FC-E8 + P5100 on a NN3 Lower rail

[etegration]

this is very difficult without customization for your camera. Some cameras have tripod socket very close to the battery door.


nick

thanks nick. when it comes to point and shoot, i guess it's hard too. The battery compartment can be anywhere. haha

I stitched the entrance panorama with PTGui, but noticed something odd about the nadir image. The image circle was offset from the other images - and the image was not just rotated by 180 degrees either, as sometimes happens due to the autorotation sensor. So when the crop is applied to all images, it is in the wrong position for the nadir. That means the warping is wrong. I used viewpoint correction after fixing the crop and got this result: http://www.johnhpanos.com/entrance.mov

John

Hi John, thanks a lot for reading and trying out the stitching. That's a lot better compared to what i have stitched. I was wondering the same thing about the cropping of the nadir as i did what you may have done. "Apply to all images" and i was thinking since i was handholding the nadir shot, it could once in a while be offsetted thus the offset of the cropping when apply to all images in PTGui.

I'll try out the viewpoint correction tutorial you have mention. It was also your tutorial on the masking way of doing the nadir that got me to keep trying to perfect this setup of mine i have using the FC-E8 as i really like the way PTGui stitches the nadir into the final equirectangular image. The usual way for me was using Eric's technique (eric from fromparis.com) by way of making the stitched equi image, create 6 sided cube using pano2qtvr then overlapping them using layers then move it into place, adjust contrast etc to match then save them into a single layer and then back to pano2qtvr to recreate the equi image. phew...a lot more work with a lot more images.

[John Houghton]

Handholding the nadir shot should make no difference to the image circle positioning on the sensor. The lens is fixed firmly to the camera (hopefully) so the imaging is unaffected by the camera position. .

John

[etegration]

Handholding the nadir shot should make no difference to the image circle positioning on the sensor. The lens is fixed firmly to the camera (hopefully) so the imaging is unaffected by the camera position. .

John

i see what you mean John. So what do you think is affecting the cropping in PTGui? shouldn't it simply follows what i crop in the first image and apply to all other images in terms of area and not move the "marching ants" boundary?

[John Houghton]

You need to investigate why the image is not centered on the same point of the sensor for all the images. Something has physically shifted between taking the last horizontal shot and the handheld shot. For example, does the lens rattle if you shake it? That might indicate that there are lens elements able to move about in an uncontrolled fashion.

Fortunately, PTGui can handle the images once you are aware that there is a problem. You need to shift the crop circle on the wayward image so that it correctly aligns with the actual image circle. You should also elect to have individual shift parameters for that image via the Lens Parameters tab. The optimization needs to include these shift parameters, along with the shift parameters for the horizontal images.

John

[etegration]

You need to investigate why the image is not centered on the same point of the sensor for all the images. Something has physically shifted between taking the last horizontal shot and the handheld shot. For example, does the lens rattle if you shake it? That might indicate that there are lens elements able to move about in an uncontrolled fashion.

Fortunately, PTGui can handle the images once you are aware that there is a problem. You need to shift the crop circle on the wayward image so that it correctly aligns with the actual image circle. You should also elect to have individual shift parameters for that image via the Lens Parameters tab. The optimization needs to include these shift parameters, along with the shift parameters for the horizontal images.

John

Nothing is loose, that's for sure however, reading your post ib shifting the crop circle on only the nadir image. It causes a lot of errors when i do that. Any ideas?

Could you list your steps?

Currently, what i do, import 3 shots, yes i changed to taking 120 degrees per shot with the above setup using both the upper and lower rails. Then a handheld nadir.

Nadir edited in PS using your method of masking then save as tiff, import it into PTGui too.

Crop, set FOV and let it stitch.

[John Houghton]

Crop, set FOV and let it stitch.

