Panoramas - tips and tricks without professional tripod heads etc.

jasonstone

Hi everyone,

I'm really looking to find out a simple ways to get decent panoramas - but WITHOUT fancy balls heads and pano heads etc.

For example,

What's the best way to get a 3-5 shot pano, hand held? 18mm? 35mm? 70mm? pivot from back of camera? pivot from front of lens? etc.

What's the best way to get a two row pano, e.g. 3X2 shots? again what zoom? where to pivot? and how to make it all work hand held

I do have a tripod with a simple head but I don't carry it very often as I'm usually out with my wife and 2 kids so it's not dedicated photo shoot

So I'm looking at how to start panos but without pro kit...

and just for kicks - what's the best way - ok with tripod - to get a pano with like 20 photos? I guess assume they're taken in portrait mode when standing in the same spot for all photos? (or should i be moving left to right?)

thanks all for your help, i did search but didn't find concise instructions on what i'm looking for

Cheers, Jase

ivar

have you tried the Devbobo SpeedPano (tm)?

pathfinder

Manual mode with a correct exposure, RAW if able, manual focus not changed during the exposures, shoot in portrait mode, overlap each frame by about 1/3, keep the horizon or other horizontal line at the same height in each frame, load'em all up in Adobe RAW converter and synchronize the processing steps, PhotoMerge and Voila!! You've got a fine pano.

This is a ~5 frame, loosely hand held pano with a G9 - 10,000 pixels wide



Smaller formats are more forgiving about nodal points, longer focal lengths merge better than very wide angle shots, and avoiding large subject close to the camera all help also if you are not going to use a nodal slide and a pano head. Tilt and shift heads can be used without a pano head - just shift the lens from left to right and merge the two frames, must be shot from a tripod mount though.

jasonstone

ivar wrote:

have you tried the Devbobo SpeedPano (tm)?

Seen something similar before but alas the Nikon D80 isn't "quite" fast enough :cry

and yes I get it too

Andy

jasonstone wrote:

Seen something similar before but alas the Nikon D80 isn't "quite" fast enough :cry

Sure it is

jasonstone

pathfinder wrote:

Manual mode with a correct exposure, RAW if able, manual focus not changed during the exposures, shoot in portrait mode, overlap each frame by about 1/3, keep the horizon or other horizontal line at the same height in each frame, load'em all up in Adobe RAW converter and synchronize the processing steps, PhotoMerge and Voila!! You've got a fine pano.

This is a ~5 frame, loosely hand held pano with a G9 - 10,000 pixels wide

Thanks! that's the sort of thing I'm trying to do... haven't tried it portrait mode yet - have to give that a go - I was doing the manual focus and manual exposure though so that's a start

PhotoMerge - have to look at it - I have Canon PhotoStitch (from IXUS camera purchase) and that's pretty easy to use

Cheers, Jase

jasonstone

Andy wrote:

Sure it is

Wow Andy that some fast post - almost by the time I'd finished writing a second quick reply there it was!!!

Well I can't move it that fast or else I won't be overlapping my 1/3rds.... will give it a try though - hell I'll give anything a try!!!

Andy

Try shooting in portrait-orientation - pivot camera around it's own axis, not your body - and overlap by 1/2 each shot.

Here's 8 shots, stitched, it's a 20megapixels from a Canon SD 870 IS Point & Shoot. Stitched in PS CS3 in about 1 minute...

jasonstone

Andy wrote:

Try shooting in portrait-orientation - pivot camera around it's own axis, not your body - and overlap by 1/2 each shot.

Here's 8 shots, stitched, it's a 20megapixels from a Canon SD 870 IS Point & Shoot. Stitched in PS CS3 in about 1 minute...

Thanks - that concurs with pathfinder's tip and so that's something i've no been doing - which will change from now....

btw. don't see the photo...

Andy

jasonstone wrote:

btw. don't see the photo...

fixed