Settings with 5DMK2 & Canon 8-15

[ericthoreau]

Hello,

When assembling my pictures, I'm still having problems with lines;

http://www.360vista.fr/temp/lequai.jpg

I'm using a NN5 with a RD16. My camera is a 5DMK2 with the Canon 8-15 lens.

At 8mm, here are my setting:
A:59
B:111
I take 4 pictures at -10° plus on of the zenith.

Do you have the same settings than me?

Regards

éric

[hindenhaag]

Hi Eric,

Some basic info for canon 8-15mm from Michel. Adjust to upper rotator center. http://michel.thoby.free.fr/Canon_8-...oParallaxPoint

H in wiki database is 43.5mm, add 13mm for NN5 and try 56.5mm with Smooth method. Test till there is a round circle.

http://wiki.panotools.org/Entrance_Pupil_Database

http://www.easypano.com/forum/displa...1&TopicID=4162

http://www.johnhpanos.com/epcalib.htm

In first case stitch the shots around without Zenith shots and in case you use PTGui Pro, go down to max distance >= 2, but you can go down possibly to 1.5 etc. by "del worst Control points" and than manually correct the rest. Finished "save as Template". Use "apply template" for next project.

Adding Zenith shot you should click "viewpoint" in "advanced, optimizer" and optimize. Use "heavy and lens shift correction" for fisheye optimization.

Feel free to ask. In first case I would check your LRS and URS by the methods in the links.

In the meantime you can send the set of pics via www.ge.tt so we can check it.

Regards,
Heinz

[John Houghton]

éric, The appearance of the panohead at the nadir in your panorama indicates gross misalignment of the head. For setting "B": I find it is around 104. The "A" setting is dependent on how the camera is mounted and I have a Manfrotto QR plate so my figure is no use to you. You have the link to my tutorial epcalib.htm, and with that you can set up your head quite nicely in ten minutes or so with out taking any photos or stitching. But why are you shooting this subject at 8mm? This wastes pixels in the black area surrounding the image circle. 12mm would still enable you to shoot 4 around, still with almost maximum vertical fov.
.
John

[ericthoreau]

Thank you both for your replies;
I've tried to be as thorough as possible.
For the A value, I've set the camera upside down (images attached).
For the B value, I've used John's method with a piece of tape on my window.
NN5 horizontal arm was set to -10° and focal used is 8mm (easier for me).
Now, here's the part I do not understand; since I'm using my camera at 8mm, I'll be taking 4 shoots (one every 90°).
When taking my 3 shots in order to find the nodal point, my mark (the tape on my window) is centered with my camera. If I turn my camera 90°, I won't see the mark.
So, in order to have my mark still visible in the viewfinder, I turn my camera by only 60°. Obviously, my way of doing this is perfectible...
Bottom line, for the B value, I now get 106,5.

éric

PS: sorry for my english, little rusty ;)

[ericthoreau]

new test:
left at -73°
center at 0°
right at 87°

[John Houghton]

Now, here's the part I do not understand; since I'm using my camera at 8mm, I'll be taking 4 shoots (one every 90°).
When taking my 3 shots in order to find the nodal point, my mark (the tape on my window) is centered with my camera. If I turn my camera 90°, I won't see the mark.

When shooting panos at 4 shots around, to find the no parallax point you position the panohead midway between two 90° detents and centre the tape in the image frame. Then take two shots at -45° and +45°, i.e. rotating your camera as you would when shotting a panorama. The tape will then fall in the middle of the overlap between the two shots. If your rotator has an option for 8 shots around at 45°, then you can simply centre the tape at one detent position and then take two shots at the detents on either side.
.
John

[hindenhaag]

Eric,
Sorry to say, but your LRS is not centered using -90° shot. We do recommend Smooth's method not for nothing, the easypano link. Using this method gives you a higher precision, because by stitching your pics around PTGui will correct misalignment of sensor in the camera and differences in lens production as well. SO to get a precise LRS = lower rails setting, taking your time once to get your settings right will prevent you spending hours to get your panos right with wrong settings.

