Panoramic Photo Challenge

Is DoubleTake better than Affinity Photo?

February 9, 2018 by cryan.com

Taking Panorama photos is a good way to get a landscape view of any environment.

iPhone Camera Panoramic

Apple includes a Pano mode in the camera app, but it takes some skill to hold the camera right. Also, the lighting doesn't mix well.

In my tests, the pictures that I take in Panoramic mode tends to have weird lighting and be very flat. That is, you can't raise the camera up if you want to include a full view of a tree or Building.

Software Stitching

Stitching a bunch of photos post-production is a good way to create a more effective panoramic photo. You can then crop the photo to your needs.

Using the stiching method, I was able to create this cool focus effect. Notice how the picture is focus in a couple areas. You can't do this in Apple's Pano.

I have been using Affinity Photo for my stitching, and it has been working well. I recently heard about DoubleTtake and thought it would be interesting to see which app gives you more control.

The Challenge

I took seven pictures of the Back Bay T Station in Boston, Massachusetts. I then ran it through DoubleTake, and Affinity Photo's Panoramic functionality. The only modification that was made was to crop out the excess picture.

Here is the result of the Challenge:

Click on image for a larger version.

DoubleTake

DoubleTake does a fairly good job of setting up the Panoramic shot. You do have to move pictures around to fix the alignment. There are lots of adjustment capabilities within the software. You can move handles to fix to make the photo transitions smooth.

DoubleTake focuses more on getting the largest possible view. In my test, the final crop image was 6718 x 2549.

Affinity Photo

Affinity Photo does a great job of putting the picture together. Basically, I accepted the Panoramic shot, and then crop to opaque. There was no adjustment needed.

Affinity Photo seems to focus more on getting the best picture. In my test, the image was 6187 x 2051.

Granted I have used Affinity Photo for a while, but it was so much easier to use.