I found this photo in the photostream of xmir on Flickr. - Michael Fidler

is there a link to the orig? I think the FF image is static - Keith - @tsudo

OK, it should be up! - Michael Fidler

wow! - Rob Michael (Atmos Trio)

Let me know if it works. I think the best view is from Governors Island or the from Downtown with the view pointing up. - Michael Fidler

Over-the-top amazing! - Rob Michael (Atmos Trio)

Awesome. Like taking the helicopter ride I've been too cheap to pay for... - Mitchell Tsai

Here's another one of London. Amazing! http://bit.ly/qjf6M - Michael Fidler

Here's an amazing one. I just let it go, rather than control it; http://www.pixelcase.com.au/vr... - Michael Fidler

It appears the plug-in is no longer necessary. I'm running it in Chrome without one. - Michael Fidler

That is pretty amazing. - Gordon Herd

Nice! - Kol Tregaskes

This is awesome. - Mark Krynsky

The viewer appears to be Flash not Quicktime, - Brian Sullivan

Brian, they changed it since this was first posted back in May. It used to require a VR plug-in which worked with QuickTime, but now it doesn't require anything, However, it looks just as good as before. The images are truly amazing! - Michael Fidler

New York, New York!!! - Myrna

Michael - didn't notice the post date-- "Doesn't require anything" -- Flash must be installed so something is required. The Flash viewer seems to crash a lot though (or at least in Chrome) -- still a great pano. I wonder how it was done -- from a helicopter no doubt but beyond it would be a mystery. - Brian Sullivan

I just tried it in Chrome and recommend Firefox instead. It didn't crash on me in Chrome, but it didn't run smoothly either. - Michael Fidler

Brian, I would love to know how these are made. I know some are done from a helicopter, but if you check out the one from Downtown, it's clearly stationary. I can't even see the reflection of the camera in the building windows when it's turned around 180 degrees. I've posted links to others above. I wonder if I should repost this to a room and if so which one? - Michael Fidler

Here's the link for Sydney http://bit.ly/aFFbZ and I'll grab a few more. - Michael Fidler

I know generally how to make these 360 panos but the only technique I know is shooting from a tripod where you have control of the leveling of the camera and control of the angle of shooting. You have to manipulate out the tripod out of the picture after shooting -- these I have no idea, http://radio.weblogs.com/0127028... is a QTVR one of my living room - Brian Sullivan

A fisheye lens helps ;-) - Sloppy Lune

All the fisheye does is cut down on the number of shots you need to take -- if it goes 180 in both directions two shots are nominally sufficient on a full frame camera - usually 3 though but that is only if all are shot with the same horizon and with precise angular placement. How you control this in a moving helicopter is beyond me. Maybe more than one camera ? In shots like these where parallax is less of a problem maybe that is the method used - Brian Sullivan

I only said it helps. There's all kinds of other equipment one can use for stabilisation and alignment, including using software after the fact to fix focal points and map the rest of the image around it. - Sloppy Lune

Google Street View? - Rutger Blom from email

This must be shot completely differently than a stationary panoramic. I'm familiar with the 8 shot method, but the camera needs to be on a tripod as Brian mentioned. If you watch these images load slowly, they look like plates. It sort of reminds me of photosynth, but connected somehow. Now, I really want to find out how it's done. - Michael Fidler

I think regular stationary panoramas are loaded as "plates" (at least you export them that way to edit them) as well so I am not sure that is a clue as to how they were generated. - Brian Sullivan

If I email them, do you think they'll answer? Hi, I was just curious; what’s your secret? You never know. It might be worth a try:) - Michael Fidler

Here's one of U2 (on one of their smaller tours), and I don't think they had a helicopter with them to shoot it. http://www.pixelcase.com.au/vr... - Michael Fidler

That one is done from a tripod or monopod of some type it appears -- you can see if you look down the footprint has the logo on it. - Brian Sullivan

Ya, I noticed one that had the logo above it. May they use it when photoshop doesn't do the job perfectly. - Michael Fidler

Logos like that are used to hide the footprint of the tripod or other -- sometimes it can be a lot of work create a shot to cover the spot (or to fill it in using a bitmap editor) so it is just masked. - Brian Sullivan

