Topic: Stitching MFDB architectural (Read 6080 times)

buzzski · « **on:** October 11, 2008, 01:31:15 pm »

Hello, I'm curious to see if any of you are shooting architectural with MFDB and stitching afterwards. I'm shooting Blad V/Aptus 17 combo and my widest lens is 40mm. I've tried some tests shooting either 50mm and 80mm then stitching with PTGui trial version which have been OK but I'm wondering if any of you have experiences you could share that may prove more successful. I haven't been using a specific pano head but have been basically shooting say four shots over three rows on a normal B&S head allowing sufficient overlap. Any advice would be very much appreciated, thanks, Craig

A.K. · « **Reply #1 on:** October 11, 2008, 05:41:18 pm »

I have not used MF for panos, but I have made a load with 35mm digital. My suggestion — get a pano head! Or make one yourself, as I did (can post some photos on Monday). It REALLY helps and probably it is reasonable to build one, I payed about $10 for all the parts! And have not faced any drawbacks, compared to the one, my friend is using, who payed a couple hundreds...

jmvdigital · « **Reply #2 on:** October 12, 2008, 11:00:40 am »

Quote from: A.K.

I have not used MF for panos, but I have made a load with 35mm digital. My suggestion — get a pano head! Or make one yourself, as I did (can post some photos on Monday). It REALLY helps and probably it is reasonable to build one, I payed about $10 for all the parts! And have not faced any drawbacks, compared to the one, my friend is using, who payed a couple hundreds...

Andrey-

I'm definitely curious about your pano head. Please do post some more info. I'd like to experiment with panos, but the $700+ for a RSS pano ultimate is just a little out of reach right now.

Murray Fredericks · « **Reply #3 on:** October 12, 2008, 11:00:07 pm »

Quote from: buzzski

Hello, I'm curious to see if any of you are shooting architectural with MFDB and stitching afterwards. I'm shooting Blad V/Aptus 17 combo and my widest lens is 40mm. I've tried some tests shooting either 50mm and 80mm then stitching with PTGui trial version which have been OK but I'm wondering if any of you have experiences you could share that may prove more successful. I haven't been using a specific pano head but have been basically shooting say four shots over three rows on a normal B&S head allowing sufficient overlap. Any advice would be very much appreciated, thanks, Craig

Hi Craig,

I make architectural panos as a matter of course.

I had plenty of success with a normal head using just photoshop.

For a special project where I has to keep the horizon straight, I purchase a really Right Stuff kit (for single rows) and have had even better results.

My experience is to use Auto Pano Pro, Ptgui and Photoshop together. If one does not work then use another. Out of all, APP is the best option/usabilty tradeoff. But often it's only Ptgui that will find the stitch.

Cheers

Murray

Martin Kristiansen · « **Reply #4 on:** October 13, 2008, 01:30:24 am »

I use a Aptus7 on an AFI, stitch using ptgui and use a manfrotto pano head. The pano head makes life easier for sure. PTgui allows me to stitch and hdr in one step. the process is complex and time consuming but the results can be very good.

michaelbiondo · « **Reply #5 on:** October 13, 2008, 06:04:54 am »

I would also suggest the RRS single row kit used in conjunction with a tilt shift lens, a little shift used with a little pan has worked better for me than all pan, less distortion.
Then stich in CS3...

jaime · « **Reply #6 on:** October 13, 2008, 06:21:56 am »

I use Canon most of the time for stiched images, but here you have one i did last week with Hy6, Emotion75 and 150mm lens

http://www.gigapan.org/viewGigapan.php?id=10395

for this kind of photos you dont need a panoramic head, but if you try to use wa for interior shots, a pano head is a must, this one is stiched with autopano pro, far best than cs3.

Jaime

A.K. · « **Reply #7 on:** October 13, 2008, 03:48:36 pm »

Quote from: jmvdigital

Andrey-

I'm definitely curious about your pano head. Please do post some more info. I'd like to experiment with panos, but the $700+ for a RSS pano ultimate is just a little out of reach right now.

Here is my "hand made" pano head:

It is made of an old flash bracket, several bolts and construction brackets and screws on a tripod as an ordinary head. Well, it lacks the precision and mobility of an original head, but if you build it for a specific camera — it works great. Have been making 360x180 interior stuff with it, having closest objects just a few ft from the camera and everything was aligned perfectly! For single row panos I use an ordinary Manfrotto 804RC2.

