panoramic head recommendations?

[ravineguy]

Hello to the group. I am very new to this and have yet to even purchase the software. Have watched a couple of the tutorials and am looking into the purchase of a panoramic head. The questions are: 1, Do I even need a pano head? and 2, Can I get by with one of the less expensive heads, such as the $119 Sirui at B&H? I asked the first question because I shoot in the woods and some parallax would probably not be noticed. I'm planning to use a Canon 5D Mark IV and a 50mm or 85mm prime. Took this yesterday with an iphone and used Lightroom to make the pano but as you can see, the results are less than ideal. Also tried the PTGUI free trial and there were still some problems though not as bad, and I haven't had time to figure out how to use the control points.Thanks for any help.

[Erik Krause]

Am 11.11.2021 um 21:34 schrieb ravineguy:

> The questions are: 1, Do I even need a pano head?

Yes, definitely. Especially in the woods there are lots of foreground
and background objects that should fit. Which they don't if parallax occurs.

> and 2, Can I get by with one of the less expensive heads, such as the
> $119 Sirui at B&H?

Sirui give the maximum load on their page:
https://www.siruiusa.com/index/photographic/pb10.html?cid=4&id=28

However, you can even build your own for much less. Get some
inspirations from https://wiki.panotools.org/Heads#Self_made

--
Erik Krause
http://www.erik-krause.de

[Michael Learmonth]

A good stitched panorama will not have discontinuities in objects that span the border between two adjacent photos, particularly noticeable where the objects spanning the border are at different distances from the camera.

To achieve that, the camera must be rotated about the “no parallax point” (NPP) for the particular camera and lens combination. Parallax is the apparent relative shift in position of objects in view, from the movement of the viewing location. For example, a pencil held in front of your face will look to be in a different position versus the background wall, when viewed with one eye versus the other, without moving your head.

Typically, the NPP is located along the center axis of the lens somewhere between the front and back of the lens (that is, somewhat in front of the camera body). The camera tripod socket is NOT located directly below the NPP. Thus, mounting a camera on a tripod by the body socket, and rotating the camera around that point will generate parallax in the objects in view, between adjacent photos.

The proper equipment needed to eliminate parallax depends upon the character of the panorama that you wish to create. If you want to create a simple, single row panorama, with the camera mounted in the landscape mode then all you need is a tripod head that can rotate in a plane (without tilting up and down) plus a rail to enable you to mount the camera and lens with the NPP over the tripod head rotation axis. In the simplest format, you simply rotate the camera/lens/rail/tripod head between each photograph allowing the adjacent photos to have sufficient overlap (usually about 25%).

https://www.amazon.com/EXMAX-Focusing-Close-up-Shooting-Compatible/dp/B012SLQU2A/ref=sr_1_3?keywords=camera+macro+rail+fotomate&qid=1636667847&qsid=137-3096205-4566412&sr=8-3&sres=B012SLQU2A%2CB009SJ7UWU%2CB078PBD8VP%2CB01N0ELY4U%2CB08H8815ZX%2CB07GKNYFSP%2CB07D7NGX87%2CB07JK64C7Y%2CB019W91U7G%2CB00J7LT4ZK%2CB01IOY50IK%2CB01MR8NA5E%2CB07Q2J9FZH%2CB00GTMBA7K%2CB01NAMWTMA%2CB07ZHBSPDS&srpt=CAMERA_SUPPORT

However, if you want to create a panorama spanning more than the vertical view in a single landscape-orientation photo, you need to modify the way the camera is mounted. The first step is to mount the camera in the portrait orientation, still with the NPP over the tripod head axis of rotation. Again, you will have to take adjacent photos with at least 25% overlap to get a good result. One way to achieve that is to mount an L-bracket on the camera body.

https://www.amazon.com/SunwayFoto-DPL-01R-Universal-Camera-Release/dp/B01B3K0HC6/ref=sr_1_1?keywords=sunwayfoto+dpl-01r&qid=1636668144&qsid=137-3096205-4566412&sr=8-1&sres=B01B3K0HC6%2CB08J7DRKTT%2CB08X6584TN%2CB08RJF2R87%2CB08L42RPDR%2CB0986HJYDZ%2CB07QBCZ4LC%2CB088KSWHYB%2CB00GY5E13W%2CB075K8C2QX%2CB071VRSQGT%2CB08P1WZGQZ%2CB07LC5LKMP%2CB007IVT794%2CB00NB3T9YQ%2CB009EH8SV8

