Windows Phone App Review: Photosynth

Simply put, Photosynth for Windows Phone is a game changer. Photosynth is a panorama app that mocks at large group shots, laughs when at that place isn't enough room to support, and smiles when a picturesque landscape is in front end of the camera. The camera app opens up a new world of photography for your Windows Phone and does and then rather nicely.

Unlike other panorama apps for your Windows Phone that sticks to either a vertical or horizontal plane, Photosynth can exercise both and handle 360 degrees of capture. No longer are you concerned if you tin't support enough to capture tall buildings in a mural shot. No longer are yous worried that you won't have enough room for a group shot.

Throw in an online interface, the ability to share images through Facebook and Twitter, share your images through BING, embed images and upload/store/share images at Photosynth.cyberspace this little photography app is very impressive.

Photosynth's primary pages cover capturing the pictures, your Photosynth library, and a page highlighting featured photographs from other Photosynth users. From the iii-dot menu y'all have options to refresh your library view, access the settings, access a very nice aid section, and charge per unit/review the app over on the Marketplace.

Settings cover two areas, application settings and Photosynth account settings. Photosynth account settings basically allows you to authorize the app to admission your Facebook, Twitter and Live accounts for uploading and sharing purposes. App settings embrace these areas:

• Sound
• Capture Hints
• Autosave
• Location Services
• Gyroscope
• Sharing License
• Restore Defaults.

The Share License level setting is a really nice bear on. Basically you are able to set your copyright level which determines how others can utilize your images. At that place's a link in this setting that will pull upward a copyright information page but in a nutshell, you have a range of options that starts with the to the lowest degree restrictive where others can download, tweak, remix and build upon your photographs equally long as you receive credit for the original. So there's the more restrictive choice where photos tin merely be downloaded and shared, with no changes allow or commercial employ. Most will non think of copyright issues with their Windows Phone photography and information technology's nice to see Microsoft adding this setting.

Photosynth: Creating Panoramas

Before yous tin can capture and run up photos with accuracy, y'all will have to calibrate your Windows Phone (twirling information technology about in a figure eight blueprint).  There will be on-screen prompts to walk you through that process is needed. One time calibrated, to begin creating a panoramic image become to the Capture Page, frame your first epitome up in the preview pane, and tap the screen to beginning capturing.

After you take the initial photograph, a frame with eye point highlighted will appear.  Just movement your Windows Phone left, right, up or down and every bit the framing aligns Photosynth takes the next photograph automatically. For the all-time results you need to movement your Windows Phone in a slow, consistent style.

The framing window may change colors as y'all move around capturing your photos. They are:

• Dark-green: All is skillful with the alignment and photos are captured automatically.
• Yellow: Things could be meliorate with the alignment and if yous are insistent on taking the photograph, you'll need to do so manually by tapping the screen.
• Red: Something is rotten in Kingdom of denmark and you lot've screwed up the alignment so bad that you need to back up to where your terminal photo was taken and start over.

Once you are finished capturing all the images, merely tap the check marker and Photosynth will start building your panorama. The time needed to build your concluding epitome varies with how many images are captured but in general, the process moves along rather nicely.

Once congenital, you have the options to edit the images properties and/or share the photo. Editing the properties embrace naming the photo, cropping the thumbnail equally it appears on the Library Page, and set a location of the photo. Sharing options cover Facebook, Twitter, Bing Maps, Photosynth.net, email or to your camera coil.

Prior to sharing the image, you will be given the selection to clean up the image by cropping the image and evening out the ragged edges. The united nations-cropped prototype can be autosaved to your photographic camera roll (selection is in your settings) but in sharing it to the camera curlicue you can crop the image before saving.

Photosynth: Image Quality

There is a slight learning curve on capturing the images that will build your panorama. It's best to start minor by capturing a 3-4 image horizontal panorama to get the hang of things. Overall, Photosynth does a very nice job of stitching the individual photos together to create some really overnice panoramic images. Every now and and then y'all will run into uneven stitching or noticeable framing lines merely more times than not, Photosynth gets it right.

