Tripod Heads for Panoramas

To take photographs suitable for stitching as panoramas, a firm and accurate tripod rotating head is essential.
A true panoramic head will rotate the camera around the lens's nodal point and give a more accurate image with the minimum of distortion. There are a number on the market.
Kaidan.com supply tripod heads panoramas at an affordable price.

Manfrotto.com also make suitable devices.

Novoflex make panoramic heads for horizontal and vertical use. They are high-precision with fine tuning, but aren't cheap. It should be possible to make one unit which performs both functions but I haven't seen one yet.

Speedgraphic.co.uk stock them. Britain is not the cheapest place to buy anything so a net search might find chepaer supplies elsewhere.
The Panosaurus on the same site is worth a look - not as sophisticated but a reasonable price.

Want to experiment without buying an expensive tripod head first?.
Some who is handy with DIY tools, wood and or metal can make a serviceable head fairly easily. The horizontal version is easier than the vertical.
Follow the principles on the nodal point and see how the bought units look. My first panorama tripod head was made this way; none of the fine-tuning refinements of the real thing but it worked.

Where the gadget attaches to the tripod, it needs to have a slot to allow it and the camera to be moved backwards and forwards.
If your are always using the same camera then a simple hole is enough to attach the camera to the gadget. It needs to be positioned so that the central line of the lens will always be over the tripod screw.

If you are going to use different cameras then this hole under the camera should be a slot to allow movement from side to side in order to find the accurate position.
That's all there is to it.


Unfortunately there are some restrictions in what Photomerge can achieve when tackling more complicated panoramas, even with the improvements found in CS3. Images taken with extreme wide-angles or fish-eye lenses , for examples, will really tax your ingenuity.

There is a good choice of specialist software on the market which can tackle such problems and anyone who gets more involved in making panoramas should look at these.

One very good programme is FREE. Some are outlined in the next of the panorama tutorials.



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Making panoramas
Photomerge
The Nodal Point
Software for panoramas
Panoramic cameras

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