Multi row Panoramic equipment

[felix5616]

I am interested in trying multi row panoramic images with my Nikon D800.  I am looking for recommendations from actual users for panoramic set ups, with consideration for the best mix of value/quality/ease of use.

[fike]

Really Right Stuff pano gear is generally thought to be the most flexible and highest quality. As for value...well...it's pricey. Nothing from RRS is priced to be considered economical. With that said, the parts are reconfigurable and flexible, and that attribute makes up for the cost.  You can reconfigure their pano gear as a gimble head nodal slide for macro work, lightweight cylindrical pano head...whatever.  If you bought a great and moderately expensive camera like the D800, then you probably should be putting it on top of a quality head.  You can save some money by getting one of the wide variety of cheaper knock-off legs and ballhead like the ones from Benro.

...and brace yourself...someone will chime in and say with your camera to get a wide angle lens and crop because you can't possibly want all that extra resolution the D800 offers.  Someone else will chime in and say that you don't need to use pano heads because you can shoot handheld and/or the software is sooo good that you needn't worry so much about parallax error so just mount it on a tripod, rotate and be happy.  I disagree on both counts but that is because I am obsessed with sharpness and making enormous prints with lots of foreground.

[felix5616]

I like the RRS but it is pricey. I was looking at a used manfrotto 303SPH, while dedicated it seems sturdy and readily available used. I looked at the gigapan pro but have heard they are not very rigid.

[fike]

The nodal ninja is also nice if you aren't going to use very large lenses on it.

http://www.nodalninja.com/

[james-greenland]

Just out of interest, have you tried using the 'Photomerge' tool in PS? Thats how I did these:

http://jamesgreenlandphotography.wordpress.com/2012/10/15/brimham-rocks-north-yorkshire-102012/
(click on them to see them bigger)

and...

http://jamesgreenlandphotography.files.wordpress.com/2012/09/phoenix-arizona-panorama.jpg

I'm pretty sure you can do multiple rows... If not you can treat them as inidividual rows and them merge each row after that!

[fike]

Just out of interest, have you tried using the 'Photomerge' tool in PS? Thats how I did these:

http://jamesgreenlandphotography.wordpress.com/2012/10/15/brimham-rocks-north-yorkshire-102012/
(click on them to see them bigger)

and...

http://jamesgreenlandphotography.files.wordpress.com/2012/09/phoenix-arizona-panorama.jpg

I'm pretty sure you can do multiple rows... If not you can treat them as inidividual rows and them merge each row after that!

Those are pretty nice panos.  I don't choose to use PS photomerge because it isn't particularly flexible about setting the projection you want and, more importantly, setting the center/horizon point.  This means that panos that are directed steeply downward or steeply upward will have distortion that you can't modulate to your pleasure.

[Rajan Parrikar]

How about GigaPan EPIC Pro?  Has anyone used it?

http://gigapan.com/cms/shop/epic-pro

[felix5616]

I was about to buy one when i watched videos that demonstrated substantial wobble, and not from an unstable tripod.

[james-greenland]

I don't choose to use PS photomerge because it isn't particularly flexible about setting the projection you want and, more importantly, setting the center/horizon point.  This means that panos that are directed steeply downward or steeply upward will have distortion that you can't modulate to your pleasure.

That's something I had never even thought about. Great pointer.
Sure to try this out in the future just to see how much it messes with my eyes

[felix5616]

The folks at gigapan did confirm a certain amount of play in the system, not related to the tripod mount but inherent to their system and the wobble reported is in fact not a warranty issue.