Selecting a lens for a panorama
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Jan 21, 2018 08:31:41 #
Lens Selection for Pano
The good news is that you probably have what you need to get started, without needing to buy any new gear.
You can get great results with kit lenses, which, at working apertures will produce images that are hard to distinguish from the expensive stuff or even prime lenses.
Regardless of what you read in lens test data, one of the big advantages when shooting pano is that you are dealing with images that can typically exceed 50 mp, and can easily hit 200 mp or more, so if the lens is slightly less that absolutely “tack sharp” you can relax, you won’t be magnifying it that much anyway and your images will be more that fine.
Desirable Characteristics.
- Minimal lens distortion
- Focal length 35~200mm
What to look for - and avoid
- Light drop off from center to corner. If you have a lens that has considerable drop off it may be hard to for the stitching software to resolve the illumination change, resulting in visible stitch points and uneven illumination across a sky or body of water.
- Pincushion or barrel distortion. Lenses that have severe or even moderate distortion are less desirable because they can wreak havoc with straight lines in an image.
- Volume anamorphosis. Also known as “Volume Deformation”. This is best described with a tutorial, and visual examples. DXO has an in-depth explanation of what it is. In a nutshell, it is a stretching or deformation of an element at the edges where proportions change, and round objects tend to become egg-shaped, etc.
- Extension Distortion. Along with Volume Anamorphosis, it is a good reason to avoid using lenses that are too wide in certain situations. This can be used creatively to provide impact or place strong emphasis on an element in the image, but it can also lead to an image that is difficult to stitch, not to mention the unnatural and unexpected perspective that very wide lenses can produce.
- Chromatic Aberration, Coma, Flare and other lens flaws. In practice one should avoid optics that have poor performance in these areas.
Software has become more sophisticated in that it can allow the photographer to address some of these issues.
Summary::
- Do not purchase anything, you might have all you need.
- Use a longer focal length to avoid the long list of drawbacks.
- Use portrait orientation to maximize your lens capabilities, trim off the top and bottom after leveling the panorama.
Lens selection - Experience
Gene:
About 75% of my panoramas are taken with either a 24-70 at 50mm, give or take, the rest is between a 80mm and a wide angle. Note that the wide angle lens is less suitable but does work.
Bob:
-
RGG:
I shoot most of my single row panoramas using a 35mm (handheld) or a 50mm (tripod), the camera is usually vertical (portrait mode). For multiple rows I use anything between 80 to 200mm. Longer length lenses make the initial captures more difficult.
Created in collaboration: Gene, RGG
The good news is that you probably have what you need to get started, without needing to buy any new gear.
You can get great results with kit lenses, which, at working apertures will produce images that are hard to distinguish from the expensive stuff or even prime lenses.
Regardless of what you read in lens test data, one of the big advantages when shooting pano is that you are dealing with images that can typically exceed 50 mp, and can easily hit 200 mp or more, so if the lens is slightly less that absolutely “tack sharp” you can relax, you won’t be magnifying it that much anyway and your images will be more that fine.
Desirable Characteristics.
- Minimal lens distortion
- Focal length 35~200mm
What to look for - and avoid
- Light drop off from center to corner. If you have a lens that has considerable drop off it may be hard to for the stitching software to resolve the illumination change, resulting in visible stitch points and uneven illumination across a sky or body of water.
- Pincushion or barrel distortion. Lenses that have severe or even moderate distortion are less desirable because they can wreak havoc with straight lines in an image.
- Volume anamorphosis. Also known as “Volume Deformation”. This is best described with a tutorial, and visual examples. DXO has an in-depth explanation of what it is. In a nutshell, it is a stretching or deformation of an element at the edges where proportions change, and round objects tend to become egg-shaped, etc.
- Extension Distortion. Along with Volume Anamorphosis, it is a good reason to avoid using lenses that are too wide in certain situations. This can be used creatively to provide impact or place strong emphasis on an element in the image, but it can also lead to an image that is difficult to stitch, not to mention the unnatural and unexpected perspective that very wide lenses can produce.
- Chromatic Aberration, Coma, Flare and other lens flaws. In practice one should avoid optics that have poor performance in these areas.
Software has become more sophisticated in that it can allow the photographer to address some of these issues.
Summary::
- Do not purchase anything, you might have all you need.
- Use a longer focal length to avoid the long list of drawbacks.
- Use portrait orientation to maximize your lens capabilities, trim off the top and bottom after leveling the panorama.
Lens selection - Experience
Gene:
About 75% of my panoramas are taken with either a 24-70 at 50mm, give or take, the rest is between a 80mm and a wide angle. Note that the wide angle lens is less suitable but does work.
Bob:
-
RGG:
I shoot most of my single row panoramas using a 35mm (handheld) or a 50mm (tripod), the camera is usually vertical (portrait mode). For multiple rows I use anything between 80 to 200mm. Longer length lenses make the initial captures more difficult.
Created in collaboration: Gene, RGG
Jan 21, 2018 10:35:02 #
I am happy to say that I have three options when shooting panorama images.
1 multi-shots and a stitching program. with my pick of lenses.
2 a 8mm lens on my fx and dx cameras.
3 the sweep panorama feature on my Sony slt cameras.
all can give me up to 180 degree image.
1 multi-shots and a stitching program. with my pick of lenses.
2 a 8mm lens on my fx and dx cameras.
3 the sweep panorama feature on my Sony slt cameras.
all can give me up to 180 degree image.
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