Multi row stitching with 35mm?

[Kaitlyn]

My question may not be specific to astro, though it's certainly my intended use. I'm also quite new to astro itself, so appreciate all insights! I've done plenty of panorama photos, have an "upside down" ballhead that makes level panning a breeze, and a L-bracket for vertical orientation. Trying to shoot astro with my 35, I know I'll need AT LEAST 2 rows (do I need more than that?).. and I'm sort of wondering - HOW? I don't have or want to use any other special rigs, but how do I go about getting my multi-row panorama while dealing with that "arc" that would certainly happen on the top row when I'm not longer level with the horizon?

 

[rnclark]

My question may not be specific to astro, though it's certainly my intended use. I'm also quite new to astro itself, so appreciate all insights! I've done plenty of panorama photos, have an "upside down" ballhead that makes level panning a breeze, and a L-bracket for vertical orientation. Trying to shoot astro with my 35, I know I'll need AT LEAST 2 rows (do I need more than that?).. and I'm sort of wondering - HOW? I don't have or want to use any other special rigs, but how do I go about getting my multi-row panorama while dealing with that "arc" that would certainly happen on the top row when I'm not longer level with the horizon?

I'm not entirely sure of what your question is. What software do you use to make your mosaics? I use PTGui Pro. I just to my mosaic and let ptgui do its thing. I don't try and keep it perfectly level. How much gets trimmed in the final mosaic depends on the projection.

Examples with multiple rows (don't remember how many)

42 frames:

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www.clarkvision.com

20 exposures, vertical so many rows:

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www.clarkvision.com

54 exposures vertical, many rows:

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www.clarkvision.com

The only difference with the above and daytime mosaics is I am tracking the stars and fixed on the land, which adds complication to merge the mosaic.

Roger

 

[Astrophotographer 10]

At 35mm you probably want to do 3 up and down and about 5 or 6 across. Overlap by about a quarter so you have some margin for error when stitching.

I got a nice wide view doing 2 up and 3 across using a 15mm lens on a full frame. So 3 up may need to be 4 up and 6 or 8 across depending on how wide you want to go.

Yes you tend to get some stretching above the bow but that's more with an UWA lens rather than a 35mm. I don't get any with a Zeiss 21mm on my full frame.

If you want to take multiple short images and stack each panel (say 5 exposures) the free program Sequator is very very good. I plan to use it in the future (its easy to use, free and it works better than Photoshop).

Lightroom, Photoshop, Microsoft ICE (free) are all stitching programs. I also use PT Gui and its quite good but often requires manually adding stitching points as it can't handle starry skies well. So 35mm is going to exacerbate that with PtGui as you will have a few sky only shots with no landscape in them.

I use a panorama head but its not really required it just makes it a bit simpler to get the right overlaps. I use a Bushman. Its very light and small and well made. Perhaps it could be sturdier but it works.

Greg.