Effects of Parallax ??

Hi,
Just getting into some simple single-plane pano's - mostly 180deg landscapes
at the moment. Currently using a D80 on top of a tripod and levelling base.
Getting some results that I'm happy with (thus far).

To do this right of course I've been advised that a proper pano-head is
required to shift the nodal point of the lens over the tripod axis to remove
the effects of parallax.

Is the effect of parallax that much of an issue (visually) to go to the
expense of acquiring the additional hardware ?

Cheers
Mal
Oz

"Drac" wrote in message
...
Hi,
Just getting into some simple single-plane pano's - mostly 180deg
landscapes at the moment. Currently using a D80 on top of a tripod and
levelling base. Getting some results that I'm happy with (thus far).

To do this right of course I've been advised that a proper pano-head is
required to shift the nodal point of the lens over the tripod axis to
remove the effects of parallax.

Is the effect of parallax that much of an issue (visually) to go to the
expense of acquiring the additional hardware ?

Absolutely definitely positively *not*.
Are you stitching them together yourself, or using auto software?

--
Jeff R.

Drac wrote:
Hi,
Just getting into some simple single-plane pano's - mostly 180deg landscapes
at the moment. Currently using a D80 on top of a tripod and levelling base.
Getting some results that I'm happy with (thus far).

To do this right of course I've been advised that a proper pano-head is
required to shift the nodal point of the lens over the tripod axis to remove
the effects of parallax.

Is the effect of parallax that much of an issue (visually) to go to the
expense of acquiring the additional hardware ?

Cheers
Mal
Oz

First up, there are cheap ways to create a nodal-point thingy if you
really must have one - Rusty, where was that blog of yours again?

Second, it really depends on the scene - do you have a lot of stuff in
the foreground? And is the stuff *behind* the foreground objects,
complex or detailed? That may add up to give you, and your software,
hell..

Having said that, in all but a very few panos I've done, software like
PTGUI (+ Smartblend - I'm a recent convert!) has little trouble
'compromising'. There have been a couple of notable examples where I
now *wished* I had done the nodal thing, though.. Examples available
on demand.

I would suggest that if it is 'typical' landscapes, then you are
probably not going to get into trouble often, so the answer to your
question is "Probably, maybe not" ...

Drac wrote:
Hi,
Just getting into some simple single-plane pano's - mostly 180deg landscapes
at the moment. Currently using a D80 on top of a tripod and levelling base.
Getting some results that I'm happy with (thus far).

To do this right of course I've been advised that a proper pano-head is
required to shift the nodal point of the lens over the tripod axis to remove
the effects of parallax.

Is the effect of parallax that much of an issue (visually) to go to the
expense of acquiring the additional hardware ?

Cheers
Mal
Oz


Yes it can be - if you have close foreground objects and background
objects in the frames, you may have problems stitching. If not using a
pano head, then how close the foreground objects need to be to cause
problems depends on lens f/l, and either how steady you can hand hold,
or how far ahead of the tripod rotation point the lens entry pupil is.
That said, many times you can get great results without worrying about a
pano head.
I made an L shaped bracket fairly simply, and have that mounted on an
old pan and tilt head tripod with a level. Have mounted quick-release
plates on it on both angles, so can easily change from portrait to
landscape. If you can't be bothered making one, the Panosaurus (google
for the website) looks good for the price - but not solid enough for
long exposures.
Calculating lens entry pupil accurately enough for panos is relatively
simple. Note that entry pupil will shift as zoom lens focal length is
adjusted. I just used two toothpicks lined up vertically at each end of
a long table, adjusting distance on the bracket until there's no shift
panning left to right. Works perfectly - marked the positions of the
lenses I use on the bracket. Haven't bothered to use a pano head that
rotates vertically around the entry pupil, as generally you'll have no
foreground objects above the bottom row of a multi-row pano, so parallax
isn't an issue. (I made a prototype that did this, but it was a bit
cumbersome, and as I found, unnecessary for my needs.

D70/80/200/300 cameras are pretty handy, as the gridlines in the
viewfinder can be used to line up sufficient overlaps.

"Drac" wrote:

Is the effect of parallax that much of an issue (visually) to go to the
expense of acquiring the additional hardware ?

If there is stuff in the foreground, yes. For example if you are shooting
with a very wide lens in a graveyard, and there are gravestones right up to
the tripod, you'll want to swivel around the nodal point.

If you are shooting the NY skyline from across the river with a telephoto,
no.

David J. Littleboy
Tokyo, Japan

Drac wrote:
Hi,
Just getting into some simple single-plane pano's - mostly 180deg landscapes
at the moment. Currently using a D80 on top of a tripod and levelling base.
Getting some results that I'm happy with (thus far).

To do this right of course I've been advised that a proper pano-head is
required to shift the nodal point of the lens over the tripod axis to remove
the effects of parallax.

Is the effect of parallax that much of an issue (visually) to go to the
expense of acquiring the additional hardware ?

Only when the subject is "close".

BugBear

bugbear wrote:
Drac wrote:
Hi,
Just getting into some simple single-plane pano's - mostly 180deg
landscapes at the moment. Currently using a D80 on top of a tripod
and levelling base. Getting some results that I'm happy with (thus
far). To do this right of course I've been advised that a proper
pano-head
is required to shift the nodal point of the lens over the tripod
axis to remove the effects of parallax.

Is the effect of parallax that much of an issue (visually) to go to
the expense of acquiring the additional hardware ?

Only when the subject is "close".

BugBear

... and even then, some software has an optiob to remove the "ghosts" which
can occur.

David

On Feb 12, 9:55*pm, "Drac" wrote:
Hi,
Just getting into some simple single-plane pano's - mostly 180deg landscapes
at the moment. Currently using a D80 on top of a tripod and levelling base..
Getting some results that I'm happy with (thus far).

To do this right of course I've been advised that a proper pano-head is
required to shift the nodal point of the lens over the tripod axis to remove
the effects of parallax.

Is the effect of parallax that much of an issue (visually) to go to the
expense of acquiring the additional hardware ?

For most landscape photos a pano head is not really needed. Shooting
in cases where objects are close, like inside rooms, become hard with
out one.You will know when you need one by whether you images stitch
together well or not.

Beyond rotating around the nodal point some pano-head will do
indexing, which can make life easier, particularly when you get in to
doing more then on raw, say a 5 x 10 pano.

I shot panos for many years without a pano head, but it got a lot
easier when I got a pano head.

Scott

David J Taylor wrote:
bugbear wrote:

BugBear

.. and even then, some software has an optiob to remove the "ghosts" which
can occur.

David

I think "remove" is overstating the case; ameliorate, perhaps?

BugBear

bugbear wrote:
David J Taylor wrote:
bugbear wrote:

BugBear

.. and even then, some software has an option to remove the "ghosts"
which can occur.

David

I think "remove" is overstating the case; ameliorate, perhaps?

BugBear

Indeed - I'd accept "reduce". In practice, AutoPano Pro works well.

Cheers,
David