Panorama Feature Comes to Windows 10 Mobile’s Camera App

Windows 10 Mobile users on the Windows Insider Fast ring have a nice surprise this morning: An update to Microsoft’s Camera app has delivered eagerly-awaited panorama functionality.

As you may recall, Nokia used to make a dedicated Panorama app for Windows Phone OS. (And seriously, anyone familiar with Windows phone misses those heady days.) But adding this functionality to the core Camera app makes even more sense. And in a quick test of the feature this morning, it appears to work much like the (excellent) panorama feature in the iPhone camera app.

To get this version of the Camera app, you need to be running the Windows Insider preview on the Fast ring, which I recommend to all Windows 10 Mobile users: If you’re going to stick with this platform, you want to make sure you are getting the latest updates as soon as possible.

Once you install the update and run the Camera app, you’ll notice a new Panorama mode button next to the normal Camera (still photo) and Video mode buttons in the viewfinder. There are no available settings that I can find: You can just take panorama photos now.

Panoramas work in portrait only, as you’d expect. You press the Panorama mode button to enter this mode, position the phone at the left of the panorama you’d like to capture, and then press the Panorama button to start capturing.

As with the panorama feature on other phones, you simply move the phone from left to right to capture the image and then press the Panorama button again to finish.

On my Lumia 950, capturing a panorama requires a bit of post-processing for HDR and other functionality, as is the case with still photos.

I’ve only done some short tests from the apartment we’re staying in here in Paris, but I’ll try this out in the city later today as well. So far, this looks like a great addition to Windows 10 Mobile.