Trying to learn 360 Panoramas

[manumuskin]

I hope this is the right place to put this thread since I need to discuss a lot of things.I am new here and though I have been pointing and shooting for years I never took it seriously because my best friend was the photographer and I was the navigator and found the pretty places for him to shoot.We now have different days off and now that I want to learn photography I don't have his advice and he has never done panoramas anyway.I have never had a camera out of auto before and I had to take what I got.Now that i have fell in love with 360's I need to learn to do things manually.I have had a few semi successes but am having parallax problems because I have yet to get a pano head and i also routinely miss spots which after taking 50 plus photos and then going home to the computer it is really aggravating to see.I fotunately do not know the meaning of give up so here I am to pester everyone here till I can do this right.I also am a two finger typist so please excuse any typos.Anything mispelled is a typo,I spell quite well:-)
I have been reading the tutorials here and my brain is whizzing with new phrases like "depth of field" and "f stops".I do have some telescope experience with astronomy so understand apeture and a little bit about focal length but "Nodal Point" is new to me.
What I need help with first is everything basically.I need to know how to get the most of my photos in focus as possible.I think this is depth of field and correct me if I'm wrong but it seems I should open my aperture all the way?By the way I am using a Canon Powershot sx130is .Also in order to avoid noise I shoul drop my ISO (whatever that is) all the way down to 80,(my lowest setti?)?Also I should set my shutter speed as fast as i can get it to avoid blur?I also have that anti shake thing in my camera.
I plan on buying a panosaurus since it seems to be the only reasonable panohead(anyone know if it works?)I am currently using ICE software which is totally automated panorama software.I want to buy PT Assembler which seems to be the most reasonable out there and will allow me to manually touch it up.I have some photo software with my camera called Zoomshare and also what windows provides,is this good enough for retouching?My firend uses photoshop and raves about it but I"m not as much of a perfectionist as he is,I just want to put the Barrens on google earth so everyone can see that NJ is more then bricks,concrete and toxic waste dumps.
Everytime I look a beautiful photos the explorer in me senses something missing.Yes it is an awesome photo but what is to my left?What is to my right?Whats behind me?The Jersey Devil?:-) By the way the only Jersey Devil I have ever seen is in the mirror.Whats the sky like overhead?These Panoramas put me there.I can take panos of my favorite islands in the Barrens swamps and then go there on my computer when i don't have time to get there real time.Also I know how to set my white balance but can only guess by weather conditions,not real good at it yet.By June I should have a pano head and a tripod and ptassembler hopefully.
Thanks for any help,
Al

[arith]

Hi Al; I don't know what your camera can do. If it is possible to use manual settings do so, but it is best to fix the aperture, not too far stopped down because of diffraction.
It is useful to have a tripod and overlap frames by about a third. It is also useful to avoid close parallel lines; I found with my 28mm prime nothing should be closer than 7 metres, but it all depends.Focus on infinity.
It is a matter or trial and error.

[Dave Humphries]

Hi Al,

I see the sx130is makes life slightly more tricky for you by having the tripod socket offset to one side from the lens centre line, bad enough for most DSLRs when it is behind the lens nodal point, but this is obviously behind and lopsided no wonder you're considering a better mount - I'm not familiar with them at all (and I don't do panos (yet?)), but I would say don't skimp on size and weight for it, because you wouldn't want to not be able to use it in future if you ever replace the camera with something bigger/better.

With a small sensor camera, depth of field really shouldn't be an issue, but don't open the aperture right up.
Can the sx130is shoot RAW?
Can you stop it auto-focusing?

I suspect, unless AF is the cause, that any softness issues might be down to a lack of proper post panoramic combining sharpening.

Have you got any of your shots online anywhere?

Welcome to the CiC forums from ....

[manumuskin]

Hi Al; I don't know what your camera can do. If it is possible to use manual settings do so, but it is best to fix the aperture, not too far stopped down because of diffraction.
It is useful to have a tripod and overlap frames by about a third. It is also useful to avoid close parallel lines; I found with my 28mm prime nothing should be closer than 7 metres, but it all depends.Focus on infinity.
It is a matter or trial and error.

