Forum:
Q & A
Thread:
Sigma 8mm on APS-C: to roll or not to roll?
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Re: Sigma 8mm on APS-C: to roll or not to roll?
Posted: 5 hours ago
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gus said: If im not mistaken, rolling the camera by 30/60° still leaves you with a hole in the nadir?
Yes there is a small hole, but it is the size of... my monopod... I mean: if there is no hole, then what I see is... the base of my monopod...
I guess you are shooting handheld ? Or you are using a special kind of monopod to minimize footprint ? Otherwise I don't understand how you can avoid seeing it in the nadir...
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Forum:
Q & A
Thread:
Sigma 8mm on APS-C: to roll or not to roll?
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Re: Sigma 8mm on APS-C: to roll or not to roll?
Posted: 5 hours ago
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Matt Rogers said:
Personally I've shot tens of thousands of panos and I've never tested my lens for sharpness, I've never shot with my lens rolled, I've never worried about which degree between each image the seams overlap etc, etc and I can't remember the last time I had an issue.
wow....
I tested my lens for sharpness, it is a Sigma 8mm, and when set to a distance such as 1m or infinity... everything was really really soft...
So by simply finding the right distance (0.8m) I now have ultra sharp panos... I taped the focus ring, so now things are soooo simple...
And slanted body... this is also to keep things simple, don't you realize it ??
I now can concentrate on... shooting the main action... 4 photos are enough, I take my monopod, clac, turn, clac, turn, clac, turn, calc finished.
Simple.
And yes, I follow your advice: keep it simple...
But then... why would I buy extremely expensive, heavy and bulky pano heads ? Why ?
I like simple things, so my ultra small ultra light slanted pano head is just what I need 
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Forum:
Q & A
Thread:
Sigma 8mm on APS-C: to roll or not to roll?
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Re: Sigma 8mm on APS-C: to roll or not to roll?
Posted: 5 hours ago
updated: 5 hours ago
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Hans Nyberg said: You have to do a forced optimizing without FOV in PTGui to get PTGui to use the full 180 degree.
If the optimizer is allowed to optimize the FOV it will almost always optimize it to less than 180 and that means you get a hole at the zenith even if you have in reality 180 degree covered.
I own the Sigma 8mm, I own PTGui, and I always let it optimize the FOV (so exactly the opposite of what you say) and I always get more than 180...
I use a slanted home made pano head, and don't retouch the zenith usually...
EDIT: ok I see someone already proved to you that you were wrong
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Forum:
Q & A
Thread:
Pole aerial VR & 5D/Sigma 8/Agnos RingT combo..
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Re: Pole aerial VR & 5D/Sigma 8/Agnos RingT combo..
Posted: 4 Jul 2008 at 15:11 GMT
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Erik Ahrend said: I was under the impression that this was impossible with cropped sensor Canons but this thread has proven me wrong
this thread is wrong then !! Funny how people can say false things about pieces of gear they don't own !!! 
I am just an amateur, I use 450D + Sigma 8mm, using the "slanted" trick with my home made pano head (), and thanks to this combo I produce panos such as the ones you can see on my main cedricsimon.com page.
I shoot the zenith and the nadir to help with quality, avoid cloning my own shadow, etc... but I usually only need the 4 shots around, as they cover the whole sphere with no hole.
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Forum:
Q & A
Thread:
how was this done?!
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Re: how was this done?!
Posted: 21 Jun 2008 at 11:51 GMT
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zxcvbnm said: I can't help think this is a boring reply but if you read the text of the article it does say
yes I already wrote that... two posts above... so yes, I think that it is boring (just joking)
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how was this done?!
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Re: how was this done?!
Posted: 20 Jun 2008 at 13:44 GMT
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Hello,
I just went to the page... this pano is stunning !!!
He gives the explanation just above:
"I finished killing it for the vanoise express pano, and I had to use a specially designed pole for this assignment."
so it is an extra long pole... wow...
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Forum:
Q & A
Thread:
Sigma 8mm f/3.5 focus question
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Re: Sigma 8mm f/3.5 focus question
Posted: 20 Jun 2008 at 7:04 GMT
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mhc1 said: frozenjaZz:
1600 ISO ????
What gear are you using ?
450D... it is pretty clean for high ISOs, but not cleaner than the 40D...
But don't forget that the pano has a reduced size, if you want to see a 100% crop here it is:
My Canon 40D makes a dramatical noise at 1600 ISO and 1/10s. I can´t belive - by the light too - that this shot is made with this high ISO.
Don´t think it would be necessary too.
the thing is, I "expose to the right"... I can tell you that if I had shot at 1600ISO and 1/20 instead of 1/10 then it would be much more noisy !
I have 800ISO shots that are really noisier than this one, because they are a bit underexposed.
I understand your feeling: my photo looks like it is full of light... this is what I wanted, but the reality was that it was very dark except at some places where it was illuminated very strongly by artificial light, or by the sun coming in. So basically I overexposed a bit, and try to recover the highlights from my RAWs.
I did not have time to bracket
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Forum:
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Thread:
Sigma 8mm f/3.5 focus question
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Re: Sigma 8mm f/3.5 focus question
Posted: 19 Jun 2008 at 15:40 GMT
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Hello there,
when I first got my Sigma, I was very disappointed, because it was noticeably softer than my Peleng.
