Panorama Photo Questions--Blurry, Settings, Techniques?

[PowrDroid]

I've had my Pixel 2XL for about 18 months now and until this week, I'd never tried panorama mode. I've followed the instructions--I rotate the camera about it's axis, not rotating my body with the shot. When looking at the resultant photos on my camera the top and bottom of the screen appears blurry. However, if I go to Google Photos on my computer and look at the photos they look pretty good. Why do panorama photos on my camera look blurry and on my computer they look fine?

Also, according to several articles I found, there is supposed to be a high resolution panorama camera setting. However, when I look for this in my Settings menu, it's not there. Here's a screen grab of an article showing the High Resolution Panorama setting and a screenshot of my camera settings. BTW, If I go into Advanced, there is nothing there about panorama settings. Does your Pixel or Pixel 2XL have the high resolution panorama photo setting?





I also read that some people skip panorama setting and instead create their own panorama photo by taking a succession of overlapping photos, say 25%-33% overlapping, while moving the camera across the shooting area. Then, Google Photos artificial intelligence stitches the several photos into one panorama shot. Has anyone tried this?

 

[B. Diddy]

Can you show us some samples of a panorama that has blurriness on your phone but not in Google Photos?

On my 3 XL, I've noticed that I often get a little blurriness at both ends of a panorama, at the periphery. I think that's due to flattening out a shot that was taken essentially as an arc. Is that what you're seeing?



Thanks for the tip about rotating the camera on its axis, not rotating my body (which I've been doing) -- I'll have to give that a try!

 

[PowrDroid]

Can you show us some samples of a panorama that has blurriness on your phone but not in Google Photos?

It's only blurry when I view it on my phone. Anyway, here's what I can post. This wasn't much of a panoramic shot either.

On my 3 XL, I've noticed that I often get a little blurriness at both ends of a panorama, at the periphery. I think that's due to flattening out a shot that was taken essentially as an arc. Is that what you're seeing?

No, I think it is worse than that.

View attachment 304882

That's a fabulous shot!

 

[B. Diddy]

I'm assuming the top one is the one viewed on the phone, correct? Are you tapping the preview first (which then activates the VR view), or are you just looking at the preview? If I activate the VR view, there's a lot of blurriness that appears, which I think is because VR view accommodates 360 degree shots, not just panoramas.

Thanks for the compliment! That shot's from the top of Diamond Head, in Honolulu.

 

[GSDer]

I've never seen an option to change the resolution/quality of a panorama shot. That information is bogus.
I have seen the same blurry crap at the top/bottom of my panorama shots - that started awhile back when the Camera application changed: it suddenly started showing panorama shots as though I was capturing a Photosphere, the blur being all that area that wasn't filled in. I find it quite annoying and don't know why Google did that, since if I wanted a Photosphere I would have picked THAT button instead of the Panorama button.
More feedback to Google that is apparently ignored...

 

[B. Diddy]

I've never seen an option to change the resolution/quality of a panorama shot. That information is bogus.

I might be misremembering, but I think this was an option a few Android versions ago (or a few Google Camera app versions ago).

 

[ptkelly]

I hated the panorama mode on the new Pixel 3 and continue using the Photo Sphere mode. Yesterday I tried the Panorama Mode selected from the scrolling menu and it is totally different. It does a great job. No curvature and no problems.

Pixel 3, Google Camera 6.2