By stopping down aperture do you mean opening it up?Allowing more light in?Opening all the way is not good I take it?Just what is difraction?Haven't learned that one yet.
Thanks,
Al

[manumuskin]

The Panosaurus is supposed to work with an off center mount as long as it's to the left of the lens which my cameras tripod attachment is.I hope it works.
As far as shooting raw I don't think so.I haven't seen that option while fiddling with the settings and menu and such.I'll have to check the manual to see.I read the tutorial on raw files and think i understand what that is.It is a very big file with so much info in it it allows you to fix exposure and such after the picture is taken.
I can set the focus but I don't know what the numbers mean.It goes from 1 cm on macro to a symbol that looks like an 8 turned sideways that I think may mean infinity.
So let me see if i get this straight.ISO speed should be as low as possible to avoid "noise"?
Shutter speed as fast as possible to avoid blur?
Aperture opened up somewhat but not too much to avoid difraction?Whatever difraction is,have to google it.
and focu should be on infinity?I think i may have to reset the manual focus after each shot which will be a real pain if that is so.I'm going to have to break out the manual again and check RAW filkes and my manual focus.
yes here are the few panoramas that I'v did that turned out half decent.The others I got rid of.
http://photosynth.net/userprofilepag...content=Synths
Thanks for the help.now for that manual.
Al

[Sonic4Spuds]

It might help if you would gives us the model of the camera you are useing. If it is Cannon I can say that manual focous even on point and shoots stays set between shots. Yes that symbol is for infinite.

-Sonic

[Fleshpiston]

Sonic, It it a Canon Powershot sx130is So it should stay held.

A good trick I use for panos is the mk1 eyeball. I look through the viewfinder and find a distinguishing point and start with it on the right hand side. I then find another point on the left and make a note of it. Shoot and move CCW till that point on the left is now on the right, then go back slightly (always have that over lap) and go right the way around.

There is a tool you can buy that will do it for you but ...... it would require a bit of cash. Gigapan : http://www.gigapansystems.com/system-page.html

That takes all the guess work out of panos

[manumuskin]

It might help if you would gives us the model of the camera you are useing. If it is Cannon I can say that manual focous even on point and shoots stays set between shots. Yes that symbol is for infinite.

-Sonic

I did write it in my first post.
It is a Canon powershot sx130is.is there more you need to know other then that that I'm not writing?Thanks for the infifnity confirmation.
Al

[manumuskin]

I am making 360 degree panos but 180 high,in other words I am getting everything and I'm having problems when i go to different layers making sure I'm level and don't miss any gaps between one layer of horizontal pics and the next.It is way too much to remember markers for the next rows of pics.I try to guesstimate but I screw it up 70% of the time.Yes I found those expensive pano heads but I found the "Panosaurus" for only 75 bucks that is supposed to do the job just as well.It's not a purty and being lighter is more susceptible to wind vibration and has no stops for degree increments so you have to look at the degrees and remember how many to move the camera each time horizontally and vertically.I definitely need a pano head and tripod and perhaps better software too.will have to wait a couple months but need to learn how to take good pics in manual first while waiting for the new equipment.
Al

[arith]

By stopping down aperture do you mean opening it up?Allowing more light in?Opening all the way is not good I take it?Just what is diffraction?Haven't learned that one yet.
Thanks,
Al

Sorry for the late reply; I think it isn't critical but will result in higher quality to get the best out of your camera, especially because of loss in quality introduced by stitching. The smaller the aperture the more likely distortions occur, in this case with interference. But lenses have a sweet spot for sharpness.

https://www.cambridgeincolour.com/tu...hotography.htm

[manumuskin]

Sorry for the late reply; I think it isn't critical but will result in higher quality to get the best out of your camera, especially because of loss in quality introduced by stitching. The smaller the aperture the more likely distortions occur, in this case with interference. But lenses have a sweet spot for sharpness.

https://www.cambridgeincolour.com/tu...hotography.htm

so your telling me to open the aperture up?Thats what I believe the tutorial was saying.
Al

[Sonic4Spuds]

Sorry Al I missed that in the first post.

[manumuskin]

I thought perhaps there was some info I was leaving out:-)

[Sonic4Spuds]

Your camera has no RAW support from cannon and as of now no stable CHDK port, though the port is marked as Alpha or early Beta currently.

For those of you not familiar with CHDK (Cannon Hacker's Development Kit) it is a free firmware for many Canon point and shoots that allows RAW capture and full programmability. Programming options mean you can write scripts that will do motion sensing or timelaps etc..

-Sonic

[fangsunflower]

absolutely, here is the right place you asked this question. You do not need worried about it any more, what you need is panorama maker, as long as you have it, you can know how to make panoramic photos, including 360 panoramas and 3d panoramas. It is easy to use and professional. i have used it for 2 years, it's my favourite tool.