News

For large format 360° photography, film is currently still the best capture medium, allowing maximum resolution, speed and absolutely no artifacts.

By request of some of our customers we have created a special and limited series of 5-inch panorama cameras. They are designed especially for those fields where speed and resolution are absolutely essential: aerial photography and landscapes.

The new Roundshot 90-5-inch comes with 5-inch (12.8cm) film spools and contains a 90mm Rodenstock Grandagon f/6.8 lens.

As a result, a 360° panorama produced by this new camera is 110mm high and 567mm long, allowing wonderful resolution and image quality.

In the future we will continue to design cameras following the special needs of our customers - after all, designing beautiful cameras is what we love to do.

Again and again our customers surprise us with panoramas of stunning beauty, creativity and spirit.

Visit our online gallery today and see some of the best 360° photography kindly provided by 35 panorama photographers from all over the world!

Enter Roundshot gallery >>>

Christmas is coming and it's that special time of year again when we give gifts to our family, friends and business partners. For this year we have a special idea for you: the Roundshot Livecam Calendar 2006!

This is the first calendar with professional photo quality produced by a webcam!

Very special thanks go to the following Livecam stations and photographers who have made this production possible:

Musée Suisse Group, TISSOT of Switzerland, Sevitec AG, Gymnasium Bäumlihof in Basle, Blitz & Donner Advertisement Agency, Ecole Polytechnique Fédérale Lausanne and the City of Frauenfeld / Switzerland.

Download the Roundshot Livecam Calender 2006 preview:

Roundshot Livecam Calendar 2006  [608 kB]

... or order your Roundshot Livecam Calender 2006 online.

Printed by: Editione pro-equus, D-24631 Langwedel / Germany 
www.panorama-service.net

In August 2005 we assisted a team of advertisement agency "Blitz und Donner" (www.blitzdonner.ch) in creating a tv ad in time-lapse animation. The footage for the animation was created with a Roundshot Livecam. Installed on top of the Schilthorn (Piz Gloria, %7E3,000 metres above sea level), the Livecam was programmed in continuous mode and captured 360° digital panoramas non-stop from sunrise (6:20 am) until sunset (8:10 pm). These panoramas were then animated in a 3D software to create a panning and time-lapse movement.

This tv ad is now available in our gallery (new section: multi-media):

"Bis morä, uf em Schilthorä.."
(in Bernese mountain dialect: "See you tomorrow, on the Schilthorn").

http://www.schilthorn.ch

More information about the new Roundshot Livecam:

Roundshot Livecam >>>

Our Roundshot panorama equipment is designed for extreme conditions. Again and again, our customers take their Roundshot cameras to the highest peaks.

Matthias Taugwalder of Zermatt / Switzerland has created an interesting project and idea: "With the Mouse to the Matterhorn". In his project he documents the adventure of climbing the Matterhorn with 360° panorama images created with the Roundshot VR Drive (and Roundshot 28-220 Outdoor). On his website he displays the various points of interest in time sequence. We congratulate Matthias Taugwalder for this great success and invite you to make the virtual journey with the mountaineer at

http://www.zermatt360.ch/en/matterhorn/ascent_of_the_hoernli_ridge/ 

Matthias Tauwalder with Roundshot VR Drive on top of the Matterhorn

Gianni Mazzone, his companion

About the Matterhorn:

With 4,478 metres altitude the Matterhorn is not the highest but most probably the most famous peak in the Alps. The first climb was achieved on 14 July 1865 in a team of seven led by Edward Whymper (also the first to climb Mont Blanc). On the descent 4 team members fell and perished, Edward Whymper and the two Taugwalder mountain guides (Peter father and son) survived.

Both Matthias Taugwalder and Gianni Mazzone are direct descendants of Peter Taugwalder.

More links:

http://vrm.vrway.com/issue22/PANORAMAS_FROM_ATOP_THE_MATTERHORN.html 

http://www.zermatt360.ch

Would you like to order your Roundshot camera or your accessories online quickly and completely worry-free? Our new e-shop gives you a great shopping experience, is very easy to use and provides full transparency on products and accessories, their prices, delivery times and cost. You have the choice between bank transfer (prepayment) or secure payment with credit card (Master Card or VISA).

Benefit now from our introduction offer: free worldwide delivery!

The panorama format gives great possibilities for monumental displays. Petr Salek of Prague / Czech Republic uses 360° photography to capture unusual perspectives of his home town.

