Help me choose a good panoramic setup

[Ligament]

I need some advice on the pano gear I need.

I have a D800e and the Sigma DP1 Merrill and Sigma DP2 Merrill, Mamiya 7II and RZ67 PRO II if it matters.

My tripod is the Really Right Stuff TVC-33 series, with the BH-55 ball head.

I think I'd just like to do single and multi row panos. Not interested in 360 panos.

Thanks!!!!!

[lfeagan]

You have a remarkably similar setup to mine. I started off a few years ago using an L-bracket for the body (vertical = more pixels in a single row) and the single row kit. This alone with a D800e will serve you quite well and most of my panos are taken as a single row as its quick and easy to accomplish and barely requires any more gear/weight than the you would already be carrying (tripod+head).

The gear for doing multi-row panos is a fair bit larger, heavier, and more expensive. This package is similar to how I do it. I put together a slightly different combination that can be reconfigured for use as a gimbal with a large telephoto lens as well. Still, it has all the basic parts.

One of the thing my setup change made easy to do is forego the ball head in favor of a leveling base. I am using the parts in this kit plus a nodal slide.

In the end, there are a lot of ways to get a reasonable solution.

[Ligament]

You have a remarkably similar setup to mine. I started off a few years ago using an L-bracket for the body (vertical = more pixels in a single row) and the single row kit. This alone with a D800e will serve you quite well and most of my panos are taken as a single row as its quick and easy to accomplish and barely requires any more gear/weight than the you would already be carrying (tripod+head).

The gear for doing multi-row panos is a fair bit larger, heavier, and more expensive. This package is similar to how I do it. I put together a slightly different combination that can be reconfigured for use as a gimbal with a large telephoto lens as well. Still, it has all the basic parts.

One of the thing my setup change made easy to do is forego the ball head in favor of a leveling base. I am using the parts in this kit plus a nodal slide.

In the end, there are a lot of ways to get a reasonable solution.

Thank you very much for the reply. May I ask exactly which components you ended up with? It sounds very flexible.

[ErikKaffehr]

Hi,

An old write up I had on the issue.

http://echophoto.dnsalias.net/ekr/index.php/photoarticles/panorama-and-stitching

I recently upgraded to an Arca Swiss D4 head and a leveling bowl on my Versa TVC33S. With that combo I can do multi row easily. Level the  head with the leveling bowl and use the rotation at the bottom.

For the kind of Panos I shoot I don't feel a nodal slider is necessary but I use one from time to time.

Best regards
Erik

I need some advice on the pano gear I need.

I have a D800e and the Sigma DP1 Merrill and Sigma DP2 Merrill, Mamiya 7II and RZ67 PRO II if it matters.

My tripod is the Really Right Stuff TVC-33 series, with the BH-55 ball head.

I think I'd just like to do single and multi row panos. Not interested in 360 panos.

Thanks!!!!!

[BernardLanguillier]

I use this:
http://reallyrightstuff.com/ProductDesc.aspx?code=PG-02-LLR&type=4&eq=&desc=PG-02-LLR%3a-Pano-Gimbal-Head-with-LLR&key=it

On top of this:
http://reallyrightstuff.com/ProductDesc.aspx?code=TA-3-LB-HK&type=4&eq=TA3LBHK-001&desc=TA-3-LB-HK%3a-Versa-3-LB-with-Hook&key=ait

On top of this:
http://reallyrightstuff.com/ProductDesc.aspx?code=TVC-33&type=4&eq=&desc=TVC-33-Versa-Series-3-Tripod&key=it

The great thing about this set up is that you can basically only do pano with it. I don't use a ballhead at all.

Cheers,
Bernard

[nairb]

Hi Bernard,

have you had any experience using the Ultimate-Pro Omni-Pivot Package
http://reallyrightstuff.com/ProductDesc.aspx?code=Ult-Pro-OPP&type=3&eq=&desc=Ultimate-Pro-Omni-Pivot-Package&key=it

as opposed to the one you use which seems much heavier and bulky?

If so have you had any experience or would recommend replacing the lever clamp on my bh-40 with the base of this package, the pcl-1 panning clamp?
http://reallyrightstuff.com/ProductDesc.aspx?code=PCL-1&type=0&eq=&desc=PCL-1%3a-Panning-Clamp&key=it
I've grown a little tired of the lever release anyway and thought I could just use this as my everyday clamp, just adding the slide rail for a relatively light single row kit for hiking. I'd contacted rrs about it and they suggested getting the $30 dovetail adapter instead and to use it on top of my lever release, as the pcl-1 locking knobs are not as sturdy. I got the impression they were just trying to upsell me another piece though.

But if the package you chose is significantly sturdier perhaps thats the best route. Just looks really bulky and heavy as I like to hike with my gear for these kinds of images.

Thanks,

Brian

[IanBrowne]

ummm; my set up is two big feet planted on the ground ........ hand hold a camera usually on auto but with locked focus.......over lap fairly heavily.......let Photoshop do it's thing.

Personally I feel panoramas are a bit over rated. The best one I fluked was from a light plane...... two images joined manually in PS. Never been able to do it again. 

