Category Archives: Panorama

Vision Pro Experience

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Pleasant but underwhelming is all all I can say. The fact you can “see” through the goggles (if you want) is excellent, so it is easy to forget you are wearing them. The eye navigation and finger clicking worked great, as did window manipulation. Normal photos looked no better than a good hi-res monitor, still lots of oversharpening. Asked to zoom in on a still, it looked over processed and smoothed as usual, like most iPhone pics. The iPhone panoramas were nice to move around, but of course displayed classic jpeg artifacts. The 3D photos and videos looked better through the stereoscopic glasses, apart from some dodgy backgrounds. Still, you need a Vision Pro to see them properly. Apparently the 3D media were all taken on iPhone 15, so that was good. I was then encouraged to watch several Apple video promo’s. Of course they looked great, they have spent millions of dollars on them, so they should. Did they look better than normal video, no they looked like normal 4K video to me – that is high quality but with some special cinema adaptations.

Then it all went wrong. I went to my hi-res gigapixel website and you could not make a fullscreen view. Not only that, the resolution was not even HD, it was like viewing the internet in 2001, 720×480 pixels. I should say that I was able to actually navigate my panoramas, they just looked awful. Ok, so then I tried my 4K videos on Vimeo, same result. I actually cried out “appalling”. I then asked if there was download throttling. No response. I then asked if Safari didn’t work properly. No response. If this is actually how it works, Vision Pro is not ready for primetime. If it cannot play a normal 4K video, what is the point? If you can only properly view work specifically made for the Vision Pro, I would say wait a few years.

I should explain here that throughout the Vision Pro experience there is a personal Apple Specialist who monitors your actions and your views on a remote monitor. You talk with each other during the demo. Undoubtedly this person is following a script, as a result they do not appear to be able to answer actual questions. Not only that, but my Specialist was wearing a mask, which did not aid communication. (Have I got Covid, have you got Covid, either way it is unpleasant). I also spent 10 minutes wearing the device with an error message, while the Specialist disappeared, so probably not their best ever demo. However, that did give me time to take the selfie above, so thank you!

Nevertheless, I can see the appeal of this device in certain circumstances and enjoyed the experience. I did manage to use the virtual keyboard with eye navigation, a bit like using an iPhone keyboard in fact. As you might expect from goggles, by far the most impressive part of the experience was the best 3D I have ever seen. This is only version 1…hope it gets better!

Gaza 2001

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Funeral of young boy in Rafah, Gaza, May 2001

In  2001 I went to Gaza, as a fledgling panorama news photographer. This was not yet a valid passport to success, but with the help of Gary Knight of Newsweek, and after queuing up for many hours at a nameless  bureaucratic office in Jerusalem, at the last moment I was granted permission to enter Gaza. Despite some controversy over my tripod bag, which apparently resembled a rifle holster, I walked the walk into this hell-hole at the only entry point, the Erez Crossing. Way back in 2001 this place was a war zone, as can be seen from my photographs and panoramas, I was both appalled and excited. At the time Gaza was still occupied by the Israelis, who lived in sequestered areas and bunkers, with a very heavy, but hidden military presence. Despite the fact you cannot see them, many Israeli guns will have been pointed at my head. The level of destruction throughout Gaza was staggering, even at that time. Sadly, this forlorn area has been a disaster waiting to happen for many decades. We went straight to a hotspot in Southern Gaza at Khan Yunis, a site of recent Israeli shelling and a refugee camp. Since there were still Israeli factories and residences in Gaza, the level of military intimidation was still very high. Bizarrely I saw advertisements at the time in the Israeli Press for holidays in Gaza, it certainly would not have been my first choice holiday destination, despite the long beaches. 

for a larger panorama click fullscreen, or on a phone go here

After photographing the checkpoint outside Khan Yunis at Gush Qateef (which protected an Israeli enclave), which you can see in the panoramas, we went the following day to the funeral of two young boys in Rafah (see above), killed by the bombing. Emotions ran high and as an outsider it was a genuinely scary experience on the way to the cemetery and many guns were fired into the air. A sense of this can be seen in the video below. Following this striking experience we waited around in the hot sun to meet the Fatah Hawks. Eventually we were taken to their apartment, filled with more guns, to negotiate an interview. It was a scary situation to me, but nothing much happened, everyone was polite and we had some tea. However this was not the end of the story, since a few days later these Hawks would kidnap my photographer friend Gary and the Newsweek bureau chief, as detailed in this CNN article. No doubt these gunmen were to become members of what now would be called Hamas, who were already making a deadly play against Fatah, the Palestinian Authority who controlled Gaza. Luckily my friends were released after only one day, while if I had gone back to Gaza with Gary I am sure I would been on the kidnap list as well. This brief event made worldwide news. After the the Israelis left Gaza in 2005, Hamas became the democratically elected rulers of Gaza in 2006. There have been no elections since.

