Lens for panoramic photography

[luis_pinar]

Assuming that you can move your camera to get the same image size on

film,which focal length (for 35 mm)is better for panoramic

photography? Is it correct to take the diaphragm plane as the nodal

point? How much do you need to overlap? Any advice about mounting

copies? Thanks.

Luis

[bobatkins]

There is no "best". Wide angle lenses need fewer images, but have more edge distortion than longer focal length lenses. The rear nodal point is the rear nodal point. It's not really related to the position of the diaphragm.

[paul_ashton]

In the course of my work (field geology) I have made numerous multiple exposure panoramas, many of them hand held with minimal overlap. The key, as Bob recommends, is to use a standard (50mm for 35mm film) lens. I have always cut and pasted the prints on gatorboard. I guess it is also possible to merge digital prints with software like Apple's Quicktime VR, but the old-fashioned method works well for me.

[mclemens1969]

<a HREF="http://www.virtualparks.org">http://www.virtualparks.org</A> has tons (maybe hundreds?) of QTVR's along with exposure data and lens selection. Interestingly, many are shot at 24mm.

[bobatkins]

The most important things are to make sure the camera is LEVEL and is rotating around a VERTICAL axis. This can take quite some time to get right. Also, keeping a fixed exposure rather then depending on autoexposure can help make the shots more uniform (though that doesn't address the issue of printing all the shots the same).

[gordon_hiebert]

I agree with the last answer. Absolutely level tripod, and after that, a perfectly level camera. I use bubble levels, and then fine tune by swinging the camera back and forth while looking through the viewfinder. You can tell if it isn't quite level. I have a Mamiya RB67 with rotating back, so that I can choose to have vertical or horizontal rectangular panels. I overlap very little. I use a handheld spot meter, exposing for shadow areas in which I will still need detail.

You can see some examples at my site www.sunsetphotography.com. Click on Sectional Panoramas. My favourite is the Hay Harvest. It is 4 panels horizontal, and the atmosphere of the scene was captured perfectly as I saw it. To reflect the sense of grandeur that we see onto film and print is a constant struggle, is it not?

[cowan stark]

...or you can use a tilt/shift lens such as the Canon 24 TSE, and take one image from the left, and one from the right. You wouldn't have to move the camera or tripod at all. You can stitch the image together in Photoshop-George Lepps' web site shows you how to do this. I haven't tried this (yet), but they do discuss it in the user manual for this lens as an application for it.

[spitfire]

Yes, a shift lens can be used to make a "partial" panoramic. Make one shot full left shift and another full right shift. They should stitch together perfectly provided you tell the stitching software *not* to warp the images. I have done several of these using an Olympus OM SLR body and the Olympus Zuiko 35/2.8 Shift lens. As with cylindrical (rotated) panoramics, it is important to have the camera level when you do these, and *very* important to shift the lens carefully without nudging the tripod.

 

[Technically there is a very, very slight amount of parallax error in the shift, but it is so small (a typical 35mm shift lens is about an inch) that only an object extremely close to the lens whould show a parallax shift. To do it perfectly with absolutely zero parallax shift, you would have to shift the camera body and keep the lens in exactly the same position. This isn't practical though and most panoramics are scenic landscape, not close-ups.]