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06/29/2003 06:53:47 PM · #1 |
I am going on vacation to Whistler, BC in August. I want to be able to create a good quality 180 degree pano without investing too much more money in equipment/software. I have a Sony F717 camera, SLIK Sprint tripod with ball head, and Photoshop Elements 2 which has Photomerge. I am willing to buy a hotshoe double bubble level and Pano Tools Assembler if necessary. With these tools in hand how do I go about creating a nice Panoramic?
1). How do I control amount of image overlap with my tripod? It does not have any degree markings, indents, or stops. How can I get consistent overlap with my shots?
2). Should I shoot in Portrait or Landscape orientation? Does one orientation create less parallax distortion than the other with this camera/tripod combination?
3). What is the Nodal point of this camera? Knowing this could possible help me devise a homemade extension to help compensate for parallax.
Any advice would be appreciated.
Message edited by author 2003-06-29 19:31:06.
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06/29/2003 08:31:38 PM · #2 |
You know 100000 times as much as me, but I found this: //www.htu.at/~sascha/ptguide/01.htm while looking up what the hell paralax is!
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06/29/2003 08:56:57 PM · #3 |
Thanks Mavrik. I'll take a look.
Bob
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06/29/2003 09:02:04 PM · #4 |
| I've used The Panorama Factory with great success...it even adjusts for your specific camera lens and focal length. Stitches automatically. It's best if you aim for at least 20% overlap. Basically just sit the camera on the tripod, take photos which overlap about 20% and the software will guide you through the rest. |
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06/29/2003 09:06:28 PM · #5 |
I wrote out something for you, but when I pressed Preview IE crashed. I hate that. So I decided to take a bath instead. Maybe later I will try and post again. Got to eat now.
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06/29/2003 09:31:13 PM · #6 |
Pano's should be easy for the 717. The tripod mount is smack in the middle of the lens, so if you keep your camera in landscape orientation you should have no trouble at all with parallax distortion.
Your biggest issue will be keeping level. But a hotshoe level should work great on the 717.
As far as overlap goes, since your tripod has no helper marking, just eyeball it. I usually overlap between 20-30 percent.
The number 1 thing to remember when shooting panos is to set your camera to manual exposure. This is key. You want the same exposure across all the frames or you'll run into trouble when you start stitching. I usually expose for the brightest part of the scene and shoot with that setting. This way you avoid blown highlights.
Aside from a little hotshoe level, I dont think you need anything else to make great panos. Not with the 717, anyway. |
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06/29/2003 09:45:42 PM · #7 |
Originally posted by mcmurma:
Pano's should be easy for the 717. The tripod mount is smack in the middle of the lens, so if you keep your camera in landscape orientation you should have no trouble at all with parallax distortion.
Your biggest issue will be keeping level. But a hotshoe level should work great on the 717.
As far as overlap goes, since your tripod has no helper marking, just eyeball it. I usually overlap between 20-30 percent.
The number 1 thing to remember when shooting panos is to set your camera to manual exposure. This is key. You want the same exposure across all the frames or you'll run into trouble when you start stitching. I usually expose for the brightest part of the scene and shoot with that setting. This way you avoid blown highlights.
Aside from a little hotshoe level, I dont think you need anything else to make great panos. Not with the 717, anyway. |
Thanks Michael... I'm going to get the level from Adorama for about $30. I'm looking at Panorama Factory right now. Seems like an interesting program. It knows about the F717 and a lot of other cameras. Blending mode is much better than PSE2. I don't like some of the sharpening/distortion I encountered the first go through but I am going to play with some of the tweaking features to see if these effects can be overcome. This program may be exactly what I want.
Bob
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06/29/2003 10:51:16 PM · #8 |
Bob,
You can download the latest version of Panorama Factory and try it out first (you'll get a panorma factory watermark in any image you save though). But my results have always been fantastic with it.
//www.pbase.com/ozdick/panoramas
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06/29/2003 10:58:56 PM · #9 |
My best advice is to find a location near home (doesnt have to be great) and practice half a dozen times before you leave...
Try it with the software you have, try different settings on the camera (preferably pick your exposure from some part of the panorama, set you camera exposure for that part of the scene in manual mode, and then keep those settings for the whole series of images regardless of what the exposure meter tells you - this will mean there are less obvious seams when you stitch it together).