Man pleads his case at Israeli Checkpoint, Gaza 2001

We headed back to Gaza City, via a new housing development that had been shelled. On the way we were stopped by the Israeli army at the Kfar Darom Checkpoint, since I had illegally been taking pictures from the back of the car. Because we had good accreditation Gary managed to talk our way out of a sticky situation involving large machine guns. After these full-on days and sleepless nights we relaxed in Gaza City, I believe at the Al Deira Hotel. Wow, now I felt like a proper Newsweek journalist  (it was a luxury hotel), and we even managed to wangle a bottle of wine. Of course we did have to drink it a 100 yards away from any other guests, so as not to upset them, but that was down by the beach so it was fine. I got out safely with a real sense of relief, but as mentioned above Gary had to go back a few days later for the ill-fated interview with the Hawks. For a few moments I feared the worst. Still it was a successful trip and my panoramas were published on the foto8 photojournalism website. I was nicknamed Mr. Bean by our excellent local fixer, due to my insouciance. Taking the hint, I did eventually make the decision that artistic photography was probably a better direction for me than preying on other peoples misfortunes, there was to be no more war photojournalism. It had been an interesting experience, but was not to be repeated.

Since I left Gaza, it has been prey to a series of deadly bombings in 2008–2009, 2012, 2014 and 2021 by Israel, while in 2007 Human Rights Watch described the Gaza Strip as an “open-air prison”. When I was there in 2001 I could already have told them that, since even then there appeared little hope for this beleaguered and isolated strip of land, home to two million people. The international community has allowed this unbearable situation to fester and should bear responsibility. Gaza, totally reliant on foreign aid, and with no control over it’s own water supply, electricity, airspace, coastline, imports and infrastructure has been made into a tinderbox waiting to explode. Nevertheless that does not excuse the appalling and self-serving actions of Hamas on the 7th of October 2023. I fear more death.

A good sense of my feelings was expressed in this 2006 Panoramic Music Video, using the photographs taken in Gaza :

Update 31/0/08/24
Associated Press August 15, 2024 – Reported Total deaths:
Palestinians killed in Gaza: at least 40,005
People killed in Israel: about 1,200
Palestinians killed in the West Bank: 623
People killed in Lebanon: around 530

Graph from Wikipedia

†

Z360 goes mirrorless

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NikonZ7

Nikon Z7 with TTArtisan 11mm f2.8 Fisheye and Nodal Ninja Lens Ring for Panoramas

So what are the advantages you may ask. Quite simply the most important reason for me was to have access to 4K video, so that my cameras could compete with my iPhone. Now that I have a Nikon Z7 and Z50 I have found a plethora of other reasons for the upgrade. When I saw the the power of 4K video on my iPhone XS  , it was apparent my old Nikon D800 was simply outclassed by the new computational video options in my iPhone.

Xmas_pulling_over

Still from iPhone 4K video – who needs SLR cameras?

 However this iPhone has only one usable lens (the telephoto is lower quality, although I hear they have improved), and I found this very limiting. Now I have access to lenses from 7.5mm to 500mm, lots of options. Not only that, but due to the short flange distance, many vintage lenses can now be easily used with an adaptor. Talking of adaptors, the Nikon FTZ adaptor for G lenses works very well retaining full AF. However it is very bulky with a large box sticking out below the camera, which I find quite annoying, both for tripod and handheld use. (Update: There is now a version without the large bump). If you are using an old lens without AF, I recommend using a dumb circular adaptor. As for Z lenses, the new Nikon S lenses are indeed of spectacular quality, if rather expensive. Much better value and more entertaining are the third party Chinese lenses from Pergear, TTAritisan, 7 Artisans, Laowa and Meike among others. I have bought several of these metal manual focus lenses, in particularly fisheyes and wide angles, and optically they are excellent performers. In particularly my TTArtisan 11mm f2.8 fisheye was a lot sharper than my old faithful, the Nikon 16mm f2.8 fisheye, much to my surprise. The edge performance was a league above, although 11mm seems a misnomer, having a nearly identical 180º field of view to the Nikon 16mm. There are now some Chinese AF lenses from Viltrox, at least half the price of the Nikons, which have been well reviewed.

callanish

Callanish monolith Stone c.2600BC, Isle of Lewis. Nikon Z7 with TTArtisan 11mm f2.8 Fisheye.

