (I secretly think Debacle Software would be proud of the latter).

When I write a review I try to be constructive & let the developer know what I think needs changing but to be honest I cant think of any. If I had to suggest something. Maybe some editing tools as the other editing apps cant handle images this big. It might be nice to be able to correct levels, contrast & saturation to make up for the iPhone’s ‘washyness’

I really had fun with this app & it only took me 2 seconds to see the potential of it. When Apple introduces the higher spec iPhone later this year (if they do) these pano’s are only gonna get better.

Go out & get this app now (well i suppose with the iPhone, going out is not really an issue so just stay in & download it!) & have heaps of fun testing it out. Don’t neglect those vertical pano’s either