Panorama (Stitch Assist) vs. Wide-Angle

An interesting development with digital cameras is the "panorama" or "Stitch Assist" feature which allows you to take a number of regular shots and digitally "stitch" them together in an image editing software to produce a panoramic picture. This is a great development and panoramic pictures can be breathtaking to view. It is very impressive when used to take a large group of people, say a club's members or a large family with grandparents and grandchildren, all lined up. Panoramic landscapes are my favorites.

[Editor's note: Do not be confused with the 'Panorama' feature on film APS cameras. This is nothing but an after-the-fact in-the-photo-lab cropping and enlargement. In fact, no matter which picture mode you select, the film APS camera always capture the picture in the 'H' picture mode. In the photolab, the printer reads which mode you selected, then just crops and enlages it to 'simulate' the desired effect. Bottom line, it ain't panoramic and shouldn't really be called panoramic. It can give a nice effect sometimes, though, when used imaginatively.]

Some people have confused the ability of a digital camera to take panoramic pictures with the ability of a lens to provide a good wide-angle coverage. It is an understandable confusion, but really, it is not the same thing and we do not get the same results when either displaying on a PC monitor or in prints.

A lens with a good wide-angle coverage (say, 24 mm) will allow you to include more of the picture in the same one frame. To contrast, a panoramic picture needs many frames to cover the same angle. In other words, I can capture all the glory of a breathtaking view with a wide-angle lens and display it on my PC monitor. With panoramic pictures, the same coverage will be bigger than your PC monitor and you'll have to scroll left and right to view the image. Ditto, on an 11x14 in. print. Different beasts for different purposes.

I hope this clarifies the difference a bit. We are all awaiting camera manufacturers to bring out digital cameras with better wide-angle coverage. I'd rather have a lens with 28-112mm coverage (4x optical zoom) than one with 35-140mm coverage (also 4x optical zoom). With the first one, I get a good wide-angle at 28mm, normal coverage at 50mm, and a good portrait coverage at 112 mm (all using 35mm camera equivalent). With the second, I get normal coverage at 35mm, a good portarit coverage at 112-135mm, and so-so telephoto coverage at 140mm.