"I tried to find new, unprecedented views, original snapshots offering a distinct experience beyond people's everyday perception,“ says Petr.

See some of his exceptional large-format prints at the exhibition from 27 September 2005 until 31 October 2005 in the Old Town Hall, the very heart of Old Prague.

More information: www.art33.com

We continue to adapt our VR Drive to the growing needs of our customers. Our latest upgrade includes

• a new, longer handle to tighten the tilting knob for perfect tilt up/down in the nodal point
• a tougher stabilisation plate and a new camera attachment making the VR Drive rock steady even for bigger digital cameras such as the Nikon D2x or the Canon EOS 1Ds Mark II

At the same time we are introducing a new VR product: the Roundshot VR Head. This manual stitching head has the same precision as the VR Drive holder and can be combined with your current tripod solution (for example Manfrotto). Reducing its design to the essential means also reducing the price!

Roundshot Virtual Reality >>>

Roundshot VR Head >>>                   

For all those customers wanting to buy their Roundshot VR product together with the stitching software we have good news: in cooperation with RealViz, a market leader in stitching software, we offer new product bundles. These bundles combine the ultimate Roundshot precision with the most advanced stitching software on the market.

Another interesting news: have you ever had problems attaching/detaching your VR Drive on the tripod, for example when moving location? We have the perfect solution for you: the new VR Drive quick adaptor:

The new VR Drive products and bundles are available as of today. We wish you continued success for your cylindrical, spherical and cubic virtual realities!

Alpa of Switzerland has introduced yet another new model: the Alpa 12 TC (Travel Compact). With this new model ALPA keep on following the philosophy of reducing the camera to the very essential.

• The ALPA 12 TC is the most compact medium format camera ever:
  only 110 x 110 x 20mm with a weight of just over 218 grams
• All current accessories for the 12 series are fully compatible with the new TC (viewfinders, lenses, film backs, digital adapters)
• Today's probably most compact 6x9 camera with a lot of potential for digital
  (high resolution 22 Megapixel digital back) photography

Like all ALPA cameras the TC is milled from a massive block of aluminium at minimum tolerances (2/100 mm).

We congratulate ALPA for the creation of this exciting product!

ALPA 12 TC product website >>>

ALPA 12 TC gallery >>>

Visit our Roundshot Gallery to see some new breathtaking aerial panoramas taken by award-winning photographer and artist Achim Wasserthal >>>

How it's done: the camera is attached upside down to the wing of a paraglider. An 8m long starter cable is connected to the cockpit where Achim (left) takes the images and pilot Thomas (right) does the flying.

Imagine: 50,000 competitors, 1,200 military, thousands of youth, many thousands of guests. This is the biggest shooting competition in the world, attracting about 80,000 guests from all over Switzerland and the world.

What is the weather like? How is the light? What is going on in the Competition?

Thanks to Roundshot technology the competitors can check out everything on the internet at home on the click of a button. Our Roundshot Livecam creates a full 360° panorama every 5 minutes and provides up-to-date information on weather, light and activity. Visitors can see web panoramas, high resolution panoramas or download an entire day as a movie.

With this sponsoring we are proud to make our contribution to this high class event.

http://www.frauenfeld05.ch

The result: over 4 weeks the Roundshot Livecam processed about 200,000 hits.

Two new distribution partners have come on board: Carousel Video in Canada West and USA West along with Katalys in France and Spain:

Carousel Video
Mr. Frank van de Ven
Suite 202-5595 Roy Street
Burnaby, BC V5B 3A5
Canada

Ph: +1 604 874 1000

frank@carouselvideo.com
www.carouselvideo.com

Katalys
Mr. Daniel Donzel
Le Village
07200 Lanas
France

Ph: +33 4 75 39 17 84

d.donzel@katalys.fr
www.katalys.fr

We welcome our two new partners and are looking forward to a long-lasting and fruitful cooperation!

Very good is not good enough. As an ongoing improvement effort we have been researching ways to improve the image quality for our flagship model, the Super 220 VR, even more.

First, we have redefined the procedure to set the nodal point for the Super camera, which allows to significantly increase depth of field. This new nodal point procedure has been implemented with the new Super Software Release 4.0. Just another good reason, apart from the new graphical user interface, to upgrade your Super camera to the new Software now.

 Roundshot Super 220 VR Nodal Point R 4.0 [953 kB]

The new Software R 4.0 kit includes the chip, the new Super instruction manual and installation guide and costs CHF 230. The new sharp slits are available for CHF 150 per slit.