I’ve owned several Canon digital cameras over the years, which have all come with a “free” utility called PhotoStitch.

PhotoStitch isn’t the most feature packed or the newest software, but it does work well, made by a well respected company. It can do Panning (Scenery etc), Parallel Camera Movement (Documents etc) and Images scanned in sections.

I’ve tested it with Photos taken on my iPhone 4s and it seems that the pictures don’t have to be taken on a Canon camera.

Update Mar-2014 – I’ve just written about alternatives to Canon Photostitch, so you might want to check them out in my article – “Panorama Stitching Software – Alternatives To Canon Photostitch”

Reason that I’m writing about this, is that ten years after taking some Panoramas, I wanted to stitch them together. I didn’t have the install CD or the camera or the software any more. After much hunting high and low, I found it’s possible to install PhotoStitch for free.

Here’s how :

1. Download the Canon PhotoStitch Updater 3.1.23 (see links below) filename will be “psw-upz-3-1-23-47-r7-u01-9l.zip”

1A. If you already have Photostitch installed then skip to step 4.

2. Make a new text document, save as “canon_or_whatever.txt”, then rename to “canon_or_whatever.reg”, contents :

Windows 7 32bit – 

Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Canon\EOS Utility]
[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Canon\DPP]
[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Canon\ZoomBrowser EX]
[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Canon\PhotoStitch]
[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Canon\EOS Capture]
[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Canon\EOSViewerUtility]
[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Canon\ODSK]

Windows 7 64bit – 

Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Wow6432Node\Canon\EOS Utility]
[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Wow6432Node\Canon\DPP]
[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Wow6432Node\Canon\ZoomBrowser EX]
[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Wow6432Node\Canon\ZoomBrowser EX\Settings]
[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Wow6432Node\Canon\ZoomBrowser EX\Install]
[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Wow6432Node\Canon\PhotoStitch]
[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Wow6432Node\Canon\EOS Capture]
[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Wow6432Node\Canon\EOSViewerUtility]
[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Wow6432Node\Canon\ODSK]

3. Double click on the “canon_or_whatever.reg” file and accept changes when asked by the User Control Account. This puts “dummy” entries in the computer’s registry so installer thinks PhotoStitch is already installed.

4. Run the installer for Canon PhotoStitch Updater 3.1.23. This will either update existing software, or if you’ve patched the registry, then will install from scratch.

5. You should be good to go, if not, or you’re a Mac user, then there is a little more detail here.

Tips for using

1. There are features tucked away behind buttons, so take some time to familiarise with all the functions

2. Pictures need to be ordered correctly for Photostitch to work, so you’ll need to reorder if not already in exactly the correct order, left to right.

3. When the join isn’t quite right you can use the “Display Seems” and match corresponding parts of photos manually. Two options drag and drop the whole left photo onto right or match up small square sections.

4. Saving in Photoshop .psd files seems to give higher quality images.

5. I found a video tutorial here, if you have the patience to listen to the guy talking !

ENJOY:)

Resources

Install Canon camera software without the CD

Canon PhotoStitch Updater 3.1.23 (Australian Website) Win 7 & 8 (32 & 64 bit)- http://support-au.canon.com.au/contents/AU/EN/0200246607.html

Canon PhotoStitch Updater 3.1.23 (UK Website Website) Win 7 & 8 (32 & 64 bit)-http://www.canon.co.uk/Support/Consumer_Products/products/cameras/Digital_Compact/Powershot_S_series/PowerShot_S70.aspx?DLtcmuri=tcm:14-998350&page=1&type=download

Canon USA Website- http://www.usa.canon.com/cusa/support/consumer/digital_cameras/powershot_s_series/powershot_s70#DriversAndSoftware

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