To the dismay of 360 photographers around the world, stitching Panono (reviewed here) photos is no longer free. The company announced that beginning September 1, 2019, they will charge $0.79 to stitch each photo on their cloud service. What impact will this have on Panono? Are there alternatives?
Panono had been the highest resolution 360 camera for many years, with 36 lenses and 108 megapixels. It had an unusual workflow that used cloud stitching. Users would download the photos from the Panono to their phone. From their phone, they upload the photos to Panono’s cloud service. After about 15 to 30 minutes, the photos are stitched and ready to download.
Since the beginning, Panono’s stitching service had been free. But now, Panono will begin charging $0.79 per photo. The move caught users by surprise.
Alternatives
The problem for users is that there is no software that I’m aware of that can stitch Panono photos. The best one I’ve tried is Panorama Studio 3 Pro, but even that software cannot stitch Panono perfectly. UPDATE: a reader suggested that Mistika VR can stitch Panono perfectly. Mistika is subscription based and costs €69 per month or €499 per year.
The best alternative is probably the XPhase Pro (reviewed here). XPhase is a 200mp 360 camera with 25 lenses. Not only is it more detailed than Panono, but it is also capable of HDR without ghosting. In terms of workflow, it can stitch and fuse HDR photos in about one minute, on the included desktop app or on a phone. BTW, it costs less than half of the Panono ($879). Check out my review.
I’m supposing that Panono was completely unaware of XPhase Pro when they announced the new policy for stitching. In my opinion, this new policy will likely be the end of Panono, although it seems that may have been an inevitable result in any case.
A suicide business decision! Instead they should have offered the option of buying their stitching software! I think XPhase will run over them in no time as well as other software developers coming out with stitching modules for Panono.
I just tested PanoramaStudio 3 for 69.90 and talked to the software vendor. That worked perfectly on my Mac right from the start. Once set up and running.
Cool!
This is a bad business decision, with the XPhase just launched I cannot see Panono getting many new customers and existing customers do have an alternative, they can use PTGui.
Some after thoughts to my posting – I think Mistika have a template for the Panono but Not PTGui. Another possibility as to why they are about to charge for stitching is that they are about to release an upgraded version that outperforms the Xphase!
Betrayed again to panono.
XPhase will arrive in August.
I’ve enjoyed my Panono here in the USA for several years. A few months ago my camera died. Panono’s diags point to a disconnected wire. Turns out that Panono cannot receive my camera for repair in Germany without incurring tax liabilities; cost PROHIBITIVE tax liabilities they say. Again, my camera is done and I can’t get them to work on it.
I won’t worry about the small amount that they are charging as I think Panono has entered a graveyard spiral anyway.
Hi Bill. Sorry to hear that, but yes it’s not worth fixing it anymore, imho.
My God!!! I need help. I bought this equipment with great difficulty here in Brazil. and it is impossible to work with this value, mainly because most of the internal photos are not good, having to do 3 or 4 of each place. Currently virtual tour is my monetary livelihood
Hi Leonardo! I’m sorry to hear that. Check with the Panono facebook group. Some users have been able to stitch offline.
Best regards,
Mic
Mistika VR defineatly has a Panono preset, but Mistika is expensive.
Less expensive is PTGui at https://www.ptgui.com/ and here is a link to a website with detailed workflow and a PTGui Templete, http://panohead.net/index.php/techniques/stitching-panono-panoramas
Also there is Hugin at http://hugin.sourceforge.net/ which is free and may work with the PTGui Template, although I have not tried that myself.
Mistika VR do have a preset for Panono, but Mistka VR is expensive.
PTGui is less expensive and there is a PTGui template and workflow for Panono at
http://panohead.net/index.php/techniques/stitching-panono-panoramas
That template may also work with Hugin which is free.
I bought a Panono camera too. One solution might be Transported VR.
Ok thanks. Will check out
Thanks Brian@