Panoramics for a pittance

[ziggy53]

A long time ago, I built a simple panorama stage to allow me to experiment with panoramic photography.

Using a VGA digital camera (actually a 3-chip camcorder that could do 640x480 still images) it was not a resounding success.

Using a more modern digital camera, and much better software, proves that the basic idea was sound.

The stage, or Rotating Incremental Platform ("RIP" from here on out, and yes, the world did need another acronym:D) is really an adapted kitchen turntable or "Lazy Susan", a name which apparently many females named "Susan" really resent.

It has been mounted on a tripod and sectioned into rotational increments by means of a simple "latch". The camera rests on top, in either landscape or portrait mode, and the turntable does the work in a decidedly manual fashion. The whole contraption is leveled using either a tube level or "bullseye" level, and I'm sure many "bulls" resent that label as well. The lens was leveled and shimmed with open cell foam. (Could do better?)

Images follow:

http://ziggy53.smugmug.com/photos/105276274-L.jpg

http://ziggy53.smugmug.com/photos/105276291-L.jpg

http://ziggy53.smugmug.com/photos/105276298-L.jpg

http://ziggy53.smugmug.com/photos/105276307-L.jpg

Latch detail:
http://ziggy53.smugmug.com/photos/105276279-L.jpg

... and finally, the resultant stitched 360 panoramic.
http://ziggy53.smugmug.com/photos/105280414-L.jpg

The gallery is here (below), but caution about the original, full sized panoramic as it is 15486px x 2635px (40Mpx) and 6 megabytes of file size.

http://ziggy53.smugmug.com/gallery/2049031

Not the best, but not horrible? The idea is that a simple device, like this, can produce acceptable results, under certain circumstances. Go have some fun already!

"RIP" away!

ziggy53

[Andy]

w00t :clap

I love home-made contraptions. Good onya!

I guarantee a visit :s85 by David_S85, too :)

[ziggy53]

I think even "Rube" would be proud.:rofl(... and I'm pretty sure we're related ... somehow.)

ziggy53

[Tanuki]

Nice DIY solution!:clap Thanks for sharing.

By the looks of where you placed your camera, you are probably getting lots of parallax mismatch in your images. You should be able to get better results by placing the camera so it rotates about the entrance pupil / nodal point of your lens, which is located partway down the lens barrel. You can find the location by trial and error. I'm sure there are lots of web tutorials on how to do this, but if you need help with a technique I will be glad to assist.

[ziggy53]

Nice DIY solution!:clap Thanks for sharing.

By the looks of where you placed your camera, you are probably getting lots of parallax mismatch in your images. You should be able to get better results by placing the camera so it rotates about the entrance pupil / nodal point of your lens, which is located partway down the lens barrel. You can find the location by trial and error. I'm sure there are lots of web tutorials on how to do this, but if you need help with a technique I will be glad to assist.

If you can point to an existing link that you like, that would be great, but I appreciate any and all the help I can get.

If you have a general methodology to share, then by all means, let's hear it.

Thanks,

ziggy53

[photodoug]

I'll give this a go. Nice rip rig.

Here's a reference (http://www.path.unimelb.edu.au/%7Ebernardk/tutorials/360/photo/nodal.html) for nodal point

[ziggy53]

... Nice rip rig.

Here's a reference (http://www.path.unimelb.edu.au/%7Ebernardk/tutorials/360/photo/nodal.html) for nodal point

"Nice rip rig." Yeah, say that 10 times really fast.

Excellent link for determining Nodal point of the system.

Thanks,

ziggy53

[Nikolai]

This is awesome!
Add that nodal point fix - and you can make it a living:-) :thumb

[DoctorIt]

hooray for pennytech! :clap

nice foam btw :thumb

[Dee]

A few years back I bought a Velbon tripod just to take panoramas, it's already marked off in increments and has a bubble level. I took a few panoramas then lost interest and just used it as a tripod!

When I find what I did with the removable thingie that attaches to the camera I should try a few more panoramas... it was fun.

I'm trying some video now, and that tripod will be very useful for panning.

[David_S85]

I made this for my Sony S85 back in '01 and used it in conjunction with the wide angle lens and adaptor. The camera is mounted on a re-purposed 1970's era Stitz flash bracket, and also uses a $38 Manfrotto nodal slide between it and the even more ancient Bogen tripod. I added the nodal slide when I began using the WA lens to control parallax. Not pennies, but very close to home-made and very effective. The Skyshoot pano was made with this rig.

http://davidwatts.smugmug.com/photos/105433999-L.jpg
(mediocre photo above taken with 1990's Sony FD series cam... highest res. was 640x480 :yikes)

[Tanuki]

If you can point to an existing link that you like, that would be great, but I appreciate any and all the help I can get.

If you have a general methodology to share, then by all means, let's hear it.

Thanks,

ziggy53

The instructions are pretty easy to fiure out. :deal :scratch Just set up your pano rig a couple of feet from a thin (vertical) object that is in line with a far away object. While looking through your camera, rotate your camera back and forth while watching to see if the foreground object seems to move relative to the background object. Adjust the camera forwards or backwards until the foreground object stays in the same position relative to the background. It may take you a while to get the hang of it, but once you do it once you'll never struggle again.

I should mention that the entrance pupil / nodal point for a given lens varies with the focus and zoom, so you'll want to make your adjustments at the same zoom and focus that you plan to use for taking your panorama.

Good luck!:thumb

[truth]

The nodal point link posted seems to be a busted link. Here's another one. (http://www.edb.utexas.edu/teachnet/QTVR/NodalPoint.htm)