HELP! multi-row panorama Nikon 14mm + Nodal Ninja NN4

[raf sanchez]

Hi there - hoping for a guru to help me with my multi-row dilemma!

Until recently I have been shooting 360 panos with a Nikon DX camera and 10.5mm fisheye lens using a 360Precision 'Atome'...I use PTGui Pro and use the viewpoint correction tutorial to stitch in my handheld apogee and nadir images.

Now I have been commissioned to take some high-res 360 panos so I am using my Nikon FX camera (D800e) with a 14-24mm lens (set at 14mm) set in vertical (portrait) orientation on a Nodal Ninja NN4 head. I have shot a 2-row 360 degree panorama (+/- 30 degrees up/down from horizontal) and also handheld shot the apogee and nadir.

Even though I was using a tripod and panoramic head I am having lots of problems with control points...PTGui can find lots of control points between images in the same row but it seems to gets confused when it skips from 1 row to the next and also I do not know if I need to set up (1) control points for the apogee with ALL the images in the top row and (2) control points for the nadir with ALL the images in the bottom row.

My images and PTGUI file are here if anyone can take a quick look to help (this ZIP file is 27mbs): https://dl.dropbox.com/u/37803/test.zip

thanks in advance for any assistance/pointers!

Raf Sanchez

[Willy Kaemena GM]

Everything looks very good   when you are  defining a rectilinear lens

no major  problems

Willy

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[John Houghton]

Willy is right. Setting the lens type correctly makes all the
difference! Other comments: given the non-flat nature of the
ceiling, it would be better if the zenith shot was taken on the pano
head at pitch +60, say, if possible. Viewpoint correction and masking
would not then be necessary. It's not necessary to have control
points between the nadir and zenith images and all the images in the
upper and lower rows. It's best if you assign control points only
between vertically and horizontally adjacent images and avoid diagonal
links. You can do this by selecting a pair of images on the control
points tab and using the Control Points menu to generate control
points between that pair. See my project file at:

http://www.johnhpanos.com/raf-test.zip

John

[Hans Nyberg]

And you are shooting too many images. Actually you only need half of what you used. With a 14mm you can shoot 6 at -20 and 6 at +45. No need for an additional zenith.

Actually I am not sure that you can shoot an 90 degree zenith with the NN4 and the 14-24mm.

Hans

[raf sanchez]

John

Thanks so much for the explanation and the project file (complete with masking no less)! I'm not sure where you're located but if you're ever passing through Hong Kong let me know so I can shout you a few beers.

If I may make a nuisance of myself with a few more questions - hopefully they're easy to answer!

1) In your project file that you very kindly sent, the camera/lens parameters uses the EXIF information and correctly determines that the lens is rectilinear with a focal length of 14mm but if I create a new project from scratch and use those images and select "automatic" for camera/lens parameters, my PTGui Pro always chooses Circular Fisheye (field of view 180 degrees). Can you think why it might be doing this?

2) Since I shot the apogee and nadir handheld (thanks to yours and Hans' comments I will not do this in my next test for the apogee) I know that when I first run the optimiser I need to de-select "use control points of" the handheld apogee and nadir and then re-run the optimizer (as per the PTGui website tutorial on viewpoint correction) but I can see from the project file you sent me that your settings are different to mine (see https://dl.dropbox.com/u/37803/ptgui-test-compare.jpg)...why are your settings for Image 0 different?

thanks ever so much!

Raf

[raf sanchez]

Hans

Thanks for your comments:

1) I will try your suggested orientations and update you to see how it goes.

2) You are correct, the 14-24 is too long to fit on the NN4 and do a vertical shot without at least some offset from vertical.

best

Raf

[John Houghton]

On Aug 8, 2:37 am, raf sanchez <r...@rafsanchez.com> wrote:
1) In your project file that you very kindly sent, the camera/lens
> parameters uses the EXIF information and correctly determines that the lens
> is rectilinear with a focal length of 14mm but if I create a new project
> from scratch and use those images and select "automatic" for camera/lens
> parameters, my PTGui Pro always chooses Circular Fisheye (field of view 180
> degrees). Can you think why it might be doing this?

There's no parameter in the exif data that directly indicates the lens
type. Visit Tools->Options->Exif and adjust the settings there so
that the tests return the correct type for your lens.

> 2) Since I shot the apogee and nadir handheld (thanks to yours and Hans'
> comments I will not do this in my next test for the apogee) I know that
> when I first run the optimiser I need to de-select "use control points of"
> the handheld apogee and nadir and then re-run the optimizer (as per the
> PTGui website tutorial on viewpoint correction) but I can see from the

> project file you sent me that your settings are different to mine (seehttps://dl.dropbox.com/u/37803/ptgui-test-compare.jpg)...whyare your

> settings for Image 0 different?

The image 0 settings of yaw and pitch were made at the end of the
optimization process when I added some vertical line control points to
level the panorama. This tutorial explains all about this:

http://www.johnhpanos.com/levtut.htm

John

[John Houghton]

On Aug 8, 7:22 am, John Houghton <j.hough...@ntlworld.com> wrote:
> The image 0 settings of yaw and pitch were made at the end of the
> optimization process when I added some vertical line control points to
> level the panorama.  This tutorial explains all about this:
>
> http://www.johnhpanos.com/levtut.htm

In view of problems accessing my web page reported in another thread,
maybe it will help to provide a TinyURL version of this link:

http://tinyurl.com/cm9q6gm

John

[John Houghton]

On Aug 8, 8:50 am, John Houghton <j.hough...@ntlworld.com> wrote:
> In view of problems accessing my web page reported in another thread,
> maybe it will help to provide a TinyURL version of this link:
>
> http://tinyurl.com/cm9q6gm

Apparently not! Copy/paste the URL into a browser works ok.

John

[raf sanchez]

John

1) That's great thanks for confirming...I was trying to figure out why in your project PTGui had appeared to magically determine the correct lens parameters from the EXIF.

2) Understood...I know the importance of vertical control points because I remember (a few years ago) reading the tutorial you link to...thanks for refreshing my memory!

Thanks again!

Raf 

[Ken Warner]

Tried it just now and no problem. Other person may have been infected previously or in some mysterious way.