Nodal Points

[flutaur]

I'm interested in making some triptychs and 360 degree panoramics with subjects near and far to the camera. I hope someone can help me with aligning my lenses in relation to the tripod axis. Is a chart available? Does alignment change with focus distance? I'll use a P50f1.4 or D28f2.8.Thanks

 

[urgenta]

Hi

For panaoramic i would prefer a 90 mm lens in portrait orientation. it needs more pics, but they will fit better together. It's helpful to use something like a sprit-level. There are tripodheads available with builtin things like this.

Hans Villars, Switzerland

 

[jsk3]

Kurt, good luck with your panoramas and triptychs. As Hans has indicated, you will probably find it easier to join your shots together if you avoid using a wide angle lens, although that won't be so much of a problem for triptychs.

I believe that the alignment, and angle of coverage, does change slightly when the focus is altered. For that reason, I have always relied on depth of field around the hyperfocal distance, at a small aperture, to include relatively close objects in a panorama. Try to avoid having a close object overlapping shots to be joined.

The most critical factor is to keep the frame as level as you can.

I am constructing a website to display some of my photographs, and I have included a few panoramas. You can see them at

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and I'm sure you will be able to spot room for improvement!

The shot of Mount Robson is made from three frames with a P50 f1.4, and the Grey Corries image is from seven shots with a Hoya 200 f4, from the era of glue and a sharp knife.

For printing a panorama, I combine several onto a single file, with an aspect ratio which matches the formats available at the online printing outfits.

Enjoy yourself, and I hope you'll be searching for a source of long narrow picture frames.

John Keery, United Kingdom