Re2st
Posts: 6
Location: San Jose, United States
Registered: 19 Apr 2008
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Tripod Legs in Circular FishEye Images
Posted: 19 Apr 2008 at 11:13 GMT
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Hi all,
I'm a TOTAL newbie, just fell in love with panorama after seeing some awesome QTVR's linked on Panoguide.
I just joined the forum 5 minutes ago (after searching all over the web and the forum for what I am going to ask).
I just got myself Sunex 6.5mm SuperFisheye along with the panoramic rotator. When I take pictures using my tripod, the legs always appear on them. Any suggestion/trick to avoid this? I was thinking of getting a monopod, but not sure if it's the best idea.
Thank you so much!
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Doug Aurand
Posts: 484
Location: Albuquerque, NM, United States
Registered: 2 Jan 2008
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Re: Tripod Legs in Circular FishEye Images
Posted: 19 Apr 2008 at 14:57 GMT
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Re2st
Particularly with the fisheye lenses that have a FOV greater than 180°, having the tripod head and legs in the scene is normal.
I've been using Coolpix cameras with the Nikon FC-E8 and later the FC-E9 lenes for several years and the tripod always shows up.
I currently use iPIX Interactive Studio for my real estate tours which has a function in the software to insert a "Tripod Cap" to cover the tripod head and legs. I can use one of several size "iPIX" logos or there are instructions how to make my own cap.
For many hotels, iPIX photographers made a tripod cap that what the logo of the hotel to cover the tripod.
For higher paying workd like hotels, I will edit out the tripod. I output a "Cubic Strip" as a TIF which is the six faces of a cube combined into one image and "flattened" so the straight lines are straight. Some software will output the six cubic faces separately as TIFs so you can edit the bottom face in something like Photoshop.
Depending on the type of floor, its pretty easy to use the Rubber Stamp/Clone tool in Photoshop. Or to just copy and paste pieces of surrounding floor over the tripod.
You can shoot the floor under the tripod with the camera handheld and the tripod out of the way and I think one of the version of PTGui can stitch it in, but from what I've read in the forums about this method, its a little tricky.
If you've got a surface like concrete, grass, gravel or carpet with no or little pattern, its easier to "clone" the tripod out. After a lot of practive, I've gotten good at it even with the complicated carpet patterns hotels have in their ballrooms so they can line up the tables & chairs with the carpet pattern.
What software are you using? Knowing that, I or another participant in these forums can suggest a more specific solution.
Take care
Doug Aurand
Albuquerque, NM
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mediavets
Posts: 286
Location: Isleham, Cambs., United Kingdom
Registered: 8 Feb 2008
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Re: Tripod Legs in Circular FishEye Images
Posted: 19 Apr 2008 at 15:31 GMT
updated: 19 Apr 2008 at 15:48 GMT
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Re2st said: Hi all,
I'm a TOTAL newbie, just fell in love with panorama after seeing some awesome QTVR's linked on Panoguide.
I just joined the forum 5 minutes ago (after searching all over the web and the forum for what I am going to ask).
I just got myself Sunex 6.5mm SuperFisheye along with the panoramic rotator. When I take pictures using my tripod, the legs always appear on them. Any suggestion/trick to avoid this?
Can't be avoided but can be minimised. Extend tripod legs as little as possible sideways and raise centre column as much as is consistent with stability and you will minimise the tripod 'footprint'.
Re2st said: I was thinking of getting a monopod, but not sure if it's the best idea. Thank you so much!
Monopod will work and you should get smaller 'footprint' but you will need to shoot 4-around - as (I find) 3-around is very hard to judge sufficiently accurately when shooting with a monopod and rotating by hand/eye. But camera/lens will be less precisely and consistently 'aligned' with NPP as you rotate so best with landscape outdoor scenes (when shutter speed will alos be high) but if you have objects close by in the scene, typical of interiors when shutter speed more likely to be low as well, you are less likely to get a good stitch.
