# Help with 360º Panoramas



## Txema (Jan 16, 2013)

Hi,
I want to take 360º panoramas with my 5D. Can I use the sigma 15mm rectangular fisheye or will I need a circular fisheye?
If it can be done with the sigma 15mm rectangular fisheye, how many shots wilI I need?

Thanks.


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## LowBloodSugar (Jan 17, 2013)

Txema said:


> Hi,
> I want to take 360º panoramas with my 5D. Can I use the sigma 15mm rectangular fisheye or will I need a circular fisheye?
> If it can be done with the sigma 15mm rectangular fisheye, how many shots wilI I need?
> 
> Thanks.



Hello,
You can make a 360 pano with any lens, but the wider it is the easier. I am guessing you are talking about a 15mm fisheye.

The sigma 15mm produces a image circle centered on the image plane and the edges at the left and right on a full frame sensor. The top and bottom are cut off. To create a 360, the easiest is the rotate the camera into portrait mode, and take 6 images in a circle. If you have a crop sensor camera, the image will produce about a 180 fov across the diagonal, so it will take more photo to cover the full visual field.

I decided on the Canon 8-15mm F/4 zoom for my 360 Panos, which by the way is may favorite lens.


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## Txema (Jan 17, 2013)

Thanks, the lens I'm talking about is the Sigma AF 15mm f/2.8 EX DG Fisheye. So if I understand correctly, I can make 360º panos with a single row of 6 vertical shots, not needing to make two more rows of images rotatin up and down.

Do you have an example of a 360º pano with your lens at 15mm on a fullframe?


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## gkaefer (Jan 17, 2013)

you can calculate the values yourself:
http://www.frankvanderpol.nl/fov_pan_calc.htm
just need the lens focal used and the sensor size...

I would level the lens 5 degree up from horizon so zenith is covered. than take manually 1-2 images from nadir (or turn your mirror ball so lens is directed to nadir - and lift the center colum that amount of cm you lost from turning to look to nadir...)

Georg

( maybe also of interest / some other pano related links: http://www.autopano.net/wiki-en/action/view/Web-Tutorials )


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## dpinparis (Jan 17, 2013)

You can use pretty much any lens you wish. You just need to decide how high the resolution vs the detail you want to capture. When I want a bit more detail, i use a standard 14mm lens, or even a 50mm lens. When I am not too worried about high resolution I use a 15mm fisheye (mostly use this now as it is way quicker and the resolution is not so bad). It does mean you either take more or less photos depending on the fov coverage of the lens. 

You do need some software to stich though. I recommend, in order of preference:

PT GUI - www.ptgui.com - I like this as you can decide which parts you want to keep in case of ghosting etc
Autopano Giga - http://www.kolor.com/ - this I like too, though it is not as good at removing ghosts, giving you the ability to remove ghosts. I use mainly for gigapixel images.

An example tour, all taken with the canon 8-15 mm fisheye, all at 15mm. Stitched using ptgui.

http://parisbyphoto.com/monuments-buildings/ladefense/index.html

An example gigapixel photo, taken using the canon 100-400. Stitched with Autopano Giga.

http://parisbyphoto.com/monuments-buildings/et/index.html


The software I use to playback the 360 tours and gigapixel photos is called krpano.


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## emag (Jan 17, 2013)

If this is something you're just starting on (panos), you might also consider Windows ICE and Photosynth. Free and quite capable. Not what a pro would use, I'm sure, but it gets you up and running quickly with fairly good results. If it's something you find you want to pursue further, there are a number of paths you can take at various labor/expense levels and you'll find various user groups on the net devoted to panorama photography. I've used lenses from 8mm fisheye to 200mm (on a crop camera) and try for a minimum 25% overlap between frames. ICE does a pretty good job stitching all together. It's not always perfect, but being a hobbyist with a full time job and other interests, it's good enough for my enjoyment. YMMV. I post on Photosynth as 'emag325', you can check out what can be done fairly quickly and easily at the amateur level. PTGUI is excellent, but as a hobbyist, I don't feel the need to spend much on pano software......although it would be my first choice if I do.


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## Don Haines (Jan 17, 2013)

I think that software is the first concern here.... the quality of your results depends more on the software than the camera and lens being used. My choice is AutoPano Giga... if you end up with big panos it's a wonderful tool!

I have shot handheld panoramas and tripod mounted panoramas..... both work, but if you are going to use anything other than really wide angle lens I recommend the tripod. Take your time setting up the tripod... time spent here is never wasted. You want it to be as level as possible, and a head with degree markings comes in real handy for taking panoramas with multiple rows... also, beware blue sky.... it is very hard to stitch together pictures with blue sky... there is nothing to match between frames.

