I've signed up to help beta test the new GigaPan computerized camera system. Ever since I was a kid and became fascinated by widescreen movie formats like Cinerama, CinemaScope and such, I've white-trashed my own half-vast panoramas.

During college, I even experimented with putting anamorphic lenses on my Minolta Autopak-8 D4 camera to give a scope aspect ratio to my Super 8 movies. Of late, I've been snapping two or three horizontal images with my Canon PowerShot SD950 IS to get quick-and-dirty panoramas. The view above is an example of this. I shot this two-panel panorama yesterday from the 22nd floor of the Chicago Tribune Tower. (See a larger version here.)

GigaPan seems a little complicated. I hope I'm up to the task. If all goes as planned, I'll be shooting some panoramas this weekend.

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