At least that is my experience when using my portable 'snapshot' pano setup which comprises a Nikon P5100 compact, Nikon FC-E8 fisheye convertor, Bophoto pano bracket and a walking pole/monopod.
There are many ways to add a nadir 'logo' to cover the tripod/monopod 'footprint' some can be found here:
www.panotools.info/mediawiki/index.php?title=Addi...
And if you are a total newbie I recommend that you try using Autopano Pro to stitch your panos:
www.autopano.net/
Latest beta (1.4.1) for Windows, Mac OS or Linux can be downloaded from here:
www.autopano.net/wiki/Lastest_Beta
It is probably the easiest pano stitch software to get to grips with and produces great results - it is by far my favourite stitcher and you will get great support from the developers and other users via the APP forum:
www.autopano.net/forum/
Andrew
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Re2st
Posts: 6
Location: San Jose, United States
Registered: 19 Apr 2008
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Re: Tripod Legs in Circular FishEye Images
Posted: 20 Apr 2008 at 5:45 GMT
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OMG.. this forum is REALLY awesome. Thank you so much!
Yes, I was just thinking about it last night, and of course, with 185 degree vertical fov (ahem.. this is what it's called, yes?) with my Sunex lens, the tripod lens is bound to appear. Best I can do is to minimize it. So I did decided to get a monopod. I have a rotator from Sunex, so I think it wouldn't be that different using it on a monopod as compared to on tripod. As for cloning/brusing it on Photoshop, I think that's a possibility too, because I remember that I can create layers of TIFF images with PTGUi so I can do that before alligning and creating the panorama. Although, I know that I don't have the patience to do that detail brushing and cloning work.. :P
I spent the whole night using both PTMac and PTGui and I decided to go with PTGui (I wished PTMac is as easy as PTGui, because it's cheaper..  . Oh boy.. what a very enjoyable moment to actually see the real panorama and QTVR that I created. It's really amazing what a newbie can do with it..
Well, again, thank you so much for the warm welcome. I will learn a lot from you guys.
Here are my first 2 panoramas: gallery.mac.com/re2st#100008
And the QTVR's:
web.mac.com/re2st/Site/Movies.html
Excuse my messy house... :P
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gus
Posts: 373
Location: United Kingdom
Registered: 19 Jun 2007
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Re: Tripod Legs in Circular FishEye Images
Posted: 20 Apr 2008 at 7:17 GMT
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Hi
Welcome to the forum.
Your panos seems to have stitched well. The white balance seems to be a bit off, and the file took ages to download. Not sure how big it is, but its genrally accepted to have files from 1-4mb for online display. 4mb for high quality fullscreen panos that allow zooming in to explore details.
Monopods are great when the shutter speed allows it, but more often than not, you would have to use the tripod, so get used to it There are ways to minimise your work:
-tilt the camera down slightly to reduce the size of the hole to repair afterwards
-keep the legs in tight to each other, but still allow enough stability
-position the tripod in an area that easy to patch afterwards. In your room, I would have moved it off the carpet, so you only have the laminate floor to deal with. This is easily done with the patch tool in CS3(google it), or you can use the clobe tool or copy and paste and feather from a similar area
-Then there's always the easiest choice of all--limit the vertical tilt so as to prevent the movie tilting down into the nadir area.
To edit the nadir, one of the ways is to create 6 cubeface from your equirectanular image, and edit the bottom cube face. Pano2QTVR/VR is a great tool for this job - most people who shoot panos own a copy of this program, its cheap and easy to use. (gardengnomesoftware.com/)
Good luck,
Gus
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frozenjaZz
Posts: 34
Location: France
Registered: 8 Apr 2008
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Simply shoot the nadir (handheld or not)
Posted: 20 Apr 2008 at 9:55 GMT
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Hello,
if you have to use a tripod because you always shoot indoors, go for it...
