VRMAG is an online magazine specialized in virtual reality photography. It deals with subjects relative to the creation of virtual tours in its articles, reports, reviews and interviews.

In its 29th issue, VRMAG propose an interview of Alexandre Jenny, founder of the company Kolor and initiator of the program Autopano Pro.

Alexandre Jenny reviews his beginning in photography, and how he got interested in panoramic photography, from 1998 onwards: “During week-ends, I was used to climb the mountains. When reaching the top, you often have beautiful landscapes with a large view. So I shoot a lot… right, left… but really soon I felt a little uncomfortable because I wanted the full landscape, not only part of it. This is why I came into panoramic. There was pretty nothing out at that time or, at least, there was nothing automatic.”

Reviewing the history of the program Autopano Pro, the competitor programs, and the interesting features of Autopano Pro, Alexandre Jenny then gives some clues about the software development for the coming months, in particular the improvement of HDR support.

VRMAG will test Autopano Pro in its next issue.

Read the whole interview.

Image & Nature magazine has just dedicated a test to Autopano Pro in its 13th issue. This test is interesting because it quotes several arguments of Autopano Pro and tests them one after the other.

The 5 tested arguments are: ease of use, automatic detection of photos belonging to a same panorama, automatic correction of color and exposure differences, stitching of images having different focal distances, and stitching of images shot every which way.

Each argument was tested and positively validated by the magazine editors! Phew!

Image & Nature magazine begins by the program’s interface, which is “clear and intuitive”. About the automatic panorama detection, “it is amusing to note that the program often finds more stitchings that what you excpect”.

The conclusion of the test of color and exposure correction cannot be clearer: “the software’s capabilities in this field are totally impressive”! Performances in exposure correction “can be built on to perform HDR stitching (high dynamic range images)”.

The test of stitching images of different focal distances was quite advanced, since Autopano Pro could even “stitch a photo shot with a 15mm fisheye with a photo shot with a 35mm!”

Finally, no matter if the photos are shot vertically, horizontally or slanting, “Autopano Pro reorders all photos and gives the best possible stitching”.

The article concludes: “this program is the best pick! Simple and powerful, it puts panoramic photography at everybody’s reach, and enables even wider applications. A must-have!

This 13th issue of Image & Nature magazine also dedicated a test to the new Canon EOS-1 Mark III reflex camera. This magazine is currently being sold in French stores and on http://www.image-nature.com.

Kolor will take part in the workshop of the International Association of Panoramic Photographers. This meeting will be held in Peyresq, a small village of south-eastern France, from May 10th to 14th, 2008.

The program includes photo outings, demos and workshops. It is an occasion for Kolor to present its new technologies and software, the 64-bit version of Autopano Pro for example.

Anyone can take part to this workshop, whether you are an IAPP member or not. Find out more on this page :

http://www.panphoto.com/workshops.php