[pct-l] note on olympus stylus epic

[Jonathan Ley <leyj@earthlink.net>]

I think a lot of people on this list have this camera.  In case you
haven't noticed this, I thought I'd mention it:
The panoramic function really doesn't do anything special, it
simply clips off the top and bottom part of a regular picture.
The film developer sees this, and blows-up the remaining section
into a panoramic picture.  The resulting panorama is a nice picture,
but you don't get any extra wide-angle or extra resolution.
Actually, you get less resolution since you've lost the top and
bottom of the picture.

This is different than how those disposable panoramic cameras
work - those use two exposures of film to make one picture.  I'm
not sure how other "switchable" cameras work, but I'd imagine
they're similar to the stylus epic.

Since panoramic pictures can be more expensive to develop, you
might want save money and not use the feature.  You
can always blow-up your best pictures later.

I still like my O.S.E. & plan to use it on the hike, I just thought
I'd mention the above in case someone hadn't noticed.

-Jonathan Ley / leyj@earthlink.net

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