On Tue, 26 Apr 2011 14:51 +0100, "Timber" <tim...@clancode.hu> wrote: > Hi List, > > As some of you asked how to do Panoramas here's my little tutorial to > start with:
<snip> Thanks for posting. It's always good to read how others approach a task. I recently built a pano head which looks very similar to Pete's Cheapo Nodal Samurai. Keeping the long arm of the set up steady has proven difficult so I like his 'locating pin' idea. I'll probably try that - or I might just invest in a Panosaurus. It's quite a bit cheaper than the Nodal Ninja and looks quite good: http://gregwired.com/pano/Pano.htm Of course, if you don't have any close objects in your field of view, a normal tripod head works well, or even hand held. This image by Richard Green was produced hand held from a helicopter and is being used as an 'iconic image' in the green movement's campaign to save the south east forests of New South Wales from logging. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1uu8Vs1lJaU By the way, Hugin is available for Windows and I've found it works well. Like the Linux version, it's free. Cheers Brian ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ Brian Walters Western Sydney Australia http://lyons-ryan.org/southernlight/ > > First of all you need: > - A tripod with a head that can turn 360 degrees (full circle) around > it's Horizontal axis. I don't really recommend the use of ballheads as > they tend to move freely in other directions as well... > My setup is: Giottos MT 9361 + MH 5001 > > - A wide angle lens. The KitLens is perfectly fine to start with > (kittens are not) but later on you might want to get a Ultra Wide Angle > lens, like the Sigma 10-20, Pentax DA 10-17 fisheye or the Samyang 8mm > Fisheye. The wider the lens the less picture you need to take -> makes > life easier. Just an example: @18mm you need 12 pictures in each row > (every 30 degrees), at least 3 rows + nadir and zenit. That equals 38 > pictures. @8mm Fisheye you only need 1 row of 4 pictures and a Zenit and > Nadir. That's 6 pictures. Zenit and Nadir is the all the way down and > all the way up pictures. > My setup is: Pentax DA L 18-55 kitlens for the Pentax K-r > > - A panoramic head attachment that allows you to rotate the camera with > the rotation's center being exactly at the center of the front lens > (called No Parallax Point). There are various options for this, most > commonly the Nodal Ninja is used. If you just want to try Panorama > photography, if it's your cup of tea or not, then I would advice to make > your own version from a couple pounds. It won't be as precise as the > Nodal Ninja and you might not be able to do interiors with it easily, > but it wouldn't cost you 200+ GBP or $300+ ... I would say for very > occasional Panorama works or for the learning process a DIY pano-head > will do. I made mine based on Peter Loud's Nodal Samurai > ( http://www.peterloud.co.uk/nodalsamurai/nodalsamurai.html ). > My setup: DIY Pano-head :) > > So once you have all the setup together then find a good spot for the > picture. To begin with panoramas I'd recommend large, open places first > as the less space you have the more obvious the non-precision of the > head will be. For example with my head and the kitlens doing interiors > requires at least 2 more rows for the perfect results. > > What you need to create the panorama is enough pictures to have enough > overlapping where the stiching software can blend the pictures. The more > the overlapping the better the results will be. Sometimes the software > does the job fully but sometimes you need to help it with giving control > points manually. If you've done enough pictures with loads of > overlapping the it won't be a problem. So I say spend a bit more time > with the taking the pictures than spending hours to add control points > or worst case scenario, abandon your project because the lack of > overlaps. "Fail to plan and you plan to fail." > > The software I use is PTGui for Windows. I found a similar program for > Ubuntu, called Hugin, but it's just not that good as PTGui. > Unfortunately PTGui is not free (unless you do warez... :P), but it has > a demo version you can try which adds Watermarks... > > Using the PTGui is pretty simple. Load the pictures, let the software > align them and create the panorama! :D > > Then when you render your panorama there are various options to make the > panorama, the most common is to create a spheric panorama that you can > use to create a Quicktime VR-Cube where you can look around, or the one > I posted earlier is called "Little Planet" > > If you have questions feel free to ask :) but as I am a beginner on this > field (made only 4-5 panos so far) I might not be able to go into deep > technical details :) > > Happy Panoraming! :D > .timber > ps.: oh and the kittens: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-adI7I_bYVc > > > -- -- -- http://www.fastmail.fm - The professional email service -- PDML Pentax-Discuss Mail List PDML@pdml.net http://pdml.net/mailman/listinfo/pdml_pdml.net to UNSUBSCRIBE from the PDML, please visit the link directly above and follow the directions.
