Primary Source: Wikipedia: Panoramic Photography


Panoramic photography is a style of photography that aims to create images with exceptionally wide fields of view, but has also come to refer to any photograph that is cropped to a relatively wide aspect ratio. While there is no formal definition for the point at which "wide-angle" leaves off and "panoramic" begins, truly panoramic image are thought to capture a field of view comparable to, or greater than, that of the human eye - about 160° by 75° - and should do so while maintaining detail across the entire picture. The resulting images are panoramic, in that they offer an unobstructed or complete view of an area - often, but not necessarily, taking the form of a wide strip. A panoramic photograph is really defined by whether the image gives the viewer the appearance of a "panorama," regardless of any arbitrary technical definition.


Photofinishers and manufacturers of Advanced Photo System (APS) cameras also use the word "panoramic" to refer to any print format with a wide aspect ratio, not necessarily photos that encompass a large field of view. In fact, a typical APS camera in its panoramic mode, where its zoom lens is at its shortest focal length of around 24 mm, has a field of view of only 65°, which many photographers would classify as wide angle. Cameras with an aspect ratio of 2:1 or greater (where the width is 2 times its height) can generally be classified as being "panoramic."

For more information on this and other technologies commonly employed in CyArk's Digital Preservation projects, see the Related Articles below.



References:
• Peleg, S., M. Ben-Ezra and Y. Pritch. "OmniStereo: Panoramic Stereo Imaging." IEEE Transactions on Pattern Analysis and Machine Intelligence, March 2001: 279-290.
• Sormann, M., G. Schrocker, A. Klaus, and Konrad Karner. City Documentation: Creation and Visualization of High Resolution Panoramic Image Mosaics. Schrenk, M., ed. 2004.
• Wikipedia: Panoramic Photography