Parallax

Parallax is the difference between two images of the same scene  when the only change is that the camera has moved between shots.

In the image below, the wine glass remained in the center of the photo while the iPhone was moved less than 1/2 inch laterally.  The images were then combined using AutoStitch and the parallax can be clearly seen as ghosting in the chopsticks and the bars of the trivet.  It can also be seen in the blurring of the reflections in the wine glass and the overall softness of other features. (Click to the image to see it at full resolution.)

The two source images below are taken with the iPhone 4, click them to see them in full resolution.

Artifacts of Parallax are most common in the area of overlap between images that are combined to create panoramas.

The Gymbl eliminates this parallax by rotating the iPhone around its optical center.  In other words the iPhone rotates but the camera stays fixed.

A simple panorama of the same scene was taken with the Gymbl later that day and is shown below.

This time the Gymbl kept the iPhone’s camera stationary.  I also shot these images with the iPhone’s camera App in “HDR On” mode which means each source image is merged from three separate images taken in rapid succession at different exposure levels.  I then combined the two HDR photos using AutoStitch to create the final image; the overlap area being stitched from 6 separate images.  Other than that, the images have not been edited.