Camera settings - new to PTGUI

[Joe DiCarlo]

Hi all, I have two reolink RLC-820A cameras sitting about 2.5 feet from each other on my work bench. Both pointed forward.  I captured a snapshot from both and imported them into PTGUi but the stitching is not going well. 

Which lens and camera setting should I use? PTGui does not know what they are. 

AI tells me the focal length is 4mm and the FOV is about 87 degrees. I cannot find any of those details on the Reolink camera support page for my model.

[PTGui Support]

Hi Joe,

For panoramic stitching all images should be taken from exactly the same
viewpoint, in order to avoid all parallax. What exactly are you trying
to photograph?

To learn more, watch the first two video tutorials:
https://ptgui.com/videotutorials.html

Kind regards,

Joost Nieuwenhuijse
www.ptgui.com

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[Joe DiCarlo]

Yes, looked at that and thank you. Here is my project: I have 6 of these cameras. I want to mount them on an 8 - 10inch circle, and capture an image from each simultaneously using a python script. Then feed those into ptgui to create the pano. 

The camera rig will be fixed and mounted above my 5th wheel so above obstructions. 

Suggestions or thoughts? 

Thank you again! 

Joe

[PTGui Support]

Hi Joe,

I'm sorry but you will never get any good results, your panoramas will
be ruined by parallax.

Ideally images must be taken from exactly the same viewpoint. Even a few
cm displacement will lead to stitching errors. 10 inch will cause
massive stitching errors.

For good results you would either need to use a single rotating camera,
or use a one-shot panoramic camera like the Insta360, Qoocam, Ricoh
Theta. Those cameras are small in order to have the lenses as close to
each other as possible.

Kind regards,

Joost Nieuwenhuijse
www.ptgui.com

On 8/17/26 01:57, Joe DiCarlo wrote:
> Yes, looked at that and thank you. Here is my project: I have 6 of these
> cameras. I want to mount them on an 8 - 10inch circle, and capture an
> image from each simultaneously using a python script. Then feed those
> into ptgui to create the pano.
> The camera rig will be fixed and mounted above my 5th wheel so above
> obstructions.
> Suggestions or thoughts?
> Thank you again!
> Joe
>
> On Tuesday, August 11, 2026 at 5:41:47 AM UTC-4 PTGui Support wrote:
>
> Hi Joe,
>
> For panoramic stitching all images should be taken from exactly the
> same
> viewpoint, in order to avoid all parallax. What exactly are you trying
> to photograph?
>
> To learn more, watch the first two video tutorials:

> https://ptgui.com/videotutorials.html <https://ptgui.com/
> videotutorials.html>
>
> Kind regards,
>
> Joost Nieuwenhuijse
> www.ptgui.com <http://www.ptgui.com>

>
> On 8/11/26 00:35, Joe DiCarlo wrote:
> > Hi all, I have two reolink RLC-820A cameras sitting about 2.5
> feet from
> > each other on my work bench. Both pointed forward.  I captured a
> > snapshot from both and imported them into PTGUi but the stitching
> is not
> > going well.
> > Which lens and camera setting should I use? PTGui does not know what
> > they are.
> > AI tells me the focal length is 4mm and the FOV is about 87
> degrees. I
> > cannot find any of those details on the Reolink camera support
> page for
> > my model.
> >
> > --
> > You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google
> > Groups "PTGui Support" group.
> > To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it,
> send
> > an email to ptgui+un...@googlegroups.com
> > <mailto:ptgui+un...@googlegroups.com>.
> > To view this discussion visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/

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>
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[Paul Bourke]

As mentioned, you really need to take photos from camera lenses located at their zero parallax point. With physical cameras this is not possible except with mirror configurations and then that only works for limited vertical field of view panoramas. With video and moving camera optical flow can sometimes solve things, but not always. This parallax rotation requirement is fundamental, there is nothing "clever" one can do to solve it, only minimise it.

The "standard" solution is a single camera rotating 360 degrees about the lens zero parallax point and taking photographs at intervals such as to provide overlap (say 40%) for stitching. This obviously assume a stationary scene.

I can HIGHLY recommend the Nodal Ninja Mecha motor for this.
   https://www.nodalninja.com/mecha-c1-e1-single-axis-bundle/F9905-1
The Mecha can be instructed to do the rotations and trigger the camera, assuming it has a compatible camera shutter trigger.

I'm putting a rig together now for stereoscopic panoramas, see photographs half way down
   https://paulbourke.net/stereoscopy/ODSP_discrete/
For this I have no choice but to operate off-center, the result is an occasional stitching issue for close feature-poor scene objects, but for this application nothing will be in the problematic closeness zone.

[Nick Payne]

Here's my cheapskate's method of getting the no-parallax point of a lens over the axis around which the tripod head rotates when shooting panaramas. I used a piece of right-angle galv steel from a building supplies store and 1/4" nut and bolt and butterfly nut. The nut attaches the galv to the tripod and the bolt and butterfly nut attach the camera. I attach the camera vertically. Depending on what lens you're using, you can use the different holes in the galv, which are conveniently 1/4", to attach the tripod and camera to get the no-parallax point over the axis of rotation. With the Slik tripod I have it mounted on here, the tripod head itself is not centred on the axis around which it turns, and can rotate separately, so you can also turn the head itself relative to the tripod to vary the distance that the camera sits behind the axis of rotation.

Nick Payne