BboH Loc: s of 2/21, Ellicott City, MD

I also use an 8mm fisheye and take 7even shots - that gives a good overlap with 4 around, 1 zenith and 2 down. The down shots are 1 straight down from where the tripod is when taking the all around's and the zenith and 1 offset so that the down shots can be merged eliminating the tripod. When I use Nikon's 10.5 or 16mm fisheyes I take 6 around

gessman Loc: Colorado

Although I haven't used it all that much yet, another option I have and like a lot is the Fotodiox RhinoCam:

https://www.amazon.com/Vizelex-RhinoCam-E-Mount-Hasselblad-Stitching/dp/B016NEOBMY/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1494702314&sr=8-1&keywords=rhinocam.

Depending on the camera you mount on it, it can yield huge megapixel images as if shot with a 6x6 medium format camera using a medium format lens, Hasselblad or Mamiya, which can be picked up used very inexpensively right now. It permits precision orientation in both landscape and portrait modes by allowing you to shoot two rows of three images (six total images stacked) in landscape mode and two rows of four images in portrait mode (eight total images stacked.) Your front lens remains stationary with your camera moves on a sliding backplate which allows you to shoot without the downside of having to move your lens in an arc on a tripod or handheld. Rather than move your lens around potentially creating parallax, focus, and exposure issues, all shots are taken with the front lens stationary and within the outer parameters of the medium format lens you choose so you are taking multiple images of what the medium format lens sees sitting stationary. The movement of the backplate where the camera is mounted are click-steps that lock in with precision so each successive image is lined up perfectly for stitching.

Another option, if you shoot Canon, is to create gigapan shots with one of the motorized gigapan mounts you can read about here for a bit more money, if you get real serious about panos.

http://www.omegabrandess.com/Updated%20Documents%20for%20Banner/GigaPan%20Announcement.pdf

If you're not familiar with gigapan and want to get serious about panos or just be impressed, spend a few hours looking over the living interactive panos here: http://www.gigapan.com/

lovelights Loc: Rockford, Il.

I use PTGui software for Stitching. The Panos I do are Spherical used for Virtual Tours. The Tour software I use is by Kolor. And as long as you set the amount of zoom to a minimum distortion is not a factor. However, when you move around in the Panorama you can have distortion if you pan at an angle.

lovelights Loc: Rockford, Il.

Just opened a Virtual Tour. I Zoomed in and out with No distortion what so ever. The Reason I use the Sigma 8 MM is because most people I talked with recommended the Sigma and I am very pleased with it's performance.

BboH Loc: s of 2/21, Ellicott City, MD

[quote=lovelights]I use PTGui software for Stitching.

Me too -