But even though I bought two tripods, I never use them...heavy and bulky, even my small 714SHB, only 36cms when folded, you still have to unfold the legs, attach the head, camera, shoot, detach, fold again... not for me !!
So I now shoot with a monopod, or handheld. With your Sunex, it is "fingers in the nose" as we say in French... really easy to get the full sphere...
If you still want to use a tripod, the secret is to shoot a view of the floor, either handheld, or by moving the tripod away and somehow change the orientation of you camera so you manage to shoot the floor.
With latest version of PTGui, you don't need to shoot the floor horizontally; I usually shoot it from a good angle (around 45) because I leave my camera on the monopod and simply lean the whole setup.
Works great.
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Doug Aurand
Posts: 484
Location: Albuquerque, NM, United States
Registered: 2 Jan 2008
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Re: Tripod Legs in Circular FishEye Images
Posted: 20 Apr 2008 at 14:42 GMT
updated: 20 Apr 2008 at 14:48 GMT
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Re2st
The only problem with using a Monopod is that its not as stable as a tripod.
To get sharper images its better to set the aperature at something in the range of F/5.6 to 8. The smaller aperatures have more Depth of Field; a wider range of distance that is in focus. The smaller aperatures require longer shutter speeds. Its not uncommon for me to have 1 to 1.5 second exposures in home with average lighting. I just haven't seen any monopods that are stable enough for those long shutter speeds.
Oh, and yes its called "185° vertical FOV"
For "cloning/brushing it on Photoshop" you'll probably want a "flattened image" with the layers merged down.
Photoshop is an essential tool for any kind of digital photography work, so the better you get at it the better your work will be. And like anything else, the more you practice at editing out tripods, the faster you'll get at it.
Good luck
Doug Aurand
Albuquerque, NM
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Doug Aurand
Posts: 484
Location: Albuquerque, NM, United States
Registered: 2 Jan 2008
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Re: Tripod Legs in Circular FishEye Images
Posted: 20 Apr 2008 at 15:02 GMT
updated: 20 Apr 2008 at 15:20 GMT
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gus
With the Sunex 185° fisheye lens there's no need to "tilt" the camera/lens because it has a Vertical FOV of 185°....there's no "hole" to edit.
And I don't think the Sunex Rotator will tilt, since there's no need.
That's one of the big benefits of the Sunex 5.6mm
Doug Aurand
Albuquerque, NM
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Re2st
Posts: 6
Location: San Jose, United States
Registered: 19 Apr 2008
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Re: Tripod Legs in Circular FishEye Images
Posted: 21 Apr 2008 at 3:17 GMT
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Thanks a lot Doug and Gus. Very valuable suggestions.
I know, I know, I will have to deal with Photoshop sooner or later. I have a very old version (5.0 or something if I'm not mistaken), but haven't really used it. I was thinking of getting Photoshop Elements for Mac (since I still can't justify spending over 500 bucks on the full CS3 or something.. :P).
I do have Capture NX though, haven't really played with it, but I guess it has similar features...
As for Sunex Fisheye and rotator, I guess I feel like I'm kinda "cheating" because this kit really make it easy to create panorama. But I knew the minute I ordered them, it would be the best investment for me..
Thanks again for all suggestions. I got A LOT to learn!
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Doug Aurand
Posts: 484
Location: Albuquerque, NM, United States
Registered: 2 Jan 2008
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Re: Tripod Legs in Circular FishEye Images
Posted: 21 Apr 2008 at 3:50 GMT
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Re2st
I's still using Photoshop 5.5 so don't apologize. I'm considering buying Photoshop CS on eBay. It goes for about $300
Photoshop Elements can do most of what you'll want for while
And you don't apologize for using the Sunex rotator, all they rotators from iPIX were made for just one camera & lens combination with the "No Parallax Point" preset and not adjustable. The $4500 Coastal Optics 4.88mm fisheye has a rotator just for it too.
Take care
Doug Aurand
Albuquerque, NM
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