Sharpest prime for shooting panoramas with a Canon 20D

Hi,

I am on looking for a prime lens to help me and my Canon 20D+Sigma8EX in the quest for sharper panoramas. I also have a Canon EF-S 10-22 that gives me just that [sharper images], but the 27 image shooting config to get a full spherical panorama image is not very practical most of the time.

The question then would be - is it worth swapping my old Sigma 8EX for the new EX DG version to get sharper pictures, or is perhaps the Nikkor 10.5 with a Canon adapter something to consider to get a sharp and nice images without the need to go multirow?

Or perhaps there is even a better option out there?

Best regards,

Kjell Are Refsvik

I can guarantee you that you will see zero difference in sharpness between any of those (quality) fisheyes when stopped down to f/11 or so.

The difference between the DG and non-DG versions is only the coating on the rear element, which has been re-engineered to reduce "great red spot" flare on the DG version. If you're like most of us, you've never seen that type of flare in a real-life shot anyway, which means that you will get virtually no benefit from it.

Petteri
--
Me on photography: [ http://www.prime-junta.net/ ]
My RSS feed: [ http://www.prime-junta.net/pont/rss/whatsnew.xml ]
My flickr page: [ http://www.flickr.com/photos/primejunta/ ]

Why take panoramas with a wideangel lens???

Use a 35/2 or 50mm lens and shoot the pictures, then you search on the web for an outstanding free software thats called "Autostich" this will give you lovely panoramas, even if you are shooting handheld, just put all the imagefiles into a folder and tell autostich to start working, i did take a lovely panorama over the three beaches in Phuket last spring, i took 38 images hand held with my 135/2L and stiched them together.
--
Using my free time using my 1D mkII.
Please look into my site.......
http://www.digitalphoto.se

try 6 at +30 and 6 at -30 and one up and also one down if required with the 10-22 at 10

consider nikkor or get 5d with 15mm fisheye to take away all the pain

re; 35 or 50 with autostitch - if only it could be so easy - but it isn't!

stevephoto said:

try 6 at +30 and 6 at -30 and one up and also one down if required
with the 10-22 at 10

consider nikkor or get 5d with 15mm fisheye to take away all the pain

Click to expand...

As long as this is a hobby of mine, I am afraid that the purchase of a 5D and a 15mm at this time would induce even more pain.

However, a 5D and a 15mm would be a great setup if money was no object.

I am afraid that 6 images around would not give me the overlap I like so I will stick with 8, but take into consideration your idea of shooting 2 instead of 3 rows.

Best regards,

Kjell Are

Petteri Sulonen said:

I can guarantee you that you will see zero difference in sharpness
between any of those (quality) fisheyes when stopped down to f/11
or so.

The difference between the DG and non-DG versions is only the
coating on the rear element, which has been re-engineered to reduce
"great red spot" flare on the DG version. If you're like most of
us, you've never seen that type of flare in a real-life shot
anyway, which means that you will get virtually no benefit from it.

Petteri

Click to expand...

OK. Nice to know. Thanks.

Kjell Are

Just curiousity on my part. I was down to the Panosauras, Kingpano and the Nodal Ninja. I ordered the Nodal Ninja today. Amazing what a difference including a case can make.

Smirre said:

Why take panoramas with a wideangel lens???

Click to expand...

Well, it has something to do with balancing the time it takes to shoot the pano, with the desired quality.

Smirre said:

Use a 35/2 or 50mm lens and shoot the pictures, then you search on
the web for an outstanding free software thats called "Autostich"
this will give you lovely panoramas, even if you are shooting
handheld, just put all the imagefiles into a folder and tell
autostich to start working, i did take a lovely panorama over the
three beaches in Phuket last spring, i took 38 images hand held
with my 135/2L and stiched them together.
--
Using my free time using my 1D mkII.
Please look into my site.......
http://www.digitalphoto.se

Click to expand...

Well, not having a 1.0 crop factor camera, I am afraid that using a 50mm lens would give me spherical panos that would consist of 100+ images on a 1,6 crop factor camera and that was not what I was looking for. I already have a nice multirow setup. I am mainly looking for something simpler and in terms of sharpness - better.

Best regards,

Kjell Are

refsvik said:

stevephoto said:

try 6 at +30 and 6 at -30 and one up and also one down if required
with the 10-22 at 10

Click to expand...

Click to expand...

refsvik said:

I am afraid that 6 images around would not give me the overlap I
like so I will stick with 8, but take into consideration your idea
of shooting 2 instead of 3 rows.

Click to expand...

its 6 images at plus 30 degrees and 6 at minus 30 degrees - give it a go - unless you have some particular issues - this should work just fine for you

Hi refsvik,

I shoot a Nikkor 10.5 on my XT, so it can be done. Do you realize though that you have no direct control of the aperture.

The 10.5 is sharper than the Sigma (I own that lens too). You end up with a finished pano size of about 10,000x 5,000 which is a bit more than with the Sigma (so this adds just a bit to the sharpness as well). The Nikkor requires taking 6+2 shots (i.e. multirow).

It sounds like you may not be taking zenith and nadir shots with your Sigma; adding these shots might improve your results. I think you really need to go multirow (at least to do zenith and nadir shots).

The 10-22 would be the way to go though if you want a real step up in resolution. It might be a good compromise for you. Still, it's a lot of shots per pano.

Regards,

jgb

refsvik said:

Hi,

I am on looking for a prime lens to help me and my Canon
20D+Sigma8EX in the quest for sharper panoramas. I also have a
Canon EF-S 10-22 that gives me just that [sharper images], but the
27 image shooting config to get a full spherical panorama image is
not very practical most of the time.

The question then would be - is it worth swapping my old Sigma 8EX
for the new EX DG version to get sharper pictures, or is perhaps
the Nikkor 10.5 with a Canon adapter something to consider to get a
sharp and nice images without the need to go multirow?

Or perhaps there is even a better option out there?

Best regards,

Kjell Are Refsvik

Click to expand...

--
Galleries: http://www.pbase.com/jon_b