I was setting the distance to 1meter, and shooting at f8.
I did some tests, several times to be sure, and it appears the distance ring is very sensitive, and a few millimeters change will go from "sharp" to "soft"...
My optimum setting is between 0.5m and 1m ! This way, even at f4, I get good sharpness from near to far.
You can see some examples on my web page; the church one was taken with the Sigma, 1/10s, 1600iso, f4 www.cedricsimon.com
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Forum:
Q & A
Thread:
The Holy Grail
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Re: The Holy Grail
Posted: 12 Jun 2008 at 16:16 GMT
updated: 12 Jun 2008 at 16:17 GMT
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Hello,
you have a great combo there (450D + Sigma), concerning the 303 I don't know, it looks sooo expensive... and sooo large/heavy/bulky... I am not sure it is the best choice with fisheyes !
You have found the nodal point for 4 photos around ? (as you know, the nodal point on fisheye lenses is not unique, so you can't have found THE nodal point...)
I love PTGui and I use it with good success. I personnally use a monopod + 450D + Sigma 8mm f3.5.
You'll get 9000x4500 panos.
For exposure, I still don't have the best answer, except try to find an "average" exposure...
But a great thing to know concerning the Sigma 8mm : do several tests, say at f5.6, varying only the distance scale. Try 0.5m, between 0.5 and 1m, 1m, between 1 and infinity, and infinity.
On my copy, I thought the best setting for greater DOF was 1m. But then I found my panos were a bit soft... so I tested again, and now it is clear that the ultimate setting is between 0.5 and 1 meter. Not very intuitive...
Even at f4, and 1600ISO, I get decent results (4 photos + 1)
cedricsimon.com/panos/2008/provence/eglise_monieux
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Forum:
Q & A
Thread:
450D V 40D? to buy or not to buy.
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Re: 450D V 40D? to buy or not to buy.
Posted: 24 May 2008 at 18:05 GMT
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Hello bigwade,
I am not talking about the samples on dpreview, but the full 35 pages review... they show that the 450D has excellent resolution, even more when using RAW.
RAW is really an improvement over JPeg with this camera (which is not always the case).
And concerning low light, I now simply use -1EV if I want 3200Iso which is not there.
Anyway the 40D is an excellent camera, I bought the 450D myself because I wanted the smallest and lightest possible camera... I also hate the fact that the 20D/30D/40D are difficult to operate with only one hand.
Ok the ergonomy is supposed to be better, but an operation as simple as simply... turning the camera on... is already quite a challenge if you have only one hand free... which is often my case when walking with my 20mths old daughter
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Forum:
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Thread:
450D V 40D? to buy or not to buy.
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Re: 450D V 40D? to buy or not to buy.
Posted: 24 May 2008 at 15:20 GMT
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Ok, so you tested... only in JPEG ?
The "sharpness" setting on the 450D, as well as the "saturation", are more agressive than they used to be...
Even with the same settings, you get less punch than with other cameras...
So directly comparing the JPEGs is not the best idea... comparing RAWs would be a better idea...
From all the reviews/samples I have seen, the 450D is really a winner over the 40D...
Have you checked the very recent dpreview review ?
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Forum:
Q & A
Thread:
Outsourcing pano stitching
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Re: Outsourcing pano stitching
Posted: 2 May 2008 at 19:16 GMT
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What's the verdict ?
The stiching itself is not bad... but the overall quality is not there, due to very poor initial shots...
They look like the very first panos I stitched back in 2002 with my Coolpix 880 and fisheye !
Maybe that if we send them high quality fisheye shots, then the result will be great.
But they are talking about 2 fisheye shots/3 fisheye shots. For this type of configuration, I guess you use a panohead, and if you want to outsource, it mean you probably have lots of panos to stitch... so you should have setup your pano head correctly... and in this case... any modern software will stitch totally automatically... it will be cheaper than any indian or china company...
I don't understand the point...
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Forum:
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Thread:
Outsourcing pano stitching
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Re: Outsourcing pano stitching
Posted: 2 May 2008 at 18:48 GMT
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There might be a "language barrier"...
When you ask "what do you think", is it ironic ?
I am pretty sure it is, you cannot be serious; if you are, this is an insult to the us trying to make decent quality panos.
I mean, have you seen the "full screen" button on the virtaullyhome pages ? Their full screen is what I used to call "low res" 5 years ago !! Come on !!
And the visualtours, I won't comment on these...
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Forum:
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Thread:
Outsourcing pano stitching
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Re: Outsourcing pano stitching
Posted: 1 May 2008 at 16:40 GMT
updated: 1 May 2008 at 16:45 GMT
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I am so upset when I see this...
I am forced to accept outsourcing as I am a software developper, but when I see this company that you just mentionned (the chinese one) pretending making "best quality" stitching... and they show the following as an example !!
www.vtoutsource.com/parkqtvr/park.mov
My god... have you seen the stiching of the nadir ? Do they take us for totally stupid people or what ?
EDIT: I just saw the "testimonials".... one of them is "360Utah"... ok... just go to their site... you'll see what "high quality" is... I am wondering: is this a joke or what ?? 
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Forum:
Tips & Tricks
Thread:
Tripod Legs in Circular FishEye Images
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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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