I'd appreciate any advice on how best to tackle this, especially whether it is possible to get the desired result using the pan & stitch mode ( there is no lens rental in this regional city).
Hi Jon,
Pan and stitch, and use a dedicated pano-stitcher, like PTGUI-Pro.
One thing you will never be able to solve is that the perspective of the resulting stitch will always give an impression of being distorted, but that's just caused by viewing the resulting output from too far away. It's simple geometry, and there's not much that can be done about it.
If the facade is very flat, with few recesses and protrusions, one could attempt a different kind of stitch, for which you also need an application such as PTGUI-Pro. It uses a technique that was pioneered by Max Lyons, as explained on his Webpages:
http://www.tawbaware.com/pta_help/ptasmblr_help_camera_position.htmThat would involve using different camera positions, the images of which can be reassembled because they are in a flat plane shot from different angles. And since a flat plane has no depth, there will be no parallax error on the facade. The street in front will require a different approach, because that street is sensitive to parallax errors if the entrance pupil is not stationary. A montage in post between the two will be in order.
The current Beta version of PTGUI can also mix shots with different focal lengths, which might be useful for a pan and stitch of the street in front, and or of the facade if it is not flat. That would allow shooting the more distant parts with more detailed tile taken with a longer focal length.
Lots of planning and postprocessing is inevitable to achieve the physically impossible. It might take some testing to get the hang of the procedures.
Cheers,
Bart