 So much for the lenses, the real surprise was actual usage. For 30 years I have only used my cameras in full manual, locked ISO, spinning the speed and aperture dials as necessary. Now I have discovered the power of Auto ISO (still available in Manual), and am already getting lazy. With the power of dual gain sensors it does not make much difference to noise and quality when shooting in Raw whether the ISO is 100 or 10000. I am aware that for full quality I should be below ISO 400, but can you tell the difference? Anyway the speed of use, once fully set up, allows me to nearly shoot at random. The amount of information in the electronic viewfinder (which takes some getting used to) is highly informative and can be rapidly changed. The peaking function is invaluable for manual lenses. I trust the AF and exposure (-1/3) and of course all the pictures are now free.The latest sensors are amazing, I remember never shooting above ISO 800 on my Nikon D200. Meanwhile these cameras are truly optimised for video, the focus no longer jumps or hunts, aperture changes proceed as if click-less, even changing shutter speed is done smoothly. In addition you have the speed and flexibility of a touch screen, articulated monitor and best of all, silence. A minor annoyance are touch buttons on the Z50 monitor, often accidentally touched by my nose since I am left eye dominant. They have moved them on the similar spec Nikon Zfc. The autofocus is great, with a few confusing options, wide area-s seems to suit me. Mirrorless cameras tend to use more battery and require attention since while the camera is on the monitor is on, which has caught me out a few times. Always switch off when not using and it easily takes hundreds of shots and an hour of video (with a restart). One advantage is that they can be recharged via USB without the mains adaptor.

 In conclusion everything feels quiet, smooth and light, that’s all good. Do they take better photos than my old D800? Perhaps, but the benefit is really apparent in the sparkling video, tracking autofocus and flexibility of use.

Scrolling Music Notation Player

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This scrolling music player will automatically scroll when the cursor is placed on the right (or left) hand side, and will pause with the cursor in the centre.
The speed is relative to the cursor placement and can be finely controlled.

Requires Flash for full control, but will play in HTML5 without auto scroll.
Right click or control click for a proper fullscreen experience.

To stop any jerkiness play through entire score before usage.

~

This Player was developed in conjunction with the Conductor John Landor. You can see it being used here at a rehearsal in St Martin Kentish Town, Gospel Oak, London.

John Landor Workshop at St Martins

The musicians no longer need music stands as the scrolling music is projected onto moveable screens, here we are experimenting with 3 different screens.

John Landor Workshop at St Martins

Potentially this allows free movement by the musicians during performance and brings up their eyeline to more directly connect with the audience.

John Landor Workshop at St Martins

You can see more photographs here…

Volvo in Mario’s Cafe

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Paul Shearsmith’s Volvo Amazon in Mario’s Cafe, Kentish Town

Life size car photography by Douglas Cape, Z360

Kuma Lisa at St Mary’s

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Right click for the Fullscreen button
Another splendid night, Cheers!

A Short History of Quicktime VR

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In 1992 Quicktime 1.0 was launched. This was followed in 1994 by Windows friendly Quicktime 2.1 which, along with QuickTime VR 1.0, could play Panoramas and Objects in a discrete QTVR Player or in a browser plugin for Netscape Navigator.
In Quicktime 2.5, with an updated QuickTime VR 2.0, these items were integrated to make a free universal VR Player. Interactive multimedia had arrived!

So the Player was free, but to make this interactive multimedia you required the QuickTime VR Authoring Tools Suite which comprised of 2 huge binders, a video and lots of floppy discs. There was no GUI (graphical user interface), you had to write code in MPW 3.2 (Macintosh Programmer’s Workshop) and use Hyper Card and ResEdit. This Tools Suite cost $2,000 and could only run on a $4,000 Apple computer. Despite regular crashes (normal in those days) and a long learning curve, it all worked.

Panorama made using MPW 1997, but the Quicktime VR Player no longer works. Part of a Camden Lock Tour which appeared on a MacWorld cover CD in 1999.

It is worth remembering there was no broadband, only modems working at a fraction of the speed, and that digital cameras were in their infancy, so most projects had to be digitised from film, often using Photo CD.

In late 1997 QuickTime VR 2.0 Authoring Studio with a full GUI and batch mode was released for $500, bringing VR into the mainstream. The Authoring Tools made cylindrical panoramas, object movies and tours with internal and external links. For many years this programme was the default panorama maker, despite later competition from RealViz Stitcher, Powerstitch and VR Worx.

