Do any of you have experience with the Panosaurus panoramic tripod head (http://gregwired.com/pano/Pano.htm)? I'm looking to "upgrade" the quality of my panoramic images and was imporessed by the weight and price of this setup. Any other recommendations?
I'm afraid I'm not familar with the Panosaurus Head you mention, but as for other recommendations I have the Really Right Stuff Panoramic Package on the RRS BH-40 head and have been very pleased with it. Extremely well machined and very solid. Handles the weight of my camera and lens without a problem.
Jeremy,
I bought one a few months ago and got a deal because I own PTAssembler. (They have a coupon) I've only taken a few shots with it and it works. It's built well and very light and supports my 20D with 17-40, but it feels a bit shaky with the 70-200mm. Truthfully, I don't see myself using it very much. The panos I tend to do are more stitching for resolution rather than wide angle. Also, it's another thing to carry. Anyway, if you're interested, I'll make you a good deal. Shoot me an email.
Paul
It is much easier to stitch photographs made with a Panosaurus than those made by rotating the camera around the pan base of the tripod head. I've done it both ways. The Panosaurus doesn't claim to be a high-end panoramic head. It lets me execute a series of shots rotating around the nodal point of my lens. I can't do this hand held. I can't to this with my camera mounted normally on my ball head. It is not rock-solid. I've been using a 24 mm lens and stitching four or more images. With a little care, the lack of rock-solidness has not been an issue. If you think you're serious about stitched panoramics I'd really suggest you try a panoramic head. The Panosaurus is an inexpensive way to test the water, and may be good enough for what you want to do.
I own a Kaidan panoramic head and I like it very much. It is rigid and operates smoothly. I ange the like he fact that you can change the indexing via a perforated disk based on the focal length of the lens you are using. I find that Kaidans adjustments are also very precise. The one factor I find is of utmost importance to me is not in the panoramic head but in the stitching software. Most stitching software usually results in a series of convex tops and bottoms on each fram with a certain amount of spherical aberration occuring at the stitch edges. I have only found one software that gives me a nice even transition at each stitch.
Discussion
5 repliesThanks again!
Jeremy
I bought one a few months ago and got a deal because I own PTAssembler. (They have a coupon) I've only taken a few shots with it and it works. It's built well and very light and supports my 20D with 17-40, but it feels a bit shaky with the 70-200mm. Truthfully, I don't see myself using it very much. The panos I tend to do are more stitching for resolution rather than wide angle. Also, it's another thing to carry. Anyway, if you're interested, I'll make you a good deal. Shoot me an email.
Paul
Pete D.
Cheers,
Jeremy