Tri3
Posts: 44
Location: Austin, Texas, United States
Registered: 14 Sep 2008
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4 Shot 8mm Fisheye on Nodal Ninja 5?
Posted: 12 Oct 2008 at 0:20 GMT
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Just wondering if anyone is able to do a 4 shot pano using the Nodal Ninja 5.
Here is my setup
Canon 40D
Nodal Ninja 5
Sigma 8mm fisheye
Lower rail is set to 58
Upper rail is set to 90.5
The upper rail arm is set to 0 degrees right now. What would I need to set it to so that I could do a 4 shot pano w/o having to do the nadir and zenith shots?
Cheers
Cheers
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Doug Aurand
Posts: 789
Location: Albuquerque, NM, United States
Registered: 2 Jan 2008
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Re: 4 Shot 8mm Fisheye on Nodal Ninja 5?
Posted: 12 Oct 2008 at 1:24 GMT
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Tri3
Tilt the Upper Rail up 7.5°
A little less tilt might work too, but 7.5° will do the job for sure
I've just getting competant with a Canon XTi, Sigma 8mm and a Nodal Ninja 3, stitiching with PTGui, 7.5° has worked well with the Nadir Hole staying fairly small
Doug Aurand
www.VirtualAlbuquerque.com
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Tri3
Posts: 44
Location: Austin, Texas, United States
Registered: 14 Sep 2008
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Re: 4 Shot 8mm Fisheye on Nodal Ninja 5?
Posted: 12 Oct 2008 at 1:41 GMT
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Sweet Doug. I will give it a go tomorrow.
Yea I purchased the PTGui software. It seems super easy to use, but there is also a lot of things it can do, that I haven't played around with yet.
Here is something you may want to check out if you haven't.
Its called Bracketeer.
www.pangeasoft.net/pano/bracketeer/index.html
This little program combines bracketed shots into one photo. I know PTGui does this as well, but I haven't had much luck with it.
Cheers
Tom
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Doug Aurand
Posts: 789
Location: Albuquerque, NM, United States
Registered: 2 Jan 2008
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Re: 4 Shot 8mm Fisheye on Nodal Ninja 5?
Posted: 12 Oct 2008 at 3:11 GMT
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Tom
You may be the only VR photographer there is that thinks PTGui is "super simple"
I think Bracketeer is a Mac program
I've been using Photomatix Pro for a year and a half and just upgraded to 3.0.3
I've also been using Enfuse Droplets for blending the circular fisheyes from my Coolpix 5400/FC-E9.
You might take a look at the demo of Photomatix Pro. Its pretty amazing
Good luck
Doug Aurand
www.VirtualAlbuquerque.com
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Tri3
Posts: 44
Location: Austin, Texas, United States
Registered: 14 Sep 2008
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Re: 4 Shot 8mm Fisheye on Nodal Ninja 5?
Posted: 12 Oct 2008 at 13:21 GMT
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Yep Bracketeer is for Mac, luckily I have a Mac. I would not go back to a PC if you paid me. The Macs are amazing.
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Doug Aurand
Posts: 789
Location: Albuquerque, NM, United States
Registered: 2 Jan 2008
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Re: 4 Shot 8mm Fisheye on Nodal Ninja 5?
Posted: 12 Oct 2008 at 16:22 GMT
updated: 12 Oct 2008 at 16:24 GMT
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Tri3
I have 3 PCs I use, so I can't use Bracketeer.
If I understand correctly, Bracketeer is a GUI for Enfuse.
Photomatix Pro offers 2 distinct methods of producing "HDR" images.
The HDR/Tone Mapping process is awesome and I use it for all my real estate still photos, which a million dollar home builder just descibed as "stunning". I've had to learn to dial down the Saturation in PP sometimes and even more in Photoshop after the compositing, but my customers really like the results
Their Exposure Blending process in ver 3.0 produces results similar to what I've been getting with Enfuse Droplets by Erik Krause, with a "windows" interface and adjusting options.
I'm going to use Exposure Blending to composite shots from my Canon XTi/Sigma 8mm so the "black" part of the photo won't be blended into the color part, like happens with the HDR/Tone Mapping function. That's why I use the Enfuse Droplets for the Circular Fisheyes from my Coolpix 5400/FC-E9
There is a MAC OS X (Universal Binary) version of Photomatix Pro you might want to take a look at to see if the HDR/Tone Mapping method could be a valuable addition to your Imaging Software Toolbox
Take care
Doug Aurand
www.VirtualAlbuquerque.com
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Tri3
Posts: 44
Location: Austin, Texas, United States
Registered: 14 Sep 2008
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Re: 4 Shot 8mm Fisheye on Nodal Ninja 5?
Posted: 12 Oct 2008 at 16:31 GMT
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Hi Doug,
Man there are so many programs to learn. I went out to this house down the street from where I live to practice with the Bracketing function. I never used that part of my camera before.
I am going to give Photomatix a go and see what the results are.
I will post a picture of the finished product, that is of course if it is any good. I think with my setup I can kick some serious real estate photographer butt around here.  Most of the people who do it, don't have the lenses or equipment, so I think I should be able to do really well. Just having a wide angle lens gives me an advantage over many of them. Now with my Fisheye and Pano I should have an even bigger advantage.