Good luck and let us know how you went!
Andrew |
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06/29/2003 11:36:15 PM · #10 |
Originally posted by ozdick:
Bob,
You can download the latest version of Panorama Factory and try it out first (you'll get a panorma factory watermark in any image you save though). But my results have always been fantastic with it.
//www.pbase.com/ozdick/panoramas |
Richard,
You have some very impressive panoramas there!!! Nice work. That's what I want to accomplish.
I have downloaded the Panorama Factory software and am trying it out.
Can I stitch a 2 x 2 image panorama where I have 2 vertical and 2 horizontal images? If so can you email a bit of advice on how to do this with Panorama Factory?
Bob
Message edited by author 2003-06-29 23:36:35.
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06/30/2003 01:55:46 PM · #11 |
Originally posted by Fiver:
I wrote out something for you, but when I pressed Preview IE crashed. I hate that. So I decided to take a bath instead. Maybe later I will try and post again. Got to eat now. |
After losing several long posts, I now highlight and copy all of the text before I preview or post it. If I crash, then I open another post window and hit CNTL V and there it is...
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06/30/2003 02:12:24 PM · #12 |
Originally posted by RLS:
[quote=ozdick]Can I stitch a 2 x 2 image panorama where I have 2 vertical and 2 horizontal images? If so can you email a bit of advice on how to do this with Panorama Factory?Bob |
I have done this using Pan Factory, but in a convoluted way. I create two regular side-by-side panos individually, then rotate them both and then stich the two panos together. Convoluted, as I say, but it works.
//www.pbase.com/image/18212304
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06/30/2003 02:21:02 PM · #13 |
I've found //www.panoguide.com/ to be a really useful site. Lots of good information.
I've used PTGui and panotools with great success. One of the main advantages to these is that they handle a tilted upwards camera, which most panorama tools do not compensate for.
//www.pbase.com/image/6742712/original is 9 shots, with a G2, 8 portrait shots and one landscape. (Tripod, manual exposure and white balance)
//www.pbase.com/image/9668012/original is about a 300 degree panorama in Times Sq (handheld and slightly drunk)
Typically I've shot portrait shots for a panorama that would be wide (so that I get the maximum amount of height) and include a fairly large overlap (at least one third) between shots. I've been happy with the results but am not certain how it would compare to shooting in landscape (other than your final result would not be so high) |
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06/30/2003 02:23:38 PM · #14 |
Originally posted by ozdick:
Bob,
You can download the latest version of Panorama Factory and try it out first (you'll get a panorma factory watermark in any image you save though). But my results have always been fantastic with it.
//www.pbase.com/ozdick/panoramas |
Those are really great... |
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06/30/2003 04:57:22 PM · #15 |
| Thusfar no one mentioned Panavue that I use. (www.panavue.com). It does all the lens correction and up and down tilts. Moreover, it will correct for color and brightness differences between neighboring pics if they are not too large. Finally, it will help to make a 360 degrees pano and cut the slices that one needs for a Quick time virtual reality *.mov file output. |
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06/30/2003 05:08:34 PM · #16 |
| I use Panavue, also. I have an image in my portfolio that I put together using it here. It does a wonderful job. I learned about it by reading this at another site. This guy is a photographer whom I admire very much and he's done a ton of research with panoramic stitching software. Makes for an interesting read... |
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06/30/2003 05:36:14 PM · #17 |
| Question: Are any of the mentioned programs (or others) free (without watermarks) and decent? I do all my stitching by hand in photoshop but I'd love a program that helps me do it faster. The problem is that I don't have the money to spend on such software right now, esp. since I'm trying to save up for a new camera. Is there a plug-in for photoshop that does this too? |
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06/30/2003 06:17:20 PM · #18 |
Hi Jason, Panorama Factory will give you a fully functional trial version. I have used it on several images. Here is one of them.
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06/30/2003 06:21:54 PM · #19 |
| thanks joanns! I'm going to download it now! Awesome photo! |
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06/30/2003 07:52:16 PM · #20 |
Originally posted by JasonPR:
thanks joanns! I'm going to download it now! Awesome photo! |
You might not get what you want the first time, because there are so many automatic adjustments made by default so you can just play around with them and good luck. BTW, I just received a large print of this photo and it looks great (if I do say so myself :) ) No Seams! |
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