Archived posting to the Leica Users Group, 1999/09/26

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Subject: [Leica] Re: Low Pressure Sodium
From: Andrew Nemeth <azn@nemeng.com>
Date: Mon, 27 Sep 99 11:22:36 +1000

Mark Rabiner <mrabiner@concentric.net> wrote:

>> In march of this year I did a VR shoot at the Australian War Memorial
>> Museum in Canberra.

>What's a VR shoot? Video or still film or what?

Virtual Reality.  I take a sequence of shots onto 35mm film with a 16mm 
Fisheye Elmarit R and then merge them together into a single, seamless 
360-degree panoramic image.

You then use a Java or browser plug-in player application to play back
the image such that you end up standing inside the photograph.  You can
then interactively pan left or right or tilt up or down.  I also program
hotspots into each VR scene such that when a user clicks on them, they
can get a close-up view (shot with 90mm Sumicron R, or now 100mm APO R).

In the example I spoke of, the AWM Museum has thus put some of its 
exhibits online for others in Australia or the World to visit and
explore.

<www.awm.gov.au/virtualtour>

Prior to July 98 I used Nikon(s) and Nikon glass to shoot this stuff, 
but after discovering Leica glass, dumped the Nikons pronto (except
for the Nikon F2a, which I have since had modified to mount R lenses).  

I especially like the flare-resistance of the 16mm Elmarit.  You can 
point it straight into the sun or interior spotlights and there is 
minimal flare(!)

This gives me a *huge* competitive advantage when trawling for clients/
projects as most of my contemporaries are using rinky-dink digital
cameras (in particular the Nikon 900/950) with their low-res, flare-prone
toy lenses.

The Leica-Advantage still cuts it in high-tech.  ;?)


Regds,

Andrew Nemeth
nemeng.com