Panoramic head options

I am looking for what solutions people are using for pano heads. I do long exposures and panoramas and need a new setup to make stitching as easy as possible. I have a x Pro 1 currently. Thanks!

Keep what you have level and overlap frames well and any tripod head will do the job. You don't need special gear for something like this.

You can even handhold for them if shutter speed is high enough. Will end up with some areas on top and bottom that don't match perfectly - but you can get good results by being careful in shooting.

jvvw said:

I am looking for what solutions people are using for pano heads. I do long exposures and panoramas and need a new setup to make stitching as easy as possible. I have a x Pro 1 currently. Thanks!

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This is what I have:





I built it from more or less standard components. It's hard to see but there is a rail attached to the upper rotator. This setup is for multi-row, spherical panoramas. It can be easily simplified for single-row panoramas by taking the top rail and putting it on the bottom rotor that's mounted to the head. I never cared too much for heads with indent stops; if you do, you'd need a different head.

I chose that route over getting a pre-made setup to make sure it's not going to be larger than I really need as I often carry my gear into the mountains. Also, Chris from Hejnar Photo was kind enough to work with me on designing that L-bracket. He now has a different design, definitely worth checking out.

jvvw said:

I am looking for what solutions people are using for pano heads. I do long exposures and panoramas and need a new setup to make stitching as easy as possible. I have a x Pro 1 currently. Thanks!

Click to expand...

One axis or two? Two axis adds to cost and weight.

Search on Amazon for "panoramic head". Don't forget your nodal slide (aka rail) to get rid of the parallax error --- it'll make it easier for the stitching software to come up with excellent results.

The trick with choosing the right panoramic head is to figure out what is the heaviest lens you plan on using and if the rotating panoramic head has built-in stops (indexing rotor), will the angles it supports be compatible with the focal length you want to use. My default lens for Fuji-X is a 23mm prime.

If you want to go motorized to really make it easy to take the shots, there is now plenty of options. Do a quick search for "motorized panoramic head". No idea how well any of these work.

When I bought my setup back in 2012, the cheapest way to go that met my needs was to buy individual parts on Amazon.

For one axis:

• Combination: SUNWAYFOTO Indexing Rotator DDP-64MX & DDY-64i Discal Arca Comp Clamp NEW
• Nodal Slide

For two axis, I added:

• A second nodal slide
• Non-Indexing Rotor
• Acra-swiss compatible vertical rail

By today's standards, my setup wasn't cheap. It was also intended for my FF DSLR.

Given how light the Fujifilm gear is I'd be tempted to try the cheaper solutions under $200.

Lastly, consider how you are going to quickly level your tripod to mount your rotator on. The easy answer is to use a good ball head that can support the weight without moving. I bought a large bubble level mounted on a plate that fit on my acra-swiss quick release which was better than those tiny 1 cm diameter levels. If weight/stability is a concern, consider a tripod with a leveling base option (doubt that's a problem with the Fuji-X gear).

Thanks for all the information. As deardorff mentioned I probably don't need anything as that is how I have been doing it, but if something would make it more streamlined I would be interested. Thanks nixda for the picture, that is similar to what I had in mind. Marcos I searched on Amazon and there are many options and I am just trying to determine what I actually need. I am currently using the 35mm 1.4 lens and will pick up the 14mm. Those would probably be my main lenses I would use. I did find a gemtune dh-55 ball head with indexing rotator and can add the Desmond nodal slide and L plate. Would this be enough flexibilty or am I missing something?

jvvw said:

Thanks for all the information. As deardorff mentioned I probably don't need anything as that is how I have been doing it, but if something would make it more streamlined I would be interested.

Click to expand...

If you only do single-row panoramas and you have no objects in both the foreground and the background, then handholding will probably be fine. As soon as you have objects in the foreground, you'll need to be more exacting and rotate the camera around the nodal point of the lens, which is quite a bit more difficult when hand-holding.

jvvw said:

Thanks nixda for the picture, that is similar to what I had in mind. Marcos I searched on Amazon and there are many options and I am just trying to determine what I actually need. I am currently using the 35mm 1.4 lens and will pick up the 14mm. Those would probably be my main lenses I would use. I did find a gemtune dh-55 ball head with indexing rotator and can add the Desmond nodal slide and L plate. Would this be enough flexibilty or am I missing something?

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It depends on what you want to achieve. The simplest setup is to mount a ball head that has a rotating platform upside-down on the tripod then add a nodal slide and the camera L-bracket. A bit more 'standard' would be ball head, separate rotating platform, nodal slide, camera L-bracket. Don't forget a bubble level mounted to the camera.

nixda said:

jvvw said:

Thanks for all the information. As deardorff mentioned I probably don't need anything as that is how I have been doing it, but if something would make it more streamlined I would be interested.

Click to expand...

