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How manual can you go with the 505?

  • Thread starter Thread starter PeterW
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PeterW

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Can any user tell me if the apparently ground-breaking 550 can have its exposure locked for a panorama series? When you image-stitch all the shots should be at the same exposure of course.

I can't find any reference to this. I know that the Nikon 950 has an exposure lock, and that the oly 2500 has full manual but if the sony had something similar it would be for me.

Thanks all
Peter
 
With Aperture and shutter priority modes, the F505 can be classed as a semi-automatic camera. It has several program modes, most importantly in your case, a panorama mode that will do what you need.

Also, the tripod mount is place directly under the len's rotation point and makes it perfect for a geared tripod head.
peter said:
Can any user tell me if the apparently ground-breaking 550 can have its
exposure locked for a panorama series? When you image-stitch all the
shots should be at the same exposure of course.

I can't find any reference to this. I know that the Nikon 950 has an
exposure lock, and that the oly 2500 has full manual but if the sony had
something similar it would be for me.

Thanks all
Peter
Click to expand...
 
Robert,

If the nodal point is directly over the tripod mount, do you also know the mm offset from the mount's surface to the center??? Soon I hope to make some panos and am hoping to avoid the experimentation need to locate the nodal point...

Thanks, Lee
Robert Maclellan said:
Also, the tripod mount is place directly under the len's rotation point
and makes it perfect for a geared tripod head.
Click to expand...
 
I am sure that this is not as accurate as you could wish but I don't have the F505 with me at the moment to make any measurements. Here is what Phil says about the tripod mount in his F505 review on this site:
"Tripod Mount

Yep, it's on the lens barrel, and yes it's dead center to the lens axis and by the looks of its positioning directly below the CCD which means it's just perfectly positioned for shooting panoramas... It's also positioned perfectly from a weight balance, LCD positioning (you can rotate the LCD upward without having to rotate the tripod head (at last I can use the spirit level on my tripod head!) and firmness of hold on the lens. Oh, and yes, you can change batteries and MemoryStick while it's mounted on the tripod!"
Lee Butler said:
If the nodal point is directly over the tripod mount, do you also know
the mm offset from the mount's surface to the center??? Soon I hope to
make some panos and am hoping to avoid the experimentation need to locate
the nodal point...

Thanks, Lee
Robert Maclellan said:
Also, the tripod mount is place directly under the len's rotation point
and makes it perfect for a geared tripod head.
Click to expand...
Click to expand...
 
Member said:
It has several program modes, most importantly in
your case, a panorama mode that will do what you need.
Click to expand...
Robert,

If you are talking about the Panfocus mode, I do not think that it locks the exposure settings. The manual only talks about setting the focus at a point to give a reasonable sharp picture across a wide range. It says nothing of the exposure settings. Just today, I tried to take a panorama at a nearby park. As you can see in the image attached (I hope this works), there are at least 3 obvious seams due to exposure differences between frames.



I had the camera set in panfocus mode. Is there another setting I'm missing? I would really like to correct this type of problem. I'm going out tonight to see if I can capture a panorama of the town green under the full moon w/christmas lights.
bj
 
I think you are correct. It will be a much more important shortcoming, as opposed to the phony issues usually brought up, for those who take a lot of panoramas. I wonder if averaging metering would do a better job than spot metering. It may blend better.
Bob said:
Member said:
It has several program modes, most importantly in
your case, a panorama mode that will do what you need.
Click to expand...
Robert,
If you are talking about the Panfocus mode, I do not think that it locks
the exposure settings. The manual only talks about setting the focus at
a point to give a reasonable sharp picture across a wide range. It says
nothing of the exposure settings. Just today, I tried to take a panorama
at a nearby park. As you can see in the image attached (I hope this
works), there are at least 3 obvious seams due to exposure differences
between frames.
Click to expand...
 
Before the photos are stiched together, you might want to try processing them either in Photoshop, or with a program I just ordered and think is perfect for this: "Color Pilot." You can find it on the internet at http://www.colorpilot.com . It lets you sample one photo (color/brightness) and use those settings in all the other photos. It won't fix the F505 but it is a cheap fix.
Robert MacLellan said:
Bob said:
Robert MacLellan said:
It has several program modes, most importantly in
your case, a panorama mode that will do what you need.
Click to expand...
Robert,
If you are talking about the Panfocus mode, I do not think that it locks
the exposure settings. The manual only talks about setting the focus at
a point to give a reasonable sharp picture across a wide range. It says
nothing of the exposure settings. Just today, I tried to take a panorama
at a nearby park. As you can see in the image attached (I hope this
works), there are at least 3 obvious seams due to exposure differences
between frames.
Click to expand...
Click to expand...
 
Marc,

I downloaded the trial version of Color Pilot. The documentation and UI is so bad, I can't figure out how to use it. Could you please briefly explain the steps to sample one photo and apply it to the others? This app might be just what I'm looking for.
Bob
Marc said:
Before the photos are stiched together, you might want to try processing
them either in Photoshop, or with a program I just ordered and think is
perfect for this: "Color Pilot." You can find it on the internet at
http://www.colorpilot.com . It lets you sample one photo (color/brightness) and
use those settings in all the other photos. It won't fix the F505 but it
is a cheap fix.
Click to expand...
 
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