"Nice! I'm doing something similar but instead of using a pattern image I'm using infrared leds as waypoints but for now I haven't integrated it into the ArduCopter code."
"I also had some problems with the infrared trigger. My problem was the sun light, I used more tape layers to cover the led emitter and the problem disappeared. I used an Arduino to trigger the shot every few seconds."
"I've recently made one of Tarragona (Catalonia, still in Spain): http://pan0.net/upano.php?id=3788 It's not so glamorous, but it's a 360º aerial panorama ;)"
"A comparison between this system and one simple without dampening would be great. Sometimes adding a dampening system can get it worse. I give up with the dampening on the motors, I'm trying this dampening direct to the camera gimbal: