Panorama heads

vulcan2912

vulcan2912

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Gary
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Hi everyone

Anyone on the forum ever had much use out of one of these.I love the ability to stitch 3 shots with my 17 TS&E lens and try to shoot panos with all my lenses whenever I get the chance-always with mixed results.
I was thinking of adding another TS&E lens to my kit to allow for easy pano stitching(as well as the other benefits of the lens) but I got to wondering if I wouldn't be better off with some kind of pano head like the Nodal Ninja 4.Would a simple macro slider do a good enough job for straight forward left to right panos?

I've never used one before but you don't seem to see much about them on the forums.Do people just rely on software for all their panos nowadays?

Cheers
Gary
 
Never used one tbh, but I guess it depends how much you'd actually use it, as to if it's worth it to you.

I take a series of pano's (in portrait/vertical) overlapping by about 25%, then use Microsoft ICE (free download) I find it quicker AND more accurate than PS.
 
I don't think a macro slider would work. When you use a shift lens and shift say 12mm that equates to 1/3 of the frame you are shifting, but a movement of the body of say 100mm of the body would I think only move the frame 100mm.
 
OldCarlos said:
Never used one tbh, but I guess it depends how much you'd actually use it, as to if it's worth it to you.

I take a series of pano's (in portrait/vertical) overlapping by about 25%, then use Microsoft ICE (free download) I find it quicker AND more accurate than PS.
Click to expand...

I'll take a look at Microsoft ICE.I've heard of it but never actually tried it.I tend to just use PS6 for all my Pano stitching.

cheers
Gary
 
ah5168 said:
I don't think a macro slider would work. When you use a shift lens and shift say 12mm that equates to 1/3 of the frame you are shifting, but a movement of the body of say 100mm of the body would I think only move the frame 100mm.
Click to expand...

After spending an hour on youtube it looks like a simple macro slider is all you need to get the camera/lens rotating on it's nodal point.No good for multi rows etc but should work for simple 1 row stitches.

cheers
Gary
 
vulcan2912 said:
After spending an hour on youtube it looks like a simple macro slider is all you need to get the camera/lens rotating on it's nodal point.No good for multi rows etc but should work for simple 1 row stitches.

cheers
Gary
Click to expand...
Gary,
You need to be cautious of some of the info on the web about "nodal point" pivoting...much of it is wrong.
If you're planning on using a 1sr body with a TS-E24 (for example) then the pivot point is about 130mm ahead of the camera tripod mount hole (a little less for a 5D or similar)....this is longer than most macro rails will allow.
The term "nodal point" is often used for the pivot point but it is incorrect. The nodal point exists but it's not the rotation point that you should use. The no parallax point is the correct point for accurate pano stitching.

If your pano's are all distant detail then accurrate setting is not so important but if you're down in the daisies and have distant objects then it gets more critical.

Bob
PS...I have a Nodal Ninja 5
 
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Hi Bob

Thanks for the info.For the close up stuff I'm happy to use the 17 TS&E but might also add the 24 TS&E Mk2 to my bag(not 100% happy with the vignetting I get when using a 1.4X tcon on the 17mm-could just be my old Kenko Tcon though).
I'm just back from Prague and I found myself shooting in the 50-100mm range and stitching the shots a lot of the time.I was using a tripod but I'm unhappy with the amount of cropping/wastage needed to get the final image.That started me thinking about the 90mm TS&E and that then led me on to maybe going down the slider route and using my 24-70/70-200 to do the panos but offering more focal lengh flexability and accuracy.
I think I'm starting a love affair with the TS&E lenses though LOL.I have the coins available to pick up the 24-70 MK2 + 1 other lens.Just wondering whether to pick up the 24-70 and a decent pano head instead.

Cheers
Gary
 
For distant landscapes, you don't need to take much care at all with panos - hand-holding is fine, just keep the camera level and let the software work its magic. Sony's (and others) sweep-panorama feature works brilliantly like that, producing a stitched and finished panorma in-camera in a couple of seconds. Great fun too :)

Closer subjects are a very different kettle of fish though, like important foreground detail or interiors perhaps. Then you need a tripod, preferably a panning base, and the key bit is a nodal rail, eg this http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/SUNWAYFOT..._Tripods_Heads_Stablisers&hash=item3a7f5f2856 Lots of good tripod accessories made by SunwayFoto from CameraGearUK. Arca-Swiss plates and clamps are much better for this kind of thing. For close subjects to line up properly, the lens must pivot around the entrance pupil (often incorrectly called the nodal point) to eliminate parallax as Bob says.

You don't need a panning base if the tripod is set up dead level when you can just use the head's normal panning feature, but that's not always easy in the field. Or a trick there to convert a normal head to an auto-levelling pan base is to invert the head, putting the pan base on top, and attaching the camera to that. Works really well, but needs a bit of ingenuity to make it practical.

Edit: crossed post with above. For close subjects and panning techniques, even with a T&S lens you still need to pivot around the entrance pupil.
 
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Excuse my ignorance on this topic.

But can you not simply use a ball head with a scale around the base plate? I have always assumed not,otherwise people would not buy panoramic heads. I know nothing about this topic,but have a wish to learn,all my panos are done pretty much hand held or ball head mounted and stitched in PS, so any help would be appreciated.
 
fracster said:
Excuse my ignorance on this topic.

But can you not simply use a ball head with a scale around the base plate? I have always assumed not,otherwise people would not buy panoramic heads. I know nothing about this topic,but have a wish to learn,all my panos are done pretty much hand held or ball head mounted and stitched in PS, so any help would be appreciated.
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Sometimes. See my post above, but unless the tripod is abolutely level, the camera won't pan horizontally. You need to have the panning bit on top of the head, not the bottom, so you can level the camera independently of the tripod.

And you still need the nodal rail/slide to pivot around the lens' entrance pupil, so close subjects line up.
 
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Thanks Richard.

All my panos are distant landscape type. Going from your previous point, a panoramic head would not help that much. I don`t do these often so i`ll just persevere with what I have.
 
My first ever pano was done with a 'philopod' as mentioned in the other post as you can see the stitching is a bit random. Don't forget to scroll round and make full screen etc.

After this attempt (which I was fairly pleased with at the time) I bought a Nodal Ninja after which the stitching was improved (although I couldn't persuade my other half to stay behind the camera - she didn't understand the concept).

The pano world seems to appeal to different camps. Some folk like to produce Mega-pixel pictures and so use telephotos and hundreds of shots, others use wide angles and fewer shots (and pixels) - yer pays your money ....:shrug:
 
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fracster said:
Excuse my ignorance on this topic.

But can you not simply use a ball head with a scale around the base plate? I have always assumed not,otherwise people would not buy panoramic heads. I know nothing about this topic,but have a wish to learn,all my panos are done pretty much hand held or ball head mounted and stitched in PS, so any help would be appreciated.
Click to expand...

A ball head can be set up to rotate level. What it can not do is rotate at the entry pupil of the lens ( Nodal Point/rotation point) In this respect it can be worse than can be done by an experienced hand held pan maker.

I have a full Nodal NinJa kit But more often than not use my camera Hand held to make pans.

The exceptions usually include multi row shots or exposure fusion, where greater accuracy is needed. And always when I need to cover close foreground objects.

Their NN 3 mk2 copes with many DSLR cameras and below.
With a slight mod mine even fits my canon 40d and F2.8 17 55 lens which I mostly use at the 17mm setting.
 
At the risk of sounding like a pimp, you could try a proper panoramic head for a few days and see whether you get on with it. If not, you've saved yourself the thick end of £400.
 
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