The big picture

Digital cameras do not have the resolution necessary to form a single
panoramic image, so Hitachi has developed a system that allows a combination of
smaller images to do the same job (EP 884 897). The camera rapidly scans a wide
view while taking and storing a series of small overlapping pictures. These are
downloaded to a PC, which stitches them together to create a virtual image wider
than the PC screen, with full resolution across the whole width. The photograph
can then be viewed by panning across the wide-screen image.