Take a postcard or any other hard paper, cut out a circle of 10 cm with a 8mm hole in center or use a cd as john recommended and place this below your rotator directly on the tripod. Install your equipment. Then you can use your old LRS setting by shooting down as a pre set up. Set aperture to f/16mm, and pitch down the upper rail till you see a part of the border of the round disk. Focus to the corner. Now take your shots around. Import to PTGui. Align images, go to advanced and optimize with "heavy and lens shift". "Del worst control points" and try to get max dist <2. Set "panorama settings" to 360 x 180. Set output to .mov file. Create pano. Have a look at it in Quick time player. Move down to Nadir. The card should form a round circle. If you see teeth standing out, check the direction they are cutting to. They cut to the right, move to the right by 1 mm, cutting to the left move to the left by one mm. To be sure you should have a set of three: 49mm cut to the right, 50mm without a tooth, 51mm cuts to the left. Then LRS is 50mm.

Panoheads once you found your LRS and URS move around and use the horizontal rail moved up and down - pitch - by keeping the camera lens combination both in LRS and URS in NPP. So to find your URS = upper rail setting shoot at 0°. This will keep vertical lines vertical. Shoot straight forward and a second one after moving clockwise for example. In case the tape in relation to the outside reference point follows your movement, move forward by 1mm and check again. In case it moves counterclockwise, you have to move backwards. You can do this in live-view zooming in till you think reference stands still. Then shoot the two shots. Import in Photoshop and ad pics side by side. Then use "move tool" and place the second shot having been moved to the right exactly on top of the first shot. To do this use 60% opalescence for the pic you are moving to adapt the top to the background. By clicking the "eye" for the layered pic on and of, you can check if the reference point moves.

Use URS setting of John in first case to get something you can work with to check LRS and URS.

You are not the first one trying to work around recommendations to find the settings. But we give our advices based on a lot of mistakes we did on our own and we had to work around them with a lot of time on our own in the beginning. You can always follow John's advices. He is one of the most experienced users in Panos you can find on several forums. Most of us like me have learned a lot of him and his great basic knowledge and experience.

Success for your tests. Feel free to ask,
Heinz

[ericthoreau]

thank you John for your advices.
Here's 3 shots at 45°.
Would you consider the result as good enough for 360°?

[John Houghton]

éric, If you look at the left hand side of the tape: as you pan the camera from left to right, the tape appears to move to the right. This means that the entrance pupil of the lens is moving right to left and so must be behind the rotation axis. Hence the camera needs to be moved forwards a little. I would try moving forwards by 1mm and trying again. Note: you are only interested in the area of the image around the tape, so zoom in - we don't need to see the whole image.
.
John

[ericthoreau]

thank you Heinz & John for your time.

I've been conducting some tests trying to follow your advices.
This afternoon, I've been sliding the vertical rail on the Lower Horizontal Rail (file A.jpg).
The results are visible on value_a.jpg file.
Not sure what to think you it.

éric

[hindenhaag]

For me, with all settings the teeth cut to the left. This means you have to move to the left step by step. So please try 56.5mm 56mm etc. till you find the teeth cut to the right and you find the a round circle in between.



48mm cuts to the right, 49mm is ok, 50mm cuts to the left.

Heinz

[ericthoreau]

getting also there...
this morning, tried from 55 to 56.5.
I guess the right setting must be between 55.5 & 56.
Still can't have a perfect circle :(

éric

[hindenhaag]

At the moment I should choose for 55.5mm. Now re check your upper rail setting, get it right and re check LRS. Good luck eric, you are on the way.

Heinz.

[ericthoreau]

At the moment I should choose for 55.5mm. Now re check your upper rail setting, get it right and re check LRS. Good luck eric, you are on the way.

Heinz.

I think I got the upper arm right!
but now, the LRS (setup at 55.5) has to be recheck... :((
Is this normal or am I doing something wrong?

[ericthoreau]

I'm getting lost here...
6 different settings for the LRS & still not a good result.
Around 57 seems almost good but when I try +.5 or -.5, it get worst.
Fustrating.