I have finally given up on my brocken Shen Hao (I fell down from about 5-6 feet while shooting on the edge of a river) and have been left with a choice of either selling my only LF lense and tons of roll film or buy a new camera.
For last one year I have been shooting with D80 (and 350D prior to that). I have tried many panorama using APP and solid technique. However, when it comes to printing there is always some problem. It is actually the movement of elements in the frame and not my technique. On screen things look fine but when zoomed in or while printing it is not. I have been thinking of buying a panorama camera as this format really is attractive and I shot roll film (6x7) with my LF anyways (90% of the time).
What do you suggest in this age of 'digital' photography? Should I stick to digital panorama or buy a panorama camera?
I really appreciate your time for the inputs.
How about "half measures" Prashant? I've got 6x9 and 6x12 roll film backs for my 4x5 and find those a whole lot more user friendly than my long-gone Fuji 617. I've also modified one of my Fuji quick load holders to expose only half a quickload at a time, allowing me to expose half a frame as a "pano." Then there is my beloved half a dark slide that allows me to do the same with conventional film holders. A 4x5 can be quite a powerful pano tool with more or less simple modification of spare film holders or purchase of more expensive roll film back.
Have you tried the smartblend method when rendering with APP? The following is from APP help.
Smartblend: this blender combines a Multiband blender and picture analysis engine in order to identify objects common to the source images (a moving object, a strong line,…). From the results of this analysis, Smartblend tries to keep the images strong features (edges, lines, curves,…) and automatically discard objects that have moved. Even though much slower than the other algorithms; this blender gives a much higher rendering quality.
Prashant - I have not experience with digital panos, blending, etc, but I CAN heartily recommend Hank's suggestion of a 6x12 back on a 4x5 camera. I use that on a regular basis and love the pano format that results - if you like something even skinnier like 6x17, you can still crop a bit from top or bottom and get a nice sized negative for printing. If you already have a 6x7 back, this would be a very minimal change in shooting process (though I guess you need another camera!).
Prashant, "half darkslide" technique is something I'm using on regular basis. If you remember any of my panoramas, well they are made this way. But I do agree with Hank: 612 back is much more useful. You can take a look at Chinese 612 backs, as they are cheap and can be used as 6x4.5, 6x6, 6x7, 6x9 and 6x12.
Cheers,
Marko
Posted by Rick Lundh on August 20, 2007 at 2:14 PM
Digital, all the way...and CS3 is completely AWESOME for panos now. There's no need for a 3rd party program anymore.
Posted by Drew Fulton on August 21, 2007 at 8:26 AM
Prashant,
Sorry to hear about the loss of your Shen-hao. I am using the same camera and would hate to lose it. If you are interested in shooting pano, I think the cheapest way to go to 617 is a pano back. I picked up one from Midwest Photo back in March and have run about 10 rolls (40 images) through it. It has taken a bit of getting used to but works great with a 90mm or 150mm lens. Though I am now thinking I need to get a center weighted filter for the 90mm f8 Nikkor. It may be a bit awkward to use but I am getting the hang of it and its only a fraction of the cost of a "real pano" camera.
Another vote in favor of Smartblend. Stitching has its challenges but to me it beats hauling a bulky 6x17 and having to account for expensive scanning. Results are also cleaner and more detailed to my eye:
It depends what you want the pano format for. I assumed that you wanted to print this up large, if so I would still use a 617 as a multiple exposure digital images are hard to stitch well of you have movement in the frame (wind, water, stars).
As for digital being clearer, yes it could be if you stitch a large amount of multiple images together, but ease/duration of operation and fine art results will still favour analogue over digital - but the gap is closing.
Remember even at a medium 3000pixels per inch scan would take a single sensor to be 180M to equate with a 4x5 so even with canons latest that is at least a 9 frame stitch. On a 617 it is 142M.
Ther is no doubt that good results can be had with digital, look at what Guy has posted and look what Jerry Greer did when he turned the 45mm TSE vertical...
