[Leica] Panoramics using Leica.

["Rodgers, David" <david.rodgers@xo.com>]

For those with some bandwidth, or time to burn, here's my first pass at
stitching together a panoramic. It's a 250K file, so be forewarned.
Admittedly, it's a C minus at best. All comments/critiques are welcomed.  

I took the series near Rio Vista, which is close to  where the Sacramento
River flows into the San Francisco Bay. Photos (6 in all) were made with an
SL and 90/2-R. Imagine, the 90/2 a panoramic lens. Only in the world of
digital. It's approximately a 210 degree span. Who needs a Roundshot?

You must scroll to see the entire image, including the mothball fleet, 3 oil
refineries and the Benicia Bridge. I had problems opening and scrolling with
my laptop on a 36K modem and Netscape 4.7. Anything that required scrolling
from the initial screen image was garbage. IE 5 worked fine, but I also had
a T1 connection for that. Shouldn't make a difference, but maybe it does. If
anyone brave enought to attempt it has a problem downloading and scrolling,
I'd appreciate knowing. This is my first attempt. Also, any type of feedback
on how to improve on anything would be most appreciated. 

"Best to leave it to the professionals" is something I already know!
Speaking of which, fellow Lugger Andrew Nemeth (4020.net) inspired me with
his phenominal panoramics taken using a 16mm Leica. It's a must see for
anyone who hasn't seen them. I was also inspired by Kyle C's great panoramic
of the boat hotel viewed using Quicktime. If you see this, Kyle, did you use
the panoramic software from Adobe? Just curious, as I saw something that
looked to be about $400. 

I think panoramics when done properly, as both Andrew's and Kyles are, are
really slick. For me, nothing ventured.... Panoramics aren't as easy as
dragging around in Photoshop. Getting contrast and brightness unform for all
images was a challenge. I only used Photoshop, and probably not judiciously.
Do stitching programs work better? Are there plugins that help? Again,
feedback would be appreciated. 

Here's the link. Again it's 250K. 
http://www.lightcurves.com/images/straights.jpg 

Dave