Panorama Question

Hi All,

I was wondering if anybody may have an idea to a small query I have...

I am looking to get into landscapes in the future, inspired by the many posted on here and the ESS gallery.

I was wondering to avoid taking several shots and stitching them together which if there was a moving part in the composition it would show up, would it be possible to up-rez a single image to make it bigger and then crop it down to panoramic format without loosing much in image quality?

This may seem a silly and unnecessary question but I submit to one or two agencies and therefore have to satisfy file size demands etc.

Thanks and Regards
Chris.

If you are thinking of using a single frame Chris I'd have thought this wouldn't really work if you are using 35mm format gear - your angle of view is going to be sub 120 degrees for a start - that would be a 14mm lens.
The 'vista view' , I think, would be too small and lacking in detail and up-rezzing with GenFrac or the like wouldn't really do you any favours.

Longer lens and stitching has got to give better IQ results but then you are back to your original problem

There is an answer though, and if I was wanting to do pano's I'd be doing it, get a panoramic camera - heck of an investment, though it would cost a LOT less than a 1DsIII

http://www.ephotozine.com/article/Panoramic-camera-advice

And Robert White retails a few I think

Hi Andy,

Thanks for your reply.

I was trying avoid spending anymore cash for the time being. If I shot more L'scapes than wildlife then I would probably go down this route. However, I still want to major in W'life and just wondered if uprezzing a cropped image would a good compromise.

If I won the Lotto next time I'd think a little differently

Thanks for the links, I'll check them out.

Thanks and Regards
Chris.

It all depends on what the moving thing is, and where in the frame it is. If its a giraffe then ....hmmm...could be a problem matching the spots on its neck if its on the join, but a chunk of tree in the breeze is doable and can be disguised. So keep the giraffe in one frame and the rest of the landscape in the other. Bottom line is it will work and really well too if you use common sense. I did some landscapes panos for a client a few months back using a 1Ds2 - it ended up being a 7 frame stitch to give around a 300mb file that you felt you could walk into, and the trees were fine. Of more concern is lens distortion - but you'll find that one out for yourself!

Chris, apologies for the late reply...

First question you need to answer is what is the final size required of the image.

The following assumes that you want gallery quality w.r.t. digital images.

To up to 20 ish inches longest side
Digital: I would suggest that (providing you get the original framing correct) that a single frame of a 5d and a good wide angle will do. 4368x2912 at 300dpi gives you about 14 inches native horizontal and using Photozoom or GF would can easily up-res this to cover 20(ish) inches and it will look fine. You can HDR or use filters easily.
Film: An Xpan will do the job nicely, it is light but harder to use with filter than the above.

Up to about 27 (ish) inches (30 at a push) inches longest side
Digital: I use a 1DS2 as at 4992 pixels horizontal at 300dpi I can get 16 inches native and I frequently up-res this to about 27inches by 9 for printing on a meter wide print. The ids3 will get you to 30"+
Film: cut the required ratio out of a 6x9 camera.

Above up to about 50(ish) inches longest side
Digital: I have good results from using a 45mm TS-E on a 1ds2, Turn the camera vertical and shift left, center, right. Stitching gives an image about 10000*5000 (2:1) which can produce a 30in by 15in native resolution print. The problem is the wind.
Film: a 4x5 or a 612 will do the job in one hit. If it is not a View Camera please remember that the cameras like the fotoman or linfof technorama 612 do not have tilt shift and swing so some of the images that you have seen will not be possible.

Above 60 inches horizontal inches longest side
Digital: a lot of effort and pissing around, or dissapointment and distortion unless you have serious £££££ money.
Film: any 617 or 5x7(cropped) or 4x10 or 8x10 (cropped). These are hard formats to carry, especially over the 617 size. They come in different types from the recently introduced Ebony 617S (drool) with all the tilts, shifts, swings (pity it is not asymetric) to the more limited Fotoman 617. The issues are price (entry level with a lense is about £2100), the ancillary equipment needed (spotmeter etc) and that the lower prices can be limiting w.r.t. anticipating what filters may do.

Note: because digital files look cleaner (no grain) you can up-res considerably further than the above with certain images - but not all.

T

Hi Tom,

Many thanks for your time in replying.

I will give that a go then, although I use a cropped factor D2X rather than any of the full-frame models at the mo.

Thanks and regards
Chris.

Chris, for time being I would stay with D2X and stitching. If you find out that you like the format, and that D2X is a limiting factor, then Tom's suggestions are spot on. With Nikon gear you (I expect) have, you can do a lot. Not just wide angle! There is a lot more in landscape than wide angle! And panoramic crop is just format and nothing more. If situation in the field calls for it good, use it, but not try to limit your thinking to just panorama.

Cheers,
Marko

Thanks very much Marko for a very valid point. Sometimes as soon as you find something that you can not do, it can seem as though it is the be all and end all!

Chris.

Marko is quite correct to point out that there is a big difference between a panoramic crop and a panoramic view. In wildlife I use a pano crop a lot with tele lenses, but in landscape people expect to see a pano crop with a pano view - dare to be different?