terryhobart Loc: Grass Valley, CA

I'm looking into an Acra Swiss nodal rail to do panoramas with. I have a Nikon D7100 with a Tamron 16-300 & an old Minolta 35 primary lens. I use a right angle bracket on the camera. My question is how long a rail do I need. They seem to run from 100mm to 200mm. So, I don't know which one to get.

ptcanon3ti Loc: NJ

this is what I have. Don't over think it.

https://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/1007338-REG/desmond_dnr_120_nodal_rail_120mm.html

WayneT Loc: Paris, TN

Here's another option: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B010CP4K5S/ref=oh_aui_search_detailpage?ie=UTF8&psc=1

Gene51 Loc: Yonkers, NY, now in LSD (LowerSlowerDelaware)

You only need a rail if you have elements in the near foreground obscuring elements in the background which would reveal a parallax error as you rotated the camera. If you are doing real estate or architectural work, it will likely be important to determine the no parallax point of the lens - a pain in the butt to do with zoom lenses, btw - since the position will likely change as you zoom in and out. Better to use a prime lens.

This may be helpful

http://www.johnhpanos.com/epcalib.htm

Kuzano

True, unless you have a close range or tabletop parallax problem, a Nodal Rail is absolutely useless and just the kind of device some gear companies (RRS for instance) will nick you heavy in the wallet for.

If you are talking a landscape panorama, with most shots near 50 meters to infinity or more, nodal point calculations are un-doable, nada, needless. Just work on two planes... using logic and a good tripod. Level the rotation points on the tripod head and a degree wheel around the rotation point of the tripod. Overlap 10-15% on each end of each shot to allow for the stitching algorythm. If you are doing both horizontal and verticals in a pano, Schedule a few appointments with a "shrink". Some panos should definitely be done with a bigger format camera, most likely one you do not own.

I love pano's and have done many without the benefit of any specialized ($$$) gear. Just a good tripod and sense of space.

Now if you are doing a four foot diameter diorama of the "Burning of Atlanta" on a table top... you have parallax. Count out 1000 George Washingtons and hit the spendy camera gear guys. That stuff is just not necessary after you really figure out why you need all this NODAL, point of confusion, Lens crossover point, etc.

Save your money, get your sturdy walkers on, go out and shoot a bunch of end to end frame, Allow over lap, go home and put the images in your computer and pull up your "creation tools" in the cheapest piece of software you have.

One important point... don't get tricky trying to use longer or shorter primes. Panos do not stitch well other than the "normal focal length lens" for your format. No wide angles, No telephotos, and forget zooms.

And tell the salesman who is trying to sell you on Pano Hardware and Rail systems exactly where to put that stuff. Warn him/her that it's going to hurt like hell, because there are a lot of strange shapes and hard edges where it's going.

pithydoug Loc: Catskill Mountains, NY

I agree, you only need a rail for really extenuating circumstances. While a simple level tripod will work just fine with say a 50% vertical overlap, I have done dozens simply hand held. A tripod will minimize top and cropping you would get if hand held but still an excellent photo.

When LR added pano function the first three I did was incredible and hand held. At least with LR you don't need to touch a file before putting it together since the output file is a RAW .png file with oodles of bits post process.

Simply saying try one before you sell the house for a rail system.

mikegreenwald Loc: Illinois

I agree with most of the above. I've never had a failure when I used a leveled tripod. I've had a few when hand held, but never if there was a visible horizon that was useable to keep the camera flat and level as I turned.

Gene51 Loc: Yonkers, NY, now in LSD (LowerSlowerDelaware)

Couldn't agree more. I did these panos hand held last week. Didn't miss the nodal rail or tripod one bit.

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terryhobart Loc: Grass Valley, CA

Thank you ALL for the replies. Great information. I'll just go experiment and see the expected great results. Thank you all so much.

I'm planning a motorcycle ride to Page AZ for a week of shooting. I was worried that when I combined my panno's, I would have to crop too much. Probably can relax.

terryhobart Loc: Grass Valley, CA

Very beautiful. Brings back memories. I worked in the valley one summer during college.

terryhobart Loc: Grass Valley, CA

Thanks. Thought I needed the rail because of a Lynda.com tutorial. By the way the rail was all I was looking at.

Gene51 Loc: Yonkers, NY, now in LSD (LowerSlowerDelaware)

Thanks! I wish I could work there. Hell, I'd live under a rock if they let me, or just hang out with climbers at Camp 4.

Gene51 Loc: Yonkers, NY, now in LSD (LowerSlowerDelaware)

That is actually a feature of panos - you CAN crop.

In order, the pixel dimensions of the uncropped/cropped images I posted are:

11171x7599 - 11171x6989
12710x8349 - 11891x7405
12756x7612 - 12526x7306
10534x10852 - 10085x10588
9608x8286 - 7101x7452

selmslie Loc: Fernandina Beach, FL, USA

The easy way to determine how long the rail needs to be is to look at the front of the lens and figure out where the aperture appears to be located. It will move as you zoom so pick the location when it is closest to the front of the lens. Then measure the distance from that location back to the film/sensor plane whose location is usually engraved on the top plate of the camera (a circle with a line through it). That will tell you the maximum offset.

The location of this virtual aperture will not move for a prime lens but you will need to adjust the offset whenever you change the focal length of the zoom lens. That's what makes it so hard to use with a zoom.

With a fixed focal length lens you can find the apparent location of the aperture easily by mounting the camera on the panorama head and, looking at the aperture through the front of the lens, adjust the offset until the aperture appears to remain over the center of the swivel.

But all of this, including the expensive panorama head, may be overkill unless you have some objects in the foreground. If you are shooting a landscape panorama with nothing in the immediate foreground, you ca probably get away with just swiveling the hand-held camera around the approximate location of the apparent aperture. Your stitching program will take care of the rest.

nikonbrain Loc: Crystal River Florida

There is a way ,no parallax and no rotation .A little more expensive. But a lot easier. It is a tilt shift lens take your center shot, full shift left take shot ,full shift right take shot .stitch in Photoshop .done. If you have a canon, use the 17 mm 2.8 tilt shift ,best lenses for this . I wish I had one and was adaptive to to my Nikon. I missed you had a A Minolta......maybe the lens is adaptable to your camera..