The Power of the Panorama

For amateur photographers, the panoramic shot is something of a Holy Grail. Traditionally, a good panoramic image required professional equipment and know-how that casual photo buffs simply didn't have. But with new breakthrough technology, GigaPan has come up with a way for anyone to produce these amazing images.

The GigaPan Epic is a small, robotic camera mount that attaches to an ordinary digital camera. The Epic automates the picture-taking process, allowing you to take hundreds or even thousands of images of a scene. After downloading the images to a computer, the GigaPan Stitcher software automatically combines them into a single panorama. The GigaPan.org Web site even allows photographers to post GigaPan panoramas for sharing with a global community.

Professional freelance photographer David Bergman took his first GigaPan panorama of President Obama's inaugural address, an epic shot seen around the world. The sweeping image of the new president addressing millions of Americans has such phenomenal detail that by zooming in it is possible to recognize individual faces. Millions have visited GigaPan.org to find themselves in the crowd.

"I knew that this was an important picture and the story I wanted to convey was the sheer size of the crowd. No single lens could have captured the scene at that quality," said Bergman. "I couldn't have done it without GigaPan."

The GigaPan Epic is so easy to use, Bergman was able to capture this historic shot the very first time he used it. The Epic includes fully integrated software and works seamlessly with GigaPan.org.

The GigaPan Epic, complete with the GigaPan Stitcher software, is available now at gigapansystems.com for $379.