LR "Unable to Merge Photos" message when attempting panorama

[robcrandall2]

Just updated to LR Classic CC 8.0 on MacPro, and am having trouble merging six horizontal photos (overlapping by about a third) into a panorama. Do all images have to be shot with identical focal length? I used a zoom and frames are 50mm, 51mm, 50mm, 48mm, 51mm, 50mm. Do these tiny differences in focal length kick out the batch as unusable? Must reshoot??
Thanks.

[mcbroomf]

I would think that would be it, but do a test of the same view with 2 panos; with a fixed FL and changed by a little per your example.

[Rhossydd]

One option might be to edit the metadata and change them all to 50mm focal length. (on duplicate copies)

[robcrandall2]

Thanks. I've created a virtual copy, but LR does not allow me to change the focal length. Do I need to export a JPEG and then change metadata in Photoshop?

[Mark D Segal]

I suggest trying to merge them in Photoshop and see whether it works. I have had difficulty merging photos in Lr that merged well in Ps. Don't know why, but it happens.

[Rhossydd]

Thanks. I've created a virtual copy, but LR does not allow me to change the focal length. Do I need to export a JPEG and then change metadata in Photoshop?

Not a virtual copy.
Duplicate the file on disk, edit the metadata, then re-import and see if that works.

Not sure that this is the problem, but plausible. As Mark says, sometime LR won't join some files together as you'd expect for no obvious reason.

[robcrandall2]

Thanks fellas.
I was able to merge successfully into panorama in PHOTOSHOP (without any changes to files). Not sure why LR rejects.

[Mark D Segal]

Well, you've had the same experience I've had, and I don't know the explanation for it either.

[Tony Jay]

Just for the purposes of documentation, I have had several panoramas that failed to merge in Lightroom that Photoshop handled with no issues with no further manipulation of the component images...

Clearly the algorithms are not the same!

[Paul2660]

Not only the algorithms are different but many times LR can’t blend skies often giving a darker segment or a faint line.

I prefer LR due to boundary warp which usually warps without softening. But the issue the OP has and the exposure blending issues often sends me to Photoshop for a merge.

I have wondered many times if the developers have ever made any modifications to the LR pano merge.

Paul C

[Chris Kern]

I have wondered many times if the developers have ever made any modifications to the LR pano merge.

My impression — I can't back this up empirically because I haven't done any rigorous tests — is that the Lightroom pano merge capability has improved slightly in several of the recent update releases.

[Mark D Segal]

My impression — I can't back this up empirically because I haven't done any rigorous tests — is that the Lightroom pano merge capability has improved slightly in several of the recent update releases.

I agree, but it still has a way to go, if possible.