Cheapish Multi-row Panoramic Head recommendations

[David Good]

Hi Chris,
My take on it is that for everyday single-row panos no you don't need all that gear, although the gear-head in me would disagree. As long as you can step/rotate as close to the entrance pupil as possible it may work depending on subject matter and distance. Or add a nodal rail to a leveling bowl or ball head to easily get rid of parallax error. I have not attempted multi-rows handheld, that would be a challenge even for PTGui to stitch though.
Cheers,
Dave

[Chris Kern]

I have not attempted multi-rows handheld, that would be a challenge even for PTGui to stitch though.

That makes sense to me, notwithstanding my admittedly primitive understanding of the underlying geometry, since a multi-row pano presumably involves warping each frame along two (three?) independent axes in order to match its boundaries in a plausible manner with up to eight neighbors.

Having said that, I'm inclined to try it when an opportunity next presents itself.

The real source of my reluctance to invest in a pano head is not economic; it's that I try to avoid hauling a tripod around unless I absolutely must.  (I suspect this disqualifies me from the serious-landscape-shooters' guild.)

[Bart_van_der_Wolf]

This is slightly off-topic, but reading this thread prompts me to ask a question that I've been wondering about for some time.

I have limited experience making panos, and have always shot them hand-held.  Perhaps I'm missing something, but when you're shooting subjects at effective infinity with no near objects to induce parallax errors, is there really any reason to use a pano head?

Hi Chris,

Without near subjects, it is very well possible to stitch handheld panoramas of distant scenes. In fact, even with subjects nearby, it is possible to achieve parallax free results, at a nearer single distance plane (but everything in front or behind will fail to register at the same settings). This is exploited to allow stitching a flat plane that was deliberately shot from different camera positions.

Does making multi-row panos require one?  (I've never tried.)

A multirow stitching operation only adds the risk of vertical parallax to the horizontal parallax of single rows. So the same applies as stated above.

Cheers,
Bart