If you leave PTGui to its own devices then you cannot expect a good stitch when you have a handheld nadir. I first optimize the horizontal shots only (normally, after applying a template to set up lens and crop parameters). Then I optimize the nadir image alone, with control points on the flat floor - first a normal optimization and then with the viewpoint option switched on. The panorama can then be stitched. Usually, PTGui will do a good job, but if necessary I will generate a two full equirectangulars containing (1) the nadir only and (2) all the other images. I merge these with the help of PTEditor to extract nadir views, but you can use Pano2VR or generate cubic tiles with Pano2QTVR.

John

[etegration]

If you leave PTGui to its own devices then you cannot expect a good stitch when you have a handheld nadir. I first optimize the horizontal shots only (normally, after applying a template to set up lens and crop parameters). Then I optimize the nadir image alone, with control points on the flat floor - first a normal optimization and then with the viewpoint option switched on. The panorama can then be stitched. Usually, PTGui will do a good job, but if necessary I will generate a two full equirectangulars containing (1) the nadir only and (2) all the other images. I merge these with the help of PTEditor to extract nadir views, but you can use Pano2VR or generate cubic tiles with Pano2QTVR.

John

I'm just not getting it and trying this http://www.ptgui.com/examples/vptutorial.html again and again did not help as much as i wished it to. This is the latest try out. http://tinyurl.com/4pxepd

More try out tomorrow. I did some adjustment on the NN3 upper rails and some tests in my room again seem to have better-ed the setup. Try it out tomorrow outdoors. Thanks a lot John for the patience and guidance.

[etegration]

looking back at this and comparing the below.



from http://lx2diary.wordpress.com/2008/0...ographypart-1/

The nodal point is def correct.

[etegration]

The images above do in fact have the NPP position correct. Unfortunately you do not with your own set up.
When you do have it correct your nadir/tripod will look complete with a perfectly "round" Nodal Ninja knob.

Shooting outside in the light will make it a lot easier to see. If shoot 3 shots at 120 degrees you will have a three intersecting "pie" slices making up the Nadir/tripod footprint.
Not dissimilar to this shot of the NN180 footprint.



It will NOT look exactly the same but the idea is similar and a perfect round (Knob) circle should be the final result with the NN3 Panohead.

Aussie Ninja

Hi AN, i saw this and tried it out for a while on the NN180 thread. not able to attain that for the time being.

I manage to get better results after getting a smaller tripod head but a question linger. i have the following preview in PTGui's Panorama Editor...which made the nadir look really good and seemed that i am doing everything right...



so i begin the stitch process only to get this:



i tried using with and withouth Point View optimisation, it's the same "bad" results.

[John Houghton]

So exactly what did you do between the preview screenshot and generating the output? You must have done something to destroy the levelling.

John

[etegration]

So exactly what did you do between the preview screenshot and generating the output? You must have done something to destroy the levelling.

John

nothing at all. It was optimised and the panorama editor showed as what i have posted above then immediately "Create Panorama" and the result is as posted 2nd image.

[John Houghton]

The only explanation I can think of is that it's a blending effect, with some images being ignored as being surplus to requirements as full 360x180 coverage is obtained with the other images. I would be happy to investigate if you can make images and project file available.

John

[etegration]

The only explanation I can think of is that it's a blending effect, with some images being ignored as being surplus to requirements as full 360x180 coverage is obtained with the other images. I would be happy to investigate if you can make images and project file available.

John

are here http://moonshine.homedns.org:2655/pa...ens/temp/john/

The files are

I believe it is a case of too much overlap. This camera lens combination creates a larger than 180 degree image circle and only requires a maximum of three shots to cover the complete sphere. Should you wish to include the hand held nadir you will need to add an Alpha Channel Mask so that only enough shows to cover the tripod/shadow area or do basically the same thing be reducing the "Blend Priority" from 100 to say 50 and be sure that the control points on only set on flat ground surfaces.

Aussie Ninja

i've tried using the blend piority following the tutorial from PTGUI's viewpoint tutorial page but to no success.