Microsoft 702 manual Panoramic Mode

Chapter 2: Making the Most of Your Camera

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Panoramic Mode

For landscapes, large groups of people, and other long horizontal shots, a camera’s panoramic mode helps you compose the photo without too much sky or ground in the photo. Panoramic shots have a different aspect ratio than standard shots, meaning the width of the frame is proportionally much greater than in a photo with a standard aspect ratio.

Some panoramic cameras take photos with an aspect ratio of 4:11 (four units tall by 11 units wide), compared to the aspect ratio of 3:4 for standard shots on most digital cameras. As with the shape of a movie theater screen versus a television screen, the wider frame gives you some new creative territory when composing your photo.

Switching your camera to panoramic mode gives you new compositional possibilities.

True panoramic cameras use a wide-angle lens to let you capture more width of the scene by staying in the same position. Many cameras, including digital cameras and APS cameras, offer a panoramic mode without a wide-angle lens. Instead, the panoramic effect is achieved by simply cropping off the top and bottom of the frame. This type of panoramic shot does give you a wider aspect ratio, but not a wider angle. On some digital cameras, using the panoramic mode means that each photo has fewer pixels (since the top and bottom are cropped), so each panoramic shot takes up less space on your storage media.

Microsoft Picture It! Companion Guide