Pano Heads

[Crash758]

I am interested in attempting to take some pano's with accurate results. Are pano heads that help line up the nodal point of the camera/lens necessary tools? If so, anyone have any recommendations as to brands/models? I will be shooting with my 10d.

Thanks.

[Belmondo]

I use the Bogen 488RC2. Besides the normal ball head, it also rotates. It works very well for the purposes you describe. Also, it's very stout, and uses the same QR plates as the 486RC2 which I use on my monopod.

[PhotosGuy]

Are pano heads that help line up the nodal point of the camera/lens necessary tools?

For film, I just used a carpenters level & my eye. I recently shot my first pano on digital & was very surprised at how well PhotoStitch worked. Try shooting some without the head & see if the results fit what you need.
Remember to not use a polariser!

[Crash758]

Thanks for the input. I guess a good ball head with independent panning control is really all I need. I was looking at the QTVR pano heads by bogen/manfrotto, but I am assuming thats overkill and not really needed unless you are doing 360 QT movies?

[Ikinaa]

Here's an article on how to make one yourself...
http://www.digitalkamera.de/Tip/04/47-de.htm
It's in german...

[Scottes]

The nodal-centered pano head can be nice if you plan on large panos, but decent software exists to get around the *need* for one.

The first time I played with pano it was a pain to get everything level. I took off the ballhead so I could see the tripod's bubble level, and spent some time getting it level. It wasn't accurate enough IMHO. But the leveling a ballhead is also tricky. I have hot-shoe type bubble level and that was better than the level's. But nothing was perfect.

In my opinion they never make the levels accurate enough. Well, they don't make them so it's accurate to *see* that it's level. Why use marks 1/2" apart and then make the bubble 1/4" wide? It would be easier to tell if you were off if both were the same size, no? I'm not sure that would even matter, really, since being even 1/4-degree out of level makes for a large number of pixels in an image that's 12,000 pixels wide. That is, one end of the line would be 43 pixels lower than the other. Stupid human eye can see that, too.

I'd love to play with multi-level panos, like 3 images high by 4 wide. That guy that did the gigapixel stich was unbelievable.

[Scottes]

Here's an article on how to make one yourself...
http://www.digitalkamera.de/Tip/04/47-de.htm
It's in german...

Hey I never though of that. I've got a Velbon macro slider so I should be able to get it over the nodal point. Now to just find a way to get it to accurately tilt it up and down...

[Crash758]

Scottes,

When you say large panos- how large are you talking? At most, I probably would take 5-8 photos in a single axis to stitch together. I tried doing this without using a good tripod head - just a pan and tilt - and some turned out and some were very curved (like the curve of the earth exaggerated big time). The next time I take panos or go somewhere and want to take a pano, I want to be ready.... Thanks for your help. It wouldnt be a big deal, but the pano head from bogen/manfrotto is over $300. Just wasnt sure if I need to spend that $$ to do what I want.

[Scottes]

I think - I'm not experienced in this but I've read a bit - that something like 5 to 8 pics wide will begin to show distortion as you've found. I don't think it's the curve of the earth, but that the position is changing.

http://www.panoguide.com/ seems like a very good place to learn more about panos.

I don't think you need to spend $300 - it would be very nice though, huh? I found a couple of sites about making your own pano head: http://www.tawbaware.com/maxlyons/panhead_990.htm and http://www.panoramas.de/panoramas/html2e/tips.htm The second site also has a link on how to find the nodal point.


This thread is interesting: http://www.photo.net/bboard/q-and-a-fetch-msg?msg_id=007npO

"The reason rotating your camera around the lens nodal point, not the tripod mounting screw, is necessary for stitched panoramas is because otherwise you get parallax error. As you rotate the camera around, if you're not at the nodal point then distant objects appear to rotate at a different rate to close objects, and you can't stitch them together properly as close and distant objects don't line up between frames."

[Crash758]

Scottes,

Thanks a lot for your help.....!!!!

[john_houghton]

I tried doing this without using a good tripod head - just a pan and tilt - and some turned out and some were very curved (like the curve of the earth exaggerated big time)..
The problem you had was most likely due to the camera being tilted up or down. Many popular stitching programs cannot handle images taken in this way, but there are some that can and are capable of giving a nice straight horizon. Two that come to mind are Panavue Image Assembler and Panorama Tools. Panorama Tools (which I use) does its stitching on a virtual spherical surface, replicating the full 380x180 view seen from the camera position (or a part of that view). The camera can be tilted and rolled by any amount, provided it is pivoted about the lens. From the spherical composite image, the panorama can be readily rendered in a cylindrical projection for printing, or various other projections according to requirements. Panorama Tools is free, but needs to be used with a gui interface program (e.g. PTAssembler, PTGui, PTMac, Hugin) to improve the user interface. Well worth learning if you get serious about panorama making. There's a tutorial specifically on straightening horizons with Pano Tools at http://homepage.ntlworld.com/j.houghton/horizons.htm

John

[Belmondo]

Keeping everything level is really the single biggest secret. My tripod has a spirit level on it and so does my pan/tilt head. I've actually also had good succes taking the shots handheld. As long as there is a clear horizon to line up on, just take each shot using the horizon as a reference and placing it in exactly the same place in the viewfinder.

[john_houghton]

Keeping everything level is really the single biggest secret.
The really important thing is to get the tripod axis of rotation vertical. The camera itself does not have to be kept level unless your stitching program demands it, but you should normally tilt the camera up or down by the same angle for each shot. This will ensure that you can crop a clean rectangle from the stitched images with the minimum of waste. I almost never keep the camera precisely level. There frequently seems to be an advantage in angling the camera up or down somewhat. It is not very imaginative to have the horizon running straight across in the dead centre of every panorama. Check out your nearest art gallery - you won't find many artists doing that.

John

[Bruce Watson]

Well, not as cheap as a carpenter's level, but much easier to use and well built for the price. Have used it with both my 10D and 300D.

http://gregwired.com/Pano/Pano.htm

Cheers,

Bruce