Regarding stitching — I am using PTGui with Smartblend plug-it for warping. I have not used Autopano, but suppose it should be quite similar.
PTGui is a unique software. Have been shooting a class at school, about 10 frames with 350D (long time ago)); people could not stand still)) Certainly everybody were moving, but... PTGui had stitched the pano perfectly on AUTO MODE! I don't know how this was possible, but I could not repeat that in PS afterwords)) Here the pano:

buzzski · « **Reply #8 on:** October 13, 2008, 06:24:34 pm »

Thank you one and all for your suggestions and advice. I'm presently comparing PTGui with Autopano (not much to split them but the Autopano interface is much nicer to use). Does anyone have any recommendations for a pano head that will support medium format, it would seem that most are built around an upright 35mm body. Anyone have experience of the original 3sixty? Ta, Craig

tho_mas · « **Reply #9 on:** October 13, 2008, 06:44:49 pm »

Quote from: buzzski

Does anyone have any recommendations for a pano head that will support medium format

I use this one with Contax 645 and Phase DB: http://www.manfrotto.com/Jahia/site/manfro...0|81&idx=84
I think this is minimum in steadiness. Even with this one I'd recommend to prop up the camera when mounted vertical (styrofoam or whatever); regular (landscape) mount is stable.
Or look at this one "Iron Creek" uses: http://luminous-landscape.com/forum/index....st&p=228324

jaime · « **Reply #10 on:** October 14, 2008, 03:08:00 am »

Hello, you can look for 360precision, they build panoheads that support a lot of wight, even they build panoheads for specific camera/lens, i have one for Ds2/15 fisheye, not cheap, not light weight, but works fantastic every time.

http://www.360precision.com/360/index.cfm?...amp;mainnavID=2

Jaime

NBP · « **Reply #11 on:** October 14, 2008, 03:15:29 am »

Quote from: Murray Fredericks

I had plenty of success with a normal head using just photoshop.

I don't do many pano's but I'm doing more these days because I've got to say, for what I do I'm more than fine with photoshop - I really do look for faults & rarely find any.
I use a normal head & a spirit level.

ChrisJR · « **Reply #12 on:** October 14, 2008, 05:43:09 am »

Quote from: jaime

Hello, you can look for 360precision, they build panoheads that support a lot of wight, even they build panoheads for specific camera/lens, i have one for Ds2/15 fisheye, not cheap, not light weight, but works fantastic every time.

http://www.360precision.com/360/index.cfm?...amp;mainnavID=2

Jaime

How do these compare to the pano kit made by Really Right Stuff? Even with shipping and import duties the RRS equipment is cheaper than the 360precision kit.

AndrewDyer · « **Reply #13 on:** October 14, 2008, 06:48:43 am »

Im not sure how this gear compares to the others mentioned here, but I have had my eye and wishlist on
the Nodal Ninja 5 - http://www.nodalninja.com/
It seems to me made for heavier gear and could be a better price than some other options.
regards
Andrew

Carsten W · « **Reply #14 on:** October 14, 2008, 07:27:00 am »

(deleted)

Dustbak · « **Reply #15 on:** October 14, 2008, 09:31:08 am »

Quote from: ChrisJR

How do these compare to the pano kit made by Really Right Stuff? Even with shipping and import duties the RRS equipment is cheaper than the 360precision kit.

I use the RRS basic pano kit, together with the L-bracket for the H. I am very pleased with it besides one thing.

The nodal slider has markings on it however there is no clear indication where to start measuring from the 'filmplane'. It starts its measurement at the other side of the nodal slider where it would have been more logical if 0 (zero) would have been under the body/bracket.

Now you have to calculate your distance which is kind of hard to be precise on the mm without proper markings.

I have asked RRS several times about this and most of the time they don't seem to understand what I mean. The only answer I got this far is that the filmplane isn't always at the same location with every brand of body. Now, I can understand that but even so it would have been preferable to have 0 under the body even if it is not exact under the filmplane. On second thought. With the H and also the Nikon brackets (the ones I own), RRS makes them and it should be no problem to get the bracket so that the slider does have its 0 under the filmplane.

jaime · « **Reply #16 on:** October 23, 2008, 03:15:42 am »

I did this photo 2 days ago to test stiching for architectural work, this is made with Hy6, emotion75 and 150mm, the tripod head is nothing special, just a manfrotto 410 and the software is autopanopro, as you can see, with long lenses you dont need a specialized head, in 2-3 weeks i will test specialized pano head with 50mm lens/silvestri with schneider 24xl

http://www.gigapan.org/viewGigapan.php?id=11211

Author Topic: Stitching MFDB architectural (Read 6080 times)