If doing multiple rows, it helps to proceed in a systematic order.... for example, top ring, next ring, next ring, and so on... Try to make sure you start at the same degree marking so the pictures line up. (hint, I take an index shot of my hand with one finger out at the start of row one, two fingers at the start of row 2, etc.... makes it easier looking at the frames later)

The more images per picture, the less distortion you get. The attached pano is 4 rows and 24 shots per row.... the full image is about 1Gpixels in size and you can clearly see that the screws used on the gunnels of the canoe have a robertson head


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## Don Haines (Jan 17, 2013)

And a few more tips.....

If you go too high or too low in your panorama you can get some quite interesting effects. The picture below is of a gazebo and I can assure you that neither the roof beams or floorboards are curved... Another thing to look out for is people moving about in your panarama..... you can get them showing up in multiple places ( I do NOT have 12 cats, despite the 11.5 in the picture) and you can end up with the interesting situation where if the person was at the edge of one picture and moved out of the way before the next was taken, after stitching the image together you have half a person... note the 1/2 cat at the far left  Most software will let you go in and manually select which image takes priority and thereby erase the half person from the finished panorama, but in this case I thought the 1/2 cat was cool so I left it alone....

This image was stitched from 3 rows of 12 pictures taken with a 10mm lens on a 60D


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## Txema (Jan 17, 2013)

I do have some experience with landscape panoramas. I use PS's photomerge and a RRS nodal slide. The thing is that I've seen a business opportunity with 360º panoramas (with some floor and ceiling) and web based virtual tours and I have no idea how to do it and the best possible setup. 
I talk about the Sigma 15mm f/2.8 EX DG Fisheye because it seems a good and affordable lens which I could use not only for the panoramas since I don't like circular fisheyes. So if the Sigma 15mm f/2.8 EX DG Fisheye on my 5D markIII, will allow me to do this kind of panoramas shooting just one row that´s the lens I would buy.


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## MichaelG (Jan 17, 2013)

Txema said:


> Thanks, the lens I'm talking about is the Sigma AF 15mm f/2.8 EX DG Fisheye. So if I understand correctly, I can make 360º panos with a single row of 6 vertical shots, not needing to make two more rows of images rotatin up and down.
> 
> Do you have an example of a 360º pano with your lens at 15mm on a fullframe?



I do a lot of interactive spheres. Years ago I started with the 15 mm fisheye. Yes, you need 6 vertical shot, one nadir, one zenit for a sphere. There is no need to tilt the lens, no need for a second row.

Be aware you carefully need to adjust the NPP (no paralax point). 

Michael


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## agierke (Jan 17, 2013)

on a slight tangent...

those of you with pano experience have any opinions about panoramic tripod heads that allow you to avoid parallax? i have been looking at manfrotto products for quite some time but have reservations as i dont know how to identify the pros and cons involved with this type of shooting.

the head i was looking at is the following:
http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/293646-REG/Manfrotto_303SPH_303SPH_QTVR_Spherical_Panoramic.html

any thoughts on this item?

i have done panos for fun and have always use PS to stitch and then just retouched any anomalies but i would like to invest in a head that would help me correct for parallax before i get into post.


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## charlesa (Jan 17, 2013)

Sirui are a relatively unknown brand, but they have exceptionally good tripod heads with a panoramic function. Check their K-30 or K-20 heads.


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## MichaelG (Jan 17, 2013)

The heads from Manfrotto and Novoflex are of very high quality. I use the NN4 and R1 from NodalNinja. They are cheaper and I don't compromise about the quality. 

Michael


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## EvaCasado (Jan 24, 2013)

agierke said:


> on a slight tangent...
> 
> those of you with pano experience have any opinions about panoramic tripod heads that allow you to avoid parallax? i have been looking at manfrotto products for quite some time but have reservations as i dont know how to identify the pros and cons involved with this type of shooting.
> 
> ...



That´s my panoramic head for most of my shots, I´ve also used Induro PHQ 5 with both of them is easy to set-up nodal point in order to avoid parallax. I use to put two tripods in front of the camera with distance between them. So that you can pan left then pan right and see if there is parallax. If theres no shifting left or right you are ready to shoot. A good head is a must when shooting panos


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## aandbrendering (Sep 16, 2014)

You can also use integration software's for those panoramic images to view it in a flash or html 5 format to be more suitable.You can use easypano or krpano to create a virtual tour.


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