But it all come down to ease of use, time allowed for use, movement of the subject and how large you want the final result. Please bear in mid that I have a 1DS2 and TSE lenses but whilst I am selling the 617, I have another, and I won't sell the 4x5 as nothing still touchs it for quality.
Thanks to all of you. I have been thinking of 4x5 and a 617 back, but the whole setup will be as heavy as a panorama camera, I guess.
I plan to rent a TSE lense this weekend and try it out.
Guy and David,
I did try smartblend, however there is still a lot of work left to do on the computer. http://www.prashanteju.de/Goettingen_005.html is an example where I might have spend some hours on computer after APP job and still noticed something after few days.
http://www.prashanteju.de/Solling_003.html for this image all it took was 2-3 minutes of work.
Discussion
10 repliesFor last one year I have been shooting with D80 (and 350D prior to that). I have tried many panorama using APP and solid technique. However, when it comes to printing there is always some problem. It is actually the movement of elements in the frame and not my technique. On screen things look fine but when zoomed in or while printing it is not. I have been thinking of buying a panorama camera as this format really is attractive and I shot roll film (6x7) with my LF anyways (90% of the time).
What do you suggest in this age of 'digital' photography? Should I stick to digital panorama or buy a panorama camera?
I really appreciate your time for the inputs.
Smartblend: this blender combines a Multiband blender and picture analysis engine in order to identify objects common to the source images (a moving object, a strong line,…). From the results of this analysis, Smartblend tries to keep the images strong features (edges, lines, curves,…) and automatically discard objects that have moved. Even though much slower than the other algorithms; this blender gives a much higher rendering quality.
CJ
Cheers,
Marko
Sorry to hear about the loss of your Shen-hao. I am using the same camera and would hate to lose it. If you are interested in shooting pano, I think the cheapest way to go to 617 is a pano back. I picked up one from Midwest Photo back in March and have run about 10 rolls (40 images) through it. It has taken a bit of getting used to but works great with a 90mm or 150mm lens. Though I am now thinking I need to get a center weighted filter for the 90mm f8 Nikkor. It may be a bit awkward to use but I am getting the hang of it and its only a fraction of the cost of a "real pano" camera.
Drew
I'll sell you a Fotoman 617 with a 90mm Schneider Sinar F8 (67mm filter) on it with the ground glass back and viewfinder.
I have finish the job I had bought it for, stunning results.
I am in the UK so shippage and taxes are not a problem.
Email if you are interested.
T
http://scenicwild.com/sw/gallery/zoom_view.jsp?iid=dc000404
Guy
It depends what you want the pano format for. I assumed that you wanted to print this up large, if so I would still use a 617 as a multiple exposure digital images are hard to stitch well of you have movement in the frame (wind, water, stars).
As for digital being clearer, yes it could be if you stitch a large amount of multiple images together, but ease/duration of operation and fine art results will still favour analogue over digital - but the gap is closing.
Remember even at a medium 3000pixels per inch scan would take a single sensor to be 180M to equate with a 4x5 so even with canons latest that is at least a 9 frame stitch. On a 617 it is 142M.
Ther is no doubt that good results can be had with digital, look at what Guy has posted and look what Jerry Greer did when he turned the 45mm TSE vertical...
But it all come down to ease of use, time allowed for use, movement of the subject and how large you want the final result. Please bear in mid that I have a 1DS2 and TSE lenses but whilst I am selling the 617, I have another, and I won't sell the 4x5 as nothing still touchs it for quality.
T
I plan to rent a TSE lense this weekend and try it out.
Guy and David,
I did try smartblend, however there is still a lot of work left to do on the computer. http://www.prashanteju.de/Goettingen_005.html is an example where I might have spend some hours on computer after APP job and still noticed something after few days.
http://www.prashanteju.de/Solling_003.html for this image all it took was 2-3 minutes of work.