If you only do single-row panoramas and you have no objects in both the foreground and the background, then handholding will probably be fine. As soon as you have objects in the foreground, you'll need to be more exacting and rotate the camera around the nodal point of the lens, which is quite a bit more difficult when hand-holding.

nixda said:

Thanks nixda for the picture, that is similar to what I had in mind. Marcos I searched on Amazon and there are many options and I am just trying to determine what I actually need. I am currently using the 35mm 1.4 lens and will pick up the 14mm. Those would probably be my main lenses I would use. I did find a gemtune dh-55 ball head with indexing rotator and can add the Desmond nodal slide and L plate. Would this be enough flexibilty or am I missing something?

Click to expand...

It depends on what you want to achieve. The simplest setup is to mount a ball head that has a rotating platform upside-down on the tripod then add a nodal slide and the camera L-bracket. A bit more 'standard' would be ball head, separate rotating platform, nodal slide, camera L-bracket. Don't forget a bubble level mounted to the camera.

Click to expand...

Thanks Nixda.

For multi-row 360°x180° panos you really need a specially designed head. In general though, the need to compensate for the entrance pupil of the lens depends on how critical you are and how close the subject of the pano is going to be.

For broad single row landscapes with most everything out towards infinity, you can get away with hand held shots sometimes. If you're shooting an interior of a 10ft x 10ft room not so much. I've heard others say there is no need for a special rig and tried some tests of a single row pano in 10x10 room both handheld and on a tripod without entrance pupil compensation. My usual software is PTGui Pro, but also tried Microsoft's free ICE software as I was told it can do miracles. I didn't find the results acceptable as it was full of stitching errors and didn't look seamless. The bottom line is that if I want confidence the shot will come out right, I bring a spherical rig and shoot it carefully.

With regard to rigs, I've also pieced together components from Hejnar Photo for rails/nodal slides and some clamps, Sunwayfoto for a panning clamp and Nodal Ninja for their simple fixed indexed rotator. I had everything nicely set when I was using m43 gear to shoot, but have had to make some modifications (slightly longer vertical rail and nodal slide) to fit the X-T2. The nice thing about Hejnar is they offer lots of choices in 1 inch increments. Sourcing the Sunwayfoto panning clamps is difficult in the USA due to patent disagreements with RRS. Some models can still be found here, but you can always mail order the full range from China. For rail indexed stop bars I've used ones from Hejnar, RRS, Sunwayfoto and Desmond. I've found the Sunwayfoto has very poor compatibility, and doesn't even fit some Sunwayfoto gear. The ones from Desmond are inexpensive and seem to fit everything I've tried. The Hejnar bars are nice, but screw from the back rather than the side creating some issues at times when attaching to the backside of a rail.

I understand the principle of calibrating a lens on the nodal slide as to remove parallax error, however I can't get it to work with my X-E3. If I slide the lens forward or backwards, there is virtually no change in the relationship of any two vertical lines.

Anyone have an idea what I might not be doing correctly?

Here are a couple Youtube videos for reference.



Thank you in advance.

Camera, head, tripod.

I did it in my house using a vertical window bar and a distant object (a house in my case) as near and far targets.

Frame the window bar on the left of your image. Move the tripod left and right until the window bar lines up with the far object you've chosen. Rotate the camera until the window bar is on the right of the frame. The distant object now won't line up. Slide the camera/lens back and forward until the near and far targets remain lined up when the camera is swung right and left.

You don't need to be very accurate. You need to do it at several focal lengths for a zoom and all lenses will differ.

Now take the pano head, pack it carefully and send it to anyone who will buy it because they really are superfluous unless you have objects VERY close in the foreground. A simple something like this will be perfectly adequte.

All the panos on here are hand held except one.

Dedicated software will "correct" parallax errors.

--
Andrew Skinner

jvvw said:

I am looking for what solutions people are using for pano heads. I do long exposures and panoramas and need a new setup to make stitching as easy as possible. I have a x Pro 1 currently. Thanks!

Click to expand...

My solution was a cheap 360 pano head from Amazon. There are loads of generic models available.

This solves the problem of rotation once you have levelled your camera very cheaply. They usually have an Arca Swiss fitting and don't add much bulk.

This solves the problem of misaligned shots and minimises the 'wasted' pixels as you know your shots are parallel.

A step up would be a levelling plate, if your tripod and head can accommodate one.

Neither of these solves the parallax problem which requires an extension to ensure that rotation is around the nodal point of the lens. In truth, unless you are close to your subject or are making panoramas your 'thing' this can be a step too far for most people and a bit problematic with zooms. Software today handles this really well.

If you find that a cheap pano head doesn't solve your problem entirely, the money spent won't be wasted as it will pair with a nodal slide quite well. BTW, nodal slides, extension plates, are also very cheap.

Forgive the pedantry but it is the entrance pupil not the either nodal point, but yes, you can generally not worry too much about parallax.

I've got some stuff I want to sell and will be adding a pano head to the parcel.