Panoramic - General Questions and Who Can Process Them?

I have been asked to do a panoramic photo of a few hundred cars at a meet and I've never done one before. It doesn't intimidate me but I want to be prepared so any tips would be great. I have a good heavy duty tripod with a ball head and level, Photoshop CS3, and I will be shooting with a 30D.

1) What lens should I use? I have the kit lens, a 50mm 1.4, a 24-135, and a 70-200L in my bag but I can borrow or rent a lens for the shot if necessary.

2) Any suggestions on how to arrange the cars? I've seen it done for film where the cars are arranged in a large crescent so that the photo comes out flat. But I suppose Photoshop can compensate.

3) Is there a good inexpensive but decent quality place that would process the prints for me? I am assuming I will need about 75 to 100 depending on how many people order a print.

Thanks guys and gals!

Wow, no replies?

Use something wide enough to give a good amount of overlap, 50% overlap is good, then use software like Hugin or PTGui to stitch. Also, zoom out slightly more than you might think, purely as then when you crop all the image is there, you'll see what I mean when you do it, otherwise you end up with areas you have to clone in.

I would use the 24-135 on a fullframe camera or rent a Canon 15mm for crop body if need be. It all depends on how far away the cars are going to be really.

Arrange the cars so they are equal distance from you all the way around, 180degrees if needed. You could do them in a straight line but then the cars in the middle will be closer than the ones at the edges.

Thanks for the info. Is there a good place you would recommend for processing?

Not sure about panos - I like my 16-35 for them - but check White House, www.whcc.com. They print up to 30x45 and most things in between. They will also custom cut. Not cheap but excellent quality and service.

Some general Pano info here.

Not sure if in this case you'll get big problems when not rotating around the nodal point (depends on how you setup the shot as well), but I'd try before the actual shoot. You don't want to find out afterward!

Use an L-bracket, or something similair, so the camera is in portrait orientation.
Do not use too wide a lens; use as long as possible. (won't be too long in this case probably )

Test it out first.