2.5 Gigapixel photo!

[IncompletePete]

http://www.tpd.tno.nl/Pics/DII/gigazoom/Delft2.htm

The amazing thing is, you can zoom in on the cars on the bottom right and read their number plates!

"TNO has produced the largest digital panoramic photo in the world. So, what do we mean by large? After all, modern consumer cameras can easily take a picture with 5 million pixels. Well, we are talking about a photo of completely different dimensions. One with 2.5 billion pixels - that's 500 times more pixels. If this photo were printed, it would measure 6.67 m by 2.67 m (300 dpi). The photograph shows Delft and its surroundings in the autumn of 2004. It was taken the top of the Electrical Engineering faculty of Delft University, at a height of about 100 m, by TNO."

[izzypizzy]

very cool!! thanks for posting it

[photofinish]

Now THIS is way cool! Where can I buy one?? :D

[mr.photoguy]

Very nice...

although there is a glitch on the side street where that green and dark blue bus is. There is a car joined in the back of it .. lol ..

[alan sh]

It could use some sharpening :))

[Kenski]

It could use some sharpening :))


Yeah, must of used a tamron instead of a "L" lens huh.... lol

[NGrinerPhoto]

Very nice...

although there is a glitch on the side street where that green and dark blue bus is. There is a car joined in the back of it .. lol ..

it's not all that... the photo is stiched - that's why the bus is the way it is

-nick

[Cadwell]

Seems to me it must be a slow news day. Someone has done a very large photostitch job and then put it on a web site. Now if this was some kind of new 2.5Gigapixel camera I'd be well impressed but as it is, no.

[izzypizzy]

it's obvious that its a stiched photo.. i don't think anyone is trying to fool anybody.. It's still very impressive to my eyes.

[RichardtheSane]

A very impressive stitch job

Taken from the top a an engineering facility at a university. You know, I always said engineering students had too much time on their hands...

[chops]

Just think, if there was really a camera like that, you could probably only fit one image on a 2 gig CF card. :lol:

[tpinchback]

this was on FM. it was taken by a nikon.

[sparker1]

I can't believe it!!! Not one of you guys offered constructive criticism of the composition. :D

[jaypie77]

I've got criticism: look along the boulevard to the right of the main subject. There is a man crossing the street... WITH NO FEET!

[BurningArrow]

The 2.5 gigapixel photo at www.tno.nl/gigapix

November 16, 2004

The Netherlands Organisation for Applied Scientific Research TNO has produced the largest digital panoramic photo in the world. So, what do we mean by large? After all, modern consumer cameras can easily take a picture with 5 million pixels. Well, we are talking about a photo of completely different dimensions. One with 2.5 billion pixels – that’s 500 times more pixels. If this photo were printed, it would measure 6.67 m by 2.67 m (300 dpi). The photograph shows Delft and its surroundings in the autumn of 2004. It was taken the top of the Electrical Engineering faculty of Delft University, at a height of about 100 m, by TNO.

The approach
The 2.5 gigapixel image is a composition of images rather than a single image. TNO developed a sophisticated approach to merge the many images – all 600 of them. The photos were taken automatically using a modern consumer camera and a powerful 400 mm lens. The camera was positioned automatically using a computer-controlled pan-tilt unit. Each of the 600 photos overlaps, an arrangement that ensured very accurate positioning and enabled us to stitch the images automatically into one giant image of 78,797 by 31,565 pixels. The most difficult tasks were processing these large images and comparing the overlapping images.

Long exposure time
All 600 photos were taken over a period of 1 hour and 20 minutes. Taking a single photo and moving the camera to a new position took approximately nine seconds. Thanks to the long exposure time, some interesting artefacts are visible at the edges of the various photos. They include a parked car that seems to merge into a bus and a walking torso.

After the photographic session, considerable effort was required to calculate the final result. It took about 24 hours to compare the overlapping photos and optimise them. Stitching the photos into one image required the capacity of 5 high-end pcs for three full days.

Contact details
For more information: www.tno.nl/gigapix

Please contact:
Jurgen den Hartog
Imaging and Data Interpretation dept
TNO TPD
T: +31 15 269 2321
E: jurgen@tpd.tno.nl