OT: extreme wide angle

[BeanAnimal]

I would like to try working with some 360 panoramic room photographs. In the past I used to use a fisheye adaptor to take sports (skateboarding) photos and it worked OK. Do I need to pony up and buy a Nikkor wide angle lens or will wide angle filter style lens produce acceptable results? $50 vs $1000....

[bmwardo]

Are you planning on getting a panoramic head? If so, you don't NEED a super wide angle lens (less than ~24mm or so) if you are going to be doing indoors, it just means you will be taking more shots. Certainly it makes things easier/faster if you have a very wide lens.

I don't do full 360s but I use the Nodal Ninja 3 for my pano head and it has worked nicely for my medium sized/weight DSLR. PTgui and Autopano are pretty great programs, and seem to work better at stitching than CS4.

[TitusvileSurfer]

You're using a point and shoot? I'm a Canon guy so this is more of a bump than anything else. (opened before bmwardo responded)

[BeanAnimal]

I looked at PTgui and read a lot of reviews indicating that it works somewhat better than autopano.

I was going to attempt to rig up a makeshift DIY pano mount before investing in anything. Is this a mistake?

I have a 28-80 as the widest right now. Would it be best to just buy a $50 adaptor or will the results be a waste of time. This is not for pro use. I just have a desire to do the rooms of my home and then maybe some outdoor stuff.

I am very new to this (just discovered it the other day) and would like to play around with it but have not found a good way to jump in and get started.

I am using a D50 :)

[TitusvileSurfer]

I don't recommend ever buying a lens to stick in front of another lens for the purpose of distorting the origional lens with a DSLR. It just seems like a silly way to go about it. The whole point of a DSLR is to have a range of lenses to choose from depending on the task at hand. With the exception of EXTREME macro it just doesn't make much sense to me.

[BeanAnimal]

I understand your point and under almost all circumstances I would agree.

However, in this case I guess my question is more pragmatic. I would gladly take one of every lens in the Nikkor collection :)

$50 vs $500 or more for me to play around. Is the $50 even worth messing with or will the results be simply to bad to use? If it takes $500 to get into the game, then it may not be a game I can play at this time :)

[TitusvileSurfer]

I don't think it would be worth the effort, but trying it is the only way to find out.

[bmwardo]

Well, for your situation, if you are just wanting to try things out at the cheapest price you can:
1. Use your current lens (I could only find the Nikon 28-70 lenses) but find the point at which lens distortion is minimal, and I can tell you that it is not going to be at 28mm but closer to 40mm. This will make it easier on cheaper pano stitching sofware.
2. You certainly can try a DIY pano setup, but I would choose your focal length on the lens that you plan on using and then find the "nodal point" so you can mount the camera according to that. It would be easiest if you were trying this out with just a single row, taken in "landscape" orientation but most people like to take multiple row shots in portrait. That is a lot of time and figuring to make your own 360, but if you are into building technical things like that you may really enjoy all the figuring.

Personally, from where it sounds like you are at, especially just finding out about stitching, I would try your best to rotate yourself around your camera's lens (even handheld and at 28mm), download a trial version of PTGui, which can really handle some difficult situations, and see what you can come up with. I think you will be pleasantly surprised, especially since you don't have to put any $ into it. But try and overlap you images by 1/3.

Edit- also make sure you are manually shooting, even though programs like PTGui can adjust some colors and balance seperate exposures, it will always be easier when all things are the same from shot to shot.

[xtm]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=14473026#post14473026 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by BeanAnimal
I would like to try working with some 360 panoramic room photographs. In the past I used to use a fisheye adaptor to take sports (skateboarding) photos and it worked OK. Do I need to pony up and buy a Nikkor wide angle lens or will wide angle filter style lens produce acceptable results? $50 vs $1000....

You don't 'necessarily' have to pony up for the Nikkor glass (I'm assuming that you are referring to the 12-24mm DX Nikkor) There are many excellent third-party ultra-wide angle lenses out there that are (IMO) just a good as the 12-24 Nikkor at less than 1/2 the price. (eg. the Sigma 10-20 and Tokina 11-16mm come to mind)

I don't recommend the wideangle 'snap-ons', there's just so many things that can go wrong, esp. the el-cheapo ones- distortion, flares, lack of shapness, etc. Remember: The poor man pays twice! :)

Here's a pano shot of my room that I took using a Sigma 10-20 @ 10mm. The room is SMALL but the 10mm focal length makes it look like I'm far away. I can get to the other side of the room in literally 4 steps! This is handheld using portrait orientation, requiring 3 exposures and then stitched in CS3...

http://members.dslextreme.com/users/xtm3/etc/room.jpg

[TitusvileSurfer]

Cool shot

[BeanAnimal]

Well I don't have the 18-55mm VR in my bag, so I may start with that and then look for a deal on something wider.

I am spending money like it is going out of style lately... I don't think a $500 special prupose lens is going to be a winner in the canigetsome game... Now if it was a $500 special purpose purse...

Very nice shot!

[Jacob D]

You don't really need another lens if you're going to use software to stitch, but it can't hurt to get a wide angle. Nikon makes one of the best, if not the best, ultrawide lens you can get your hands on... the 14-24. Will set you back some change, but it's not that expensive relatively speaking, especially when you consider that it out performs two very expensive (and legendary) Canon primes (14L and 24L)!

I think Nikon sold their sole to make this beauty :strooper:

I'm going to eventually get one to mount on my Canon... that's even higher blasphemy :D

[hummermaniac88]

From my experience, a 50mm would do a good job because I like to use a stiching program to stich it up and the program requires non distorted pictures.

[BeanAnimal]

Well I have messed around a little with the 28-80mm on the D50. I went handheld and did maybe 40 shots in 2 rows. Though I am not pleased with the initial results, it has been a learning experience.

I don't have a decent tripod, so I worked handheld. It is clear that the 18mm focal length will likely work much better. I will be ordering the lens this afternoon and then looking for a deal on one of the wider lenses down the road. I have found the PTgui pacakge promising enough to actually purchase.

Once I get a result that is somewhat acceptable, I will post it here. Note: I did a few small (4 photo) stitches and they were just fine. I am looking to be able to do 360 panos though :)

[hummermaniac88]

Good luck with the new lense, keep us updated!

[VoidRaven]

I'd have to double check its functionality on the D50 but the Tokina 12-24 is an outstanding 3rd party wide angle lens. Ask Beerguy, he swears by his.