Great news for Panographers!

Sigma just anounced a full circular fisheye specifically designed for cropped-frame DSLRs.

Why is it such a big deal?

If you read the book all the way to chapter 6.5, you will see that the full 180 degree circle is the prerequisite for shooting a skydome fast and easy. And a full 360/180 panorama is done with as little as 2 or 3 shots (check the Companion DVD for some example shots, like the one below).
Downside was, that you would need a full-frame camera for that to work. Entry point used to be the Canon 5D & Sigma 8mm fisheye, which clearly is a big budget decision.


The Sigma 4.5mm opens the door to skydomes/quick panoramas for the rest of us. Now any camera with cropped frame sensors will do. The lens is expected to be $1000, but that's still better than getting a new camera all together.

Check out dpreview.com for the full stats!

Update:

Looks like Amazon lets you already preorders this lens for $899.
( tipped by forum member jeansebc )

Yet another application that was cooked right here in the HDR Labs!

LightBitch a plugin for LightWave3D, that turns an HDR image into a dome of lights. It's fully integrated and fully interactive.

For the first time ever you have a drag-n-drop interface for sampling light colors from an image. It also includes a Median Cut engine, that will place the lights automatically in an optimized pattern. So it's really up to you how much you want to drive the lights yourself, or how much you want to leave to science...

Other feature highlights are:

• Realtime Normalizing of Light intensities.
• Creates the popular "spinning light" rig.
• Leaves nothing behind but a regular scene: fully FPrime- and farm-proof.
• Autodetects a previous light rig and lets you tweak it

Sounds good? Then grab that LightBitch here ...

Release note: LightBitch is bookware, means it is bundled with my book. It's fully functional in demo mode, but you will need the HDRI Handbook to disable some annoying nag requesters.

Assuming by now you're holding your copy of the HDRI Handbook in your hand, I think you are ready for the truth:

HDRLabs.com is the official Companion Website to the book.

The whole package consists of 3 parts. It was laid out like that from the start, with each part riding on the specific advantages of it's medium. And this is how it works:

1. The Book

• 340 pages hold the majority of textbook information.
• Filled with high resolution, full color images.
• Quick to browse offline; convenient offline reference.
• Looks great on your shelf and makes you look smart.

2. The Companion DVD

• 4.3 GByte (filled up to the max).
• HDR images, bracketed exposures, tutorial files.
• All material royalty-free, under the CC license.
• Essential HDR software to get you started.

3. The Companion Website

• Always up-to-date: news (right here) and link directory of HDR software.
• A community forum: feedback channel and community hub.
• Permanent home for all new software and projects that premiere with the book.

So that is the scoop. Read the book. Play with the DVD content. Make your own HDR experiences. And the come back here and get involved in the HDRI community!



By the way - I am constantly working on improvements to this site. The latest feature is automatic Google translation via the flag icons in the upper right corner of each page. This might not be the best quality of translation, but people who really can't read English are not left out anymore...
I am also keeping this website an ad-free zone. You won't see Google-ads or anything alike here, simply because I hate that stuff myself. The site is a service for my readers, and so every link you see here is purposely put there and can be trusted.

Happy browsing!
Christian Bloch

Oh, how very exciting!


The HDRI Handbook is real, it's in full color, and it sits on my desk! It might not come with a Yoshi, but for sure with the warm and fuzzy feeling to learn about cool new stuff.

There are 6000 of this currently entering the distribution carousel. O'Reilly will take care of distribution, sending it to Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Borders, and whatnot. You can actually order from O'Reilly directly if you're in a hurry, but they're not giving you a special deal like the other resellers.

Thank you all for waiting, and special thanks to everyone who already preordered the book. My peeps at RockyNook are thrilled about 2800+ orders, and so am I.

Special hint for OSX users: If you can't wait for your copy to arrive, check out this handy Dashboard Widget for tracking your order!

Forgot to count in the delivery time, so the HDRI Handbook's release date has been pushed to October 26. Yes, the same day Leopard ships, how exciting!
However, since this is a Friday, I would assume it will really be available the next Monday: October 29.

That might be your last chance to take advantage of the pre-order deal from Amazon. $32.97 instead of the regular $49.99 - that's a 34% saving!!