Shooting Panoramas
How do I begin?
How much Overlap?
The amount you turn the camera for each shot varies. It is dependent on a number of factors such as the field of view (the angle) of your camera and lens, as well as which program you intend to use. For example, in their QuickTime VR Authoring Studio, Apple recommended that the images should overlap by anywhere from
How many Shots?
Once you’ve determined the overlap, you’ll be able to figure out how many shots. The easiest way to do this is to simply look through the viewfinder and turn the camera to achieve the desired amount of overlap. You then check the angle readout to see how far you turned the camera. Round the angular value to the nearest convenient value. For most stitching programs, it is generally not that important to use a precise overlap value. However, it should be noted that some programs are more sensitive to an overlap value that constantly repeats from shot to shot. You may need to experiment somewhat to obtain the best results.
Taking the Photos
When you’re ready to shoot, make sure that the camera is securely attached to the QuickPan III. You should use a tripod that is sturdy, ideally one that has a center support system of braces to help keep the camera from flexing.
Proper leveling is important and often misunderstood. When it comes to leveling there are two things that are fairly important. With multirow panoramas (i.e. Stitcher) the issue of leveling is less crucial and primarily involves aestethics and placement of the horizon. We’ll concentrate primarily on cylindrical or single- row panoramas.
First, the camera's optical axis should be parallel with the rotation plane of the tripod head. In other words the camera should not be pointed up or down with respect to the plane of rotation.
Secondly, it's also somewhat important for the camera and film/CCD to be properly aligned with respect to rotation when viewed from the front (looking into the lens).
This can happen because the camera is not seated flush against the upright bracket. This
is pretty common since many cameras have mounting screws that are not in the center of the base. Many cameras have screws off to one end of the camera or at the edge of the camera and this can cause the camera to not be pulled down evenly onto the tripod head mounting plate.
Another problem is that CCDs may not be accurately positioned within the camera body and respect to the mounting surface. It only takes a fraction of degree and with other manufacturing tolerances this can add up to be noticeable.
This misalignment can also happen if the upright bracket is bent or is not exactly perpendicular to the rotation plane of the head. At Kaidan we check this dimension very closely to ensure it's as close to 90°as reasonbly possible.
The effect of a rotated camera (when viewed looking into the lens) is a stairstepping of images as you progress around the panorama. Stairstepping has nothing to do with the state of the entire head being level with respect to the horizon. This can be corrected by rotating all the images a slight amount in your authoring program.