1. A method for acquiring images of a scene with a composite camera, comprising: acquiring omni-directional images of a scene with an omni-directional imager of a composite camera; expressing a relationship between pixels in the omni-directional images and locations in the scene in terms of polar coordinates; detecting events in the scene using the omni-directional images; directing a pan-tilt-zoom imager of the composite camera at the events in the scene using the relationship of the pixels and the locations expressed in the polar coordinates; and acquiring pan-tilt-zoom images of the event with the pan-tilt-zoom imager.