Tutorials

Shooting a Partial Panorama referencing 2 opposing corners with MECHA C2. To be able to shoot a custom partial panorama, MECHA needs to know the upper left corner and down right corner of the area to be photographed, and these must be set when executing the preset, after positioning the upper rail as required by the preset.  

First, switch to the Config Menu and check which firmware version is installed on your MECHA. This should be at least 12291 in Simple Mode and 12295 in Advanced Mode so you can set corners for a partial panorama.
Then launch an already created preset, or create a preset. We're going to create a preset now.
Select an empty option and press the plus button to enter edit mode.
The first parameter is the focal length, then the number of camera triggerings in each position, the exposure (half a second in this case), and the image overlap.
The coverage area must be 360 degrees horizontally and 180 vertically for a full spherical panorama. Any values ​​lower than these mean a vertically centered partial panorama.
Hold down the plus or minus button to speed up the adjustment.

But this video is about the custom partial panorama using two corners, where the coverage area set in preset is not important. However, if you do not set corners for the partial panorama, these two values ​​will be used when executing the preset.

The following parameters are:
The position of the upper rail (L means "level"),
the direction of rotation, which can be right, left or unspecified (question mark). Leave it unspecified, if you want to specify it later when executing the preset. M is the Modifier of the duration of shutter button signal.
We are changing the autofocus from OFF to Manual Focus.
W is the Pause for camera wake-up.
B — Pause before each triggering sequence,
and A — Delay after each triggering sequence or individual triggering.
The order of the rows can be changed with the plus and minus buttons, like the other parameters.
MDU means the middle row first, then the Down, and Up rows.
Zenith and Nadir shots are not important for a partial panorama.
Zigzag / Normal — This parameter tells MECHA how to take photos in rows, row by row.
We are choosing Normal instead of Zigzag this time.
The Mapping type can be either Grid or Sphere.
The number of positions will be the same on every row when Grid is specified. Grid mapping is sometimes required when stitching photos for high-resolution or multiresolution panoramas.
You can choose Sphere in case of common panoramas.
Camera orientation when taking photos will be Portrait in our case.
The Custom overlap on width can be different from the main overlap if needed.

The last parameters are:
Load profile — Medium in our case.
Speed — in revolutions per minute.
Micro-stepping and Wait which alternates with Rewind.
Wait tells MECHA to wait after the last shot, and Rewind, to rewind to the initial position.
Notice that now the focal length follows, which means there are no other parameters to edit.
So we have finished the adjustments and confirm this with the center button.
At the same time, the preset is saved in the Preset Menu.

Notice the plus sign at the beginning of the preset name which tells us this preset is editable.
As soon as the preset is saved, you can press the center button to launch it. After launching the preset the display will show "Set POSITION".

Step 1 is to position the upper rail as required by the preset, only if necessary. In our example notice that the position is "Level" and our upper rail is in the parked position so we're going to use the up arrow button to rotate it to the horizontal position, or "Level". You can do this using the arrow buttons, or simple rotations.

Step 2. Press the menu button and set the upper left corner of the partial panorama. Use the arrow buttons to rotate the panoramic head to point to the upper left corner of the desired area, then press the center button to confirm.

Step 3. Set the down right corner. Use the arrow buttons to rotate the panoramic head to point to the down right corner of the desired area, then press the center button to confirm. "Set POSITION" is shown again on the display.

Step 4. This step is not required but allows you to make sure the corners are correctly set. By pressing the menu button again, MECHA will show you the 2 corners, which can be adjusted.
If no adjustment is needed, press the center button to confirm that the corners are set correctly.

Step 5. If necessary, after you finish setting the corners and "Set POSITION" is shown again on the display you can set the initial view by using the arrow buttons, then press the center button to confirm.

Step 6. In our preset the direction of rotation is not specified, so we have to specify it now. No further confirmation is needed, MECHA is starting to execute the preset.