Handheld vs. using a tripod? Photosynth tin hands be used handheld but you have to exist slow and consistent with your movements. Non necessarily slow as a snail's stride but slow enough for Photosynth to properly friction match things up. I found that a tripod does comes in handy with large, horizontal panoramas. iStabilizer makes a nifty little tripod mount that will fit most Windows Phones (I've used it with phones ranging from the HTC Titan II to the Samsung Focus Flash). The tripod gives you more stability, consistency and control over your camera movements.

Having said that, if y'all have vertical movements in building your panorama, the tripod can get a little tricky. While you have a more stable movement, your movements may be restricted with your tripod head.  You lot really have to twist and plough to get those full, 360 degree shots and the tripod may non be flexible enough to cover every inch.

Photosynth: A few bugs to iron out?

One last ascertainment with Photosynth is that we tried the app out on both the Nokia Lumia 900 and HTC Titan II. Photosynth worked like a charm on the Lumia 900 tackling panoramas built from three to as many as xxx 6 frames. Using Photosynth on the Titan II was a different story. The app crashed often when edifice a panorama from more 3 or iv frames. There were even a few occasions when the Titan Ii locked upward completely.

All may not exist lost though should Photosynth crash. If the app shuts downwards before the photosynth completes, yous may be able to go to your Library page and notice the capture waiting to be synthed. Just tap on the library thumbnail and the stitching process starts again.

Nosotros aren't certain what was causing the issues with the Titan Two. With the larger camera sensor, it could be a retentiveness issue in storing a large number of photos in retentivity while Photosynth does its job. Whatever the reason, we promise Microsoft can find a solution to allow Photosynth to run more than stable on the Titan Ii. It's frustrating to take such a nice camera and not take reward of Photosynth with conviction.

Photosynth: The website

The Photosynth website gives you the ability to view and store your panoramas online. You also have the ability to view panoramas from other Photosynth users, chat in the Photosynth forums, and read up on all the Photosynth news. The online viewer for panoramas allows you to zoom in or out besides as a play button to automatically rotate your paradigm.

In improver to the website, yous tin can download desktop Photosynth apps to build panoramas from photos captured from your stand solitary digital camera. One time built or uploaded from your Windows Phone, y'all can share your panos much similar y'all would with the Photosynth Windows Phone app. Images can be shared via email or Facebook too as embedded.

Photosynth: Overall Impression

All in all, we are very impressed with Photosynth. It took Microsoft some time to bring this app to the Windows Telephone platform (some may say too long) but it was well worth the wait.  At that place's all the same some room for improvement but afterward taking Photosynth out the by few days, nosotros still recollect the app is very impressive. Microsoft does need to shore up the stability issues on the Titan Ii, also as other Windows Phones. But as far as alignment, stitching and building the panoramas Photosynth does a very nice task of things.  I wouldn't listen seeing a few more in-firm editing tools but in that location are other options readily available on the Windows Phone or on your computer.

Asides from creating impressive panoramic images suitable for printing, Photosynth creates some fantastic 360 caste images that are bully to view inside the app or from the Photosynth website. Sorry to sound repetitive, only this app really does open up the capabilities of your Windows Phone photographic camera.  From stunning panoramas that not just stretch horizontally merely likewise vertically to the 360 degree views, Photosynth helps further tap into your photographic creativity.

If you use your Windows Telephone camera at all, Photosynth is a must have app. Photosynth is a free application and you can take hold of it here at the Windows Phone Marketplace.

We may earn a committee for purchases using our links. Larn more.

Information technology's here

The AT&T version of Surface Duo is at present getting Android xi

After a very long expect, the original Surface Duo is at present eligible to receive its over-the-air Os update to Android 11. Hither is what is new and fixed with the biggest update yet for Microsoft'due south first dual-screen Android device.

Source: https://www.windowscentral.com/windows-phone-app-review-photosynth

Posted by: barrazawitheath.blogspot.com

Share this post