OK, check out this one http://www.pixelcase.com.au/vr... and go into planet view. It's the P next to the directional controls. I wonder if that has something to do with it. Shot off a reflective globe maybe. - Michael Fidler

Michael: So you like "Little Planets"? :) http://www.flickr.com/search... - Holger Eilhard

The "P" gets you the "polar view" -- a standard view that can be created from any 360/180 panorama so that is not a clue as to how it is done either from what I can determine (http://www.flickr.com/groups... is a flickr group dedicated to such polar views) - Brian Sullivan

I've seen them many times before and wondered how they were made, too. This guy has some examples and apparently he uses a 10.5mm lens and then maps them into shape: http://www.flickr.com/photos... - Michael Fidler

STUPENDO! Io ci torno il 18 Settembre - PICCHU

Yes the 10.5 is a Nikon fisheye lens -- I use a Peleng 8mm fully manual fisheye -- more suited to my budget. When shooting with tripod you need a parallax correction jig as well -- I use the Nodal Ninja -- which is a reasonable quality low end device. - Brian Sullivan

I was on the Hugin site a few months ago and I found a video that demonstrates how to use the jig. It didn't mention helicopter shots though. In fact, the video was very particular about not having any movement. I think it's time to ask them. - Michael Fidler

Yeah I have seen a number of these panoramas that seem to defy logic. Peter Murphy (who is a pioneer in this type of stuff) has a number of puzzling ones - http://www.mediavr.com/manlyai... (needs Quick time) for example. His weblog has tons of others as well _http://www.mediavr.com/blog/ - Brian Sullivan

@briansullivan I went to an event last night where I came across something that might explain how these are done. If you check out the picture I shot of the equipment; it uses a reflective dome to capture the entire shot all at once and then processes it almost instantly afterwards. http://bit.ly/qD0dn . It basically comes out looking like a globe or a planet before it is processed. Once processed it look like a full panoramic just like the ones here, but in lower resolution. - Michael Fidler

I haven’t seen the digital version yet, but the guy who owns this company told me they would be much sharper than the prints which they give out at the event. I also asked him about the helicopter shots, and he wasn’t sure about compensating for movement, but he didn’t see it as a big problem either. Mystery solved? - Michael Fidler

I don't see this lens/device as "the" answer. Other similar devices have a reputation for low optical quality and low resolution. Peter Murphy almost certainly does not use such a lens. No serious panorama photographer that I have heard of uses anything like this. - Brian Sullivan

I guess the search for an answer continues... - Michael Fidler

http://ff.im/5Hqwp - Marg Uerite

Hi - I own Pixelcase and shot the tour of Sydney aswell as all development. Glad you like my work. - pixelcase

Thank you, I'm glad you found this. I love your work. Based on the number of likes and comments for this post, I think it’s safe to say, I’m not the only one. It would be nice if you could enlighten us with some details about how these are made. - Michael Fidler

Here's a link to pixelcase's newest and IMHO best work of Melbourne http://ff.im/eBJZn - Michael Fidler

Outstanding -- still no resolution on how it is done -- but I guess there is no reason why he should spill all his trade secrets. - Brian Sullivan

Brian - No answer, and I can't blame him for wanting to keep it a secret. I guess that we have to just appreciate it for what it is. However, I'm already looking forward to whatever he does next! - Michael Fidler

Poking around in panorama forums -the consensus seems to be that the pictures for these panoramas are shot with a multi-camera set up attached to an RC helicopter. The viewer is krpano - http://www.krpano.com/ - Brian Sullivan

???? :) http://johncolebrook.com/compone... - enjoy - pixelcase

http://friendfeed.com/briansu... a helicopter like this would do the job - Brian Sullivan

John, thanks for sharing. Love it! Brian; I've always wanted a RC helicopter, but I still haven't gotten around to buying one yet. However, the picture from the one in the video is great. - Michael Fidler

FYI rosauro - the helicopter guy is also a well known VR/panorama photographer (also from Toronto where I am ) http://www.rosaurophotography.com/ - Brian Sullivan

Ugh. The incorrect perspective caused by stretching the picture on the sides makes me queasy. - Otto

Otto, maybe Dramamine would help:) - Michael Fidler

Amazing stuff - Adrian Scicluna