The next step up in ease is achieved by using a rotator between the tripod and the camera/lens/rail combination. A rotator will typically have the ability to be set with differing number of “stop” locations, to speed the photo shooting process and ensure equal and proper overlap between adjacent photos. Rotators come in a variety of makes and capabilities with larger weight carrying capacity and greater variety of stop selections resulting in higher costs.

https://www.fanotec.com/advanced-rotator-d10/137#top1

The next step up is where you want the resultant panorama to span more in the vertical than a single row of photos provides. To do this, you now generally need a full panorama head – a head that can allow you to move the camera around the NPP in both the horizontal and vertical direction. Complete panorama heads also come in a variety of makes and capabilities, again with larger weight carrying capacity and automation resulting in higher costs.

https://www.fanotec.com/nn3-mk3-rotator-mini/146#top1

Mike

[Michael Learmonth]

For single row panorama in landscape orientation:

For single row panorama in portrait orientation:

Single row panorama aided with a rotator:

A full panorama head with rotator for a complete spherical panorama:

[ravineguy]

Erik,

Thanks, yeah the Sirui would be an inexpensive way to get my feet wet; the load capacity is probably not enough for my Canon with the 85 though.

On Thursday, November 11, 2021 at 4:15:28 PM UTC-5 Erik Krause wrote:

[ravineguy]

Michael, thanks for the excellent info. The MK3 doesn't have enough load capacity so am looking higher in the NN chain.

[Steve Taylor]

Hi Ravineguy,

I think the payload capacity of the Manfrotto 303sph may be better and used prices on online auction sites price it around the cost of lower spec heads new

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[ravineguy]

Steve thanks this is very good to know about. Much appreciate.

[Michał Niedźwiecki]

I started with MENGS® PH-720B. Is a good, cheap, lightweight and stable head for beginners. I used it with Sony A7III and Kit lens and Samyang 14mm. But, with Samyang 14mm, taking a photo of nadir is not possible (head is tho short).

Please remember, a very stable tripod is necessary.

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Pozdrawiam
Michał Niedźwiecki

[John Houghton]

On Monday, November 15, 2021 at 7:51:44 AM UTC nkg...@gmail.com wrote:

I started with MENGS® PH-720B. Is a good, cheap, lightweight and stable head for beginners. I used it with Sony A7III and Kit lens and Samyang 14mm. But, with Samyang 14mm, taking a photo of nadir is not possible (head is tho short).

Michael, The nadir shouldn't be a problem.  Did you mean to say zenith?

John

[ravineguy]

Thanks, Michael, this is another one I didn't know about because it's not on B&H.

[Michael Learmonth]

By the way, in addition to weight capacity another very important parameter of a panoramic head is the vertical swing arm length. Larger cameras and longer lenses will generally need greater distance between the bottom horizontal arm and the vertical arm rotation axis in order to let the camera and lens swing through when shooting the zenith or towards a high inclination. In the Nodal Ninja line, the Nodal Ninja 6 has a longer vertical arm (15 cm) than the Nodal Ninja 3 (12 cm).

https://www.fanotec.com/nn6-no-lower-rotator/151#top1

Another item that may be helpful (or may just be a luxury) is a nadir adapter. A nadir adapter lets you swing the camera and lens out beyond the end of the horizontal arm to facilitate displacing the tripod and then shooting downward, towards the nadir. The nadir adapter maintains the camera and lens at the same height that all the other photographs in the panorama were taken at, to improve the nadir stitch.

https://www.fanotec.com/nn6-nn3-qr-nadir-adapter/170#top1

I have utilized a variety of different rotators and heads and currently use a Nodal Ninja 6 with a home made L-bracket to hold two cameras and shoot stereo spherical panoramas: You can see an example and below stereo photos of my setup here:

http://www.3dphoto.net/forum/index.php/topic,12323.0.html

Mike

[Michael Learmonth]

For stereo image pairs, you need parallax between the two images in the horizontal direction, in order to perceive depth and to see the merged image in 3D. The distance between the two cameras is called the interaxial distance. If set to approximately 6.5 cm or 2.5" (roughly the distance between two eyes in a male adult human) you get "normal" depth perception. Wider spacing between the two cameras gives hyperstereo (greater depth perception).

A photo of my stereo panorama setup in Universal L-R-L format (stare through the left and center images, left eye looking at left image and right eye looking at center image - called parallel viewing to see it in stereo or cross-eyed, left eye looking at the right image and right eye looking at the center image - called cross-eyed viewing). A VR headset is much better for viewing stereo panoramas.