Quicktime was steadily updated, although Quicktime 4.1 notoriously re-numbered all your hotspots so you never actually went where you had intended. At the same time other panorama players appeared, unfortunately including the litigious Interactive Pictures Corporation (IPIX) who threatened to sue anyone who distributed software to create 360 degree panorama images, including the software developer Helmut Dersch and also Live Picture’s PhotoVista. IPIX, which charged $25 per panorama created, were to go bankrupt in 2006, hoist by their own petard: patent violation.

Apple supported Quicktime VR with special Showcase pages and a vibrant Apple QuickTime VR mailing list. The flexibility of Quicktime VR allowed the creation of true multimedia experiences. These 2 huge tomes in the Quicktime Developer Series illustrate the potential power of this technology.

Perhaps inspired by Helmut Dersh’s Panorama Tools, in 2001 Quicktime 5 introduced the spherical (360ºx180º) panorama player which we know today. By this time Quicktime supported mp3, Flash 4, streaming and “wired” movies. These wired movies allowed an authoring application to unlock the power of Quicktime, of which the prime example was Livestage Media Pro, allowing you to skin Quicktime and integrate different media and players interactively. Sadly this example no longer works as it did from 2004 to 2015.

Console Tour with panoramas, video, audio, text, hotspots, controls

With the advent of spherical panoramas new software appeared such as PTMac, IBM Hot Media, Cubic Converter, PhotoWarp and finally PTGui, the current stitcher of choice. Apple never updated QTVRAS (QuickTime VR Authoring Studio) to stitch spherical images or run in OSX except under emulation.

During the early days of Quicktime VR a large amount of effort was spent persuading PC owners to download Quicktime, so they could view the media. This problem evaporated after Apple launched iTunes in 2001 (after buying Soundjam) and in effect Quicktime became the de facto music player. It was all looking rosy, but in retrospect it was at this time that Apple started to lose interest in Quicktime VR, and now iTunes can now no longer play interactive media.

With the advent of Quicktime 7 in 2005 the writing was on the wall when Flash support was dropped in version 7.3 along with several other interactive features due to “security concerns”, breaking many interactive projects. In the same year a very smooth Open GL panorama player called Cubic Navigator was launched using the latest graphics technology, but Apple did not respond. Since Quicktime 7.5 in 2008 the feature set has not been updated apart from security and compatibility updates. Quicktime 7.6 is now an “optional install” on Apple computers. It should be remembered that Quicktime 7 in the Pro version ($30) is a very powerful and flexible movie editor and compressor using the the same codecs as Final Cut Pro Studio ($1,700).

In 2009 Apple dropped support for Quicktime VR with the launch of Quicktime X, which does not play QTVR or edit movies, despite claiming it was “ideal for any application that needs to play media content”, and that it would “advance modern media and Internet standards”. In doing so they handed over the multimedia baton to Flash (now the default panorama player), their alleged opponents. Apple’s eventual response (link now removed by Apple) was an HTML5 player which was an insult to the rich tradition of Quicktime VR. It was an ignominious end for the very technology Apple had invented and promoted so strongly.

So try making this today, it might be possible in Flash using KRPano, but in 1999 we had a cool GUI in SoundsaVR to edit the multiple overlapping loops. This panorama, only 1.2mb so it could be delivered over a modem, was a big hit at MacWorld 1999.

Echo City with Sound Loops, using SoundsaVR

Coda
Of course interactive multimedia plays on, with incredible gigapixel panoramas in Flash and swishy cool HTML5 panoramas on the iPhone and iPad. However to make these we are back hand coding in XML, while the wired possibilities of Quicktime have been abandoned. Quicktime VR still functions (in some browsers) and Quicktime 7 is still available, but for how long?

Update 8/12/15
Today Apple finally destroyed their own creation, Quicktime VR.
In a “Security Update” Apple silently removed the Quicktime Plug-in which played Panoramas.
Apple stated “If you’re using the legacy QuickTime 7 web plug-in to display panoramic images, use an HTML5-based panorama viewer instead. Search the web for a panorama viewer that doesn’t require a web plug-in.”
Appallingly disingenuous since there is no HTML5 player that can play Quicktime VR without the author re-encoding the original panorama. Shame on you, Apple.

PS
To restore the Quicktime VR plug-in on OSX
Go to Library/InternetPlug-Ins
Move these two files from the Disabled Plug-Ins folder to the Internet Plug-Ins folder:
QuickTime Plugin.plugin
nslQTScriptablePlugin.xpt
Hurrah !

All VR examples © z360.com

Thanks To :
Tim Monroe
Ken Turkowski
Joel Cannon
David Palermo
and many others on the Apple QuickTime VR team