Not trying to hijack the thread; but here are a couple I have done as above. I think all were taken with a Canon G12

[nairb]

Initially I'm looking to make a forest mural so parallax will be a concern. This is to produce a 30'x14' mural for a museum.

To this point I've gotten away with just using a 70-200 on its tripod mount, but the main print I sell where I used this technique had no foreground objects and therefore little concern for parallax.

Brian

[IanBrowne]

Initially I'm looking to make a forest mural so parallax will be a concern. This is to produce a 30'x14' mural for a museum.

To this point I've gotten away with just using a 70-200 on its tripod mount, but the main print I sell where I used this technique had no foreground objects and therefore little concern for parallax.

Brian

PS transform [Ctrl+T]/wrap/distort/ is great for making some corrections to the joined image. I flatten layer>>make a copy layer>>and fiddle with it.

[nairb]

Thanks, but for a paid assignment I'll be wanting to make sure I get things as aligned as possible when capturing the images.

Can anyone comment on the sturdiness/build/stability of the two RRS products I inquired about a couple posts up? The heavier, beefier package Bernard uses vs the lighter one?

[BernardLanguillier]

Hi Bernard,

have you had any experience using the Ultimate-Pro Omni-Pivot Package
http://reallyrightstuff.com/ProductDesc.aspx?code=Ult-Pro-OPP&type=3&eq=&desc=Ultimate-Pro-Omni-Pivot-Package&key=it

as opposed to the one you use which seems much heavier and bulky?

Yes, I used to work with that one and still own it.

It works well but is of course a bit less stable that the current one I use. If you shoot in non windy conditions you should be fine.

Cheers,
Bernard

[Bart_van_der_Wolf]

Yes, I used to work with that one and still own it.

That's also what I've used for a long time. I was looking for a bit of additional stability when using heavier equipment, and adding the PG-02 was all that was needed. The modular design of the RSS lineup makes it easy enough to grow the system along with one's requirements, and the clever design makes components reusable for other tasks.

Cheers,
Bart

[Bart_van_der_Wolf]

Can anyone comment on the sturdiness/build/stability of the two RRS products I inquired about a couple posts up? The heavier, beefier package Bernard uses vs the lighter one?

Hi,

It depends on the camera and lenses you are going to use, and the environment where you are using the setup. When the camera/lens combination gets heavier, and the center of gravity more off-center (depends on where the lens' no-parallax point is), and the focal lengths longer, you'll benefit from a beefier setup.

When using a Canon 1Ds Mark III with an EF-135 mm f/2.0 L, weighing some 2kg, I occasionally had some vibration unsharpness with the lighter Omni-pivot setup when I didn't wait long enough after touching the camera controls. The longer focal length magnifies any vibration in the tripod/panohead, but also from heavy trafic. Adding the more sturdy PG-02 vertical arm solved my issues. Although it's slightly overdimensioned for lighter work, it being taller than the original CDR rail also reduces the apparent size of the tripod in 360 VR images with a fisheye lens, thereby reducing the need for a dedicated nadir image in certain situations.

Cheers,
Bart

[Ellis Vener]

I need some advice on the pano gear I need.

I have a D800e and the Sigma DP1 Merrill and Sigma DP2 Merrill, Mamiya 7II and RZ67 PRO II if it matters.

My tripod is the Really Right Stuff TVC-33 series, with the BH-55 ball head.

I think I'd just like to do single and multi row panos. Not interested in 360 panos.

Thanks!!!!!

I have the RRS Ultimate-Pro Omni-Pivot Package package but now some heavier duty components.

Since you already have the BH-55 (I am not a fan of using ball heads for panorama shooting but it is the head you have so I'll start there). All the components are RRS except for the camera L bracket which the Arca-Swiss Classic L-Bracket)

1) horizontal rotator: PCL-1
2) CB-10 (or CB-18 for tall cameras)*
3) PG-02VA
4) RRS screw drive clamp (60mm wide - I forget the RRS name) mounted on the PG-02VA
5) MPR-CL-11 "Nodal Slide."

*(The cameras I shoot range range from the D800 to the 1D/1Ds/D3/D4 size classes and occassionally a medium format digital rig. The CB-18 is used for the taller cameras.)

I generally shoot with the long side of the camera oriented vertically and am very conservative and overlap my horizontal frames considerably more than the usual recommendation of 25-30% while 33% seems right for vertical overlap.

I currently use PTGui Pro  9.1.3 to stitch with and export a blended with layers file as an 8 bit per channel PSB document and resolve any overlap issues ( like subject movement) by editing the individual layers in Photoshop CS6.

All of the above technique works quite well for prints as large as 6-8 ft (high) x # feet (length). Most of the panoramic work I do is architecture and structure related, not landscapes so precision counts.

Although I have excellent heavy duty tripod heads tripod heads over the weekend I started thinking about either just using a leveling platform (I have the Manfrotto 338 QTVR Leveling Base) instead of a head or using the 338 on top of a Foba ASMIA head. If I use it on top of the ASMIA head , the head will make the gross  pitch and roll adjustments and the Manfrotto 338 will fine tune them. The PCL-1 will mount on the 338.

The advantage of using just the leveling base alone is simplicity. The advantage of using the leveling base on top of the head is precision+versatility