Rongnongno Loc: FL

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And as someone I know... "That is all."

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

Let me start by saying that you don't need a pan head with degree markings to make a stitched pano.

The method I use is the same regardless of whether I am using a tripod or shooting handheld.

I find a "landmark" in the center of the frame for the first shot.
For the second shot I move the camera so that what was in the center is now at the edge. This gives me a little more than 50% overlap.

If I am making a multiple row pano, I just take my first shot, move the camera up and/or down to take the next shots, taking care to put that initial landmark at the bottom or top edge for each shot. Then I move the camera to the left (or right) for the next shot, and repeat the top (and bottom row, if it is a three row pano) shots and continue until I have it all covered to my satisfaction.

It is not important to have the camera level. It is important to ensure that you have enough overlap.

I suggest you take a look at this guy's approach:

https://petapixel.com/2016/10/27/stitching-panorama-forget-wide-angle-lens-home/

His brain works in a spiral, mine is linear in nature. But the technique is the same. On distant vistas you don't need to worry about parallax. In fact, even with my shots at the distillery (in the Woodland Creek thread) which was pretty close quarters for a 45mm lens, hand-held shooting did not reveal any parallax problems.

When using a tripod, I have one fitted with a leveling base and a bubble level, the other has a leveling plate with a bubble level. I use the levels to get the tripods, well, level. Then I turn on the camera's azimuth and leveling indicator so that I can adjust the ball head until the camera is level. Once all that is set up I use the landmark in the center of the image to shift the camera about.

It takes much longer to explain than to actually execute. And I am not sure that my explanation is all that clear, so don't hesitate to ask questions if I am not making any sense. And, as you can see, there are more than just a couple of ways to do this - I simply presented my simple approach.