The 14-24 2.8 should be an excellent lens for producing panos on a D300 - I can't think of a better lens to do this, really (perhaps the AF 14 mm f/2.8 Nikkor ED-RF, depending on who you ask).
While I don't have the 14-24mm of a D300, I do have the 12-24mm Nikkor on a D200. My combination is inferior to yours for shooting panos in many (probably all) respects.
Your example pano is stunning, btw, it has a lot of interesting subject matter and is technically shot very well. However, what if you needed more vertical angle of view? With your current setup, you'd need to a) use a special head, b) shoot multi-row panos, c) spend about 10X more time stitching the result and you'll likely get a product that is less than perfect anyway.
I've shot loads of panos using a variety of lenses and special heads - so far, my best panos have come from using the 12-24mm with my Kaiden VR head on my D200. Here's an example:
3 rows x 12 images for a full spherical panorama (360°x180°) with a D200 and a 12-24mm f/4 DX lens. A Panorama Tools GUI (Hugin) was used for the stitching and the results were stunning. I found only one spot that needed minor photoshopping near the very bottom which needed to be touched up anyway to remove the tripod and Kaidan Kiwi+ Spherical head.
I also use my 10.5mm fisheye DX to shoot panos for extreme vertical even with only 1 row shot:
This was stitched in Hugin from 12 shots from my Nikon D200 + Nikkor 10.5mm f/2.8 @f/10, 1.3s, 100. I shot it all in RAW and processed the whole thing in 16 bit TIFFs. 12 shots was probably overkill, but this is a completely flawless stitch, I can't find any mis-alignment at all. Who says wide lenses can't produce a lot of resolution? The original image is 8192x2977 px = 24.3 MPx. That's gonna be enough for almost any print use.
I also did this one in HDR:
This was stitched in Hugin from 2x12 shots from my Nikon D200 + Nikkor 10.5mm f/2.8 @f/11, 1/6s & 1/25s, 100. After stitching in Hugin twice, once for each exposure, I merged them with Photomatix Pro into an HDR (High-Dynamic Range) photo, then exported as a tone-compressed, 16-bit TIFF before bringing into Photoshop for minor touchup (dust on sensor) and then into Aperture for exposure adjustments and sharpening. Again, the original has a lot of resolution at 8192x3075 px = 25.2 MPx.
I've also shot a pano with a longer lens - it was very frustrating, and time-consuming, but in the end, I got there.
A spherical taken in multiple rows in Queens, New York, USA. This was exactly 2 weeks after the tragic disaster on 9/11. I'm using the same VR head as the shots above, but I'm using a FujiFilm MX2900 with an equivent of a 34mm lens. It was 5 rows, plus a top and bottom shot for a total of 62 images. Even still, I couldn't get the bottom to work, so I replaced it with a white circle with my copyright (seen when viewing in a VR viewer).
If you really want to pursue making panos, keep the 14-24mm!
The 70-200mm is also a good lens though, so I do understand your pain!
Hi,
I'm thinking to sell my Nikkor 14-24 2.8 and get the 70-200VR
instead... am I crazy? Usually I don't do landscapes or interiors and
my 14-24 spends most of the time in my bag, not to mention the flare
problems. On the other hand, I've seen so many awesome panos in this
same forum that I started questioning myself why am I keeping it? Am
I just lusting for the 70-200 as I would like to replace the 70-300VR?
I just made this pano D300 & 24-70 and to me looks great, so I wonder
what are the advantages of a dedicated wide lens over stitching
photos? I'm sorry if I sound stupid. Thanks for your input.
--
Kind Regards,
Jorge Macedo
http://www.shotsandstuff.com
--
-- Martin
'Every portrait painted with feeling is a portrait of the artist, not of the sitter. The sitter is merely the accident, the occasion. It is not he who is revealed by the painter; it is rather the painter who, on the coloured canvas, reveals himself.'
- From 'The picture of Dorian Gray' by Oscar Wilde
