On Mon, 05 Dec 2005 23:48:55 -0800, "Joseph Chamberlain, DDS" <drjchamberlain@xxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote/replied to: > >1. how can I determine where the nodal point for my lens is ? I have looked >at a few but can't seem to find any kind of imprinted sign that identifies >it (maybe I haven't looked in the right place). Look on the top of the camera body for a little circle with a line through it. This is the 'film plane' where the image is focused. Nodal point, perhaps you have a look at the Canon Camera museum for lens info. anyway you know where the 'film plane' is now ;-) >2. What would be the ideal lens focal length to be used for a panorama ? Varies, but I prefer a longer length about 75mm. Wider lenses of course have more 'distortion' out to the edges, I actually mean how the image is stretched. Also, wide angles give more 'vignetting' of sky, meaning you don't get evenness across the sky. That's also why I like to crop only the centre of each image for a pano. >3. What is considered the proper overlap between shots for proper assembly >of the panorama and the achievement of the best possible results ? Good question. I'd go for about 20 percent on each edge. You might want to go less if you're doing a 360, or you end up with lots of big images that take a long time to process. If you end up with 20 or more images and they're all mega sized, you can downsize to what you want to end up with before letting the software make the pano. I mean if you don't need a one million pixels wide image, why wait 2 days for the software to chew it up. You can of course experiment with smaller images, but good pano software will give you a quick and dirty preview with low res to see how the pano will look. >4. I have seen panoramas made with the camera mounted on the tripod in >landscape mode as well as in portrait mode. What is the best one and what >difference exists between the two options ? Depends on what height you want the finished pano to have. If you want a tall pano use portrait orientation. >5. What is the best panorama software to use with the Macintosh ? I am >looking for one that provides some alternatives in terms of image editing to >remove some unwanted image artifacts. Dunno bout the Mac, but PanoTools is a great program. As well, Canon furnishes a pano software tool that does work, although it's limited in options. We have a pano expert on the list who will fill you in shortly I suspect. I have found the biggest problem of panos is finding the right subject matter. Avoiding those diagonals in the foreground, while providing interest across the image. I have found it pretty easy to make a decent pano just using a regular tripod and decent software. Thanks for the inspiration, I might go out and do a pano myself, I've got some places around there I've said to myself would make a good pano... -- Jim Davis, Owner, Eastern Beaver Company: http://easternbeaver.com/ Motorcycle Relay Kits Powerlet, Posi-Lock, Parts, Info, Photos K100RSes on both sides of the planet!