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Tri3
Posts: 44
Location: Austin, Texas, United States
Registered: 14 Sep 2008
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Re: 4 Shot 8mm Fisheye on Nodal Ninja 5?
Posted: 12 Oct 2008 at 16:53 GMT
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OK so I played with the Photomatix program and here are some of my observations.
First off when I took bracketed pictures I wasn't using a tripod, so after running through the Photomatix process the picture became fussy. I am assuming this was do to camera shake/movement between the 3 bracketed shots.
Second, if the pictures were all taken on a tripod, I think they would have lined up correctly on top of each other and not created the fuzzy look. The colors though are outstanding.
When you use Photmatix are the pictures you take using a tripod?
Cheers
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Doug Aurand
Posts: 789
Location: Albuquerque, NM, United States
Registered: 2 Jan 2008
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Re: 4 Shot 8mm Fisheye on Nodal Ninja 5?
Posted: 12 Oct 2008 at 17:13 GMT
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Tri3
Get used to constantly learning about new and upgraded products.
I used Photomatix Pro 2.5's Exposure Blending, but didn't always like the results it produced with my Circular Fisheye images, so I gave Enfuse a try. It was much better and faster. At first I was using EnfuseGUI by Ingemar Bergmark, then tried the Droplets.
The trial version of Photomatix will "watermark" image, but its very affordable to get a license and their upgrade policy is generous.
I've upgraded from verson 2.1 to 2.3 to 2.5 and now to 3.0 all free. I think I get 3.1 when its final
The latest Exposure Blending produces image that look an aweful lot like what I get from the Enfuse Droplets
My Canon XTi's Auto Exposure Bracketing (AEB) only does 3 shots and I've found that for still photos in homes with normally lighting and bright windows I usually need more like a set of 5 to, very often, 10 shots with 1EV steps from +2 to -7, usually using just the +2 to -5 shots to composite.
You're right about most real estate photos not being taken with wide-angle lenses or dSLR equipment. If you can afford it and it will work on your Canon, the Canon 10-22mm is really great for still work
The Enfused or HDR/Tone Mapped images blow the competiton away. Just don't use the correct description about what you do to anyone even remotely linked to your customers or competing photographers. All I say is that I take multiple photos at different shutter speeds and composite or blend them into one photo. That way I'm not training the Realtors or other photographers how to do what I do.
I've "trained my competiton" a couple of times using the correct description of what I do and just won't do it any more.
I'm looking forward to seeing what your work looks like
Doug Aurand
www.VirtualAlbuquerque.com
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mskp
Posts: 164
Location:
Registered: 19 Oct 2006
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Re: 4 Shot 8mm Fisheye on Nodal Ninja 5?
Posted: 12 Oct 2008 at 17:14 GMT
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Hi, Tri! Always when shooting bracketed pictures you have to use a tripod or whatever keeps the camera fixed. Unless you shoot raw where you cant get from one file different f stops and use those as bracketed images.
Regards, Martin
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Tri3
Posts: 44
Location: Austin, Texas, United States
Registered: 14 Sep 2008
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Re: 4 Shot 8mm Fisheye on Nodal Ninja 5?
Posted: 12 Oct 2008 at 17:39 GMT
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Man I am loving learning all these things. I am going back out to shoot a few more shots of the house. I will bring the tripod.
I need to invest in some good quick release mechanisms. The Q-Top looked really cool, but I am not sure if they make it any more. www.pepd.de
I am thinking I will probably need 3. One for my ballhead, one for my pano head and one for the tripod.
Thanks for all the advice. I will check out the raw data.
Doug - right now I have a Sigma 10-20mm EX wide angle. It is probably not as nice as Canon's, but it is pretty good.
Cheers
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Hans Nyberg
Posts: 866
Location: Denmark
Registered: 28 Aug 2005
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Re: 4 Shot 8mm Fisheye on Nodal Ninja 5?
Posted: 12 Oct 2008 at 19:16 GMT
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Actually the Q-top is alive again.
P e t e r E m m e r i c h has bought it and taken it up for production again. He visited me at the IVRPA stand at Photokina.
www.qtop.eu/index.htm
Expensive though.
Hans
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Tri3
Posts: 44
Location: Austin, Texas, United States
Registered: 14 Sep 2008
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Re: 4 Shot 8mm Fisheye on Nodal Ninja 5?
Posted: 12 Oct 2008 at 20:09 GMT
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Yea it is way expensive and the shipping is killer to the US.
US 49,99 Euro, Ouch.
Thanks for the info though.
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mskp
Posts: 164
Location:
Registered: 19 Oct 2006
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Re: 4 Shot 8mm Fisheye on Nodal Ninja 5?
Posted: 12 Oct 2008 at 20:24 GMT
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In my earlier post I wrote wrong "Unless you shoot raw where you cant get from one file different f stops and use those as bracketed images."
It seems that I have to thick fingers and of course it should say "...you can get..."
Thanks, Martin
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Doug Aurand
Posts: 789
Location: Albuquerque, NM, United States
Registered: 2 Jan 2008
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Re: 4 Shot 8mm Fisheye on Nodal Ninja 5?
Posted: 12 Oct 2008 at 20:42 GMT
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Tri3
I've heard good things about the Sigma 10-22mm.
It will likely do as good a job as the Canon 10-22mm since they're both aspherical lenses
Take care
Doug Aurand
www.VirtualAlbuquerque.com
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