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Getting the camera parallel to the building facade?

narikin

New member
I have to do some frontal images of a row of buildings, and am struggling with getting the camera parallel to the facade. It seems the slightest degree off leads to a perspective slope away to one side or another. Is there some simple trick to getting a camera in parallel alignment with a flat fronted architectural subject you face?

I'm stitching 3 vertical images together, and one side or another often reveals I didn't get it quite right! I know I can do horizontal keystone in C1 if needed, but I'd like to get it right in the camera before I resort to that (plus it makes stitching alignment difficult when you keystone 3 images by differing amounts)

Thanks in advance
 
I suppose a lot of this depends on the particular camera that you're using.

With a view camera, spirit levels and grids on the ground glass are helpful. My 5D3 also has an electronic level which is useful for this.

Since you're stitching, even a slight variation between images would be noticeable. Lightroom has a perspective adjustment which might help.
 

narikin

New member
Alpa Max.

Its not the vertical/horizontal thing that's the issue, its the parallelism (right word?). You can get the camera level and vertical easily, but there is nothing to tell you that the rotation angle you set it is precisely parallel to the long frontage you face. If you are out by just a few degrees, the building slopes away.

Yes there is keystone correction in the software of PS, Lightroom and C1 - they all have it, but its better to get it right from the get go.
 

Shashin

Well-known member
Are you sure these buildings are straight. Old architecture is not always level and plumb.

Can you get to the facade? Find the center of the building at ground level and place a mirror on that or parallel to that. Position the camera so that you can see its reflection in the center of the mirror. You just need a small mirror. That would the simplest method.
 
Alpa Max.

Yes there is keystone correction in the software of PS, Lightroom and C1 - they all have it, but its better to get it right from the get go.
Agreed. I'm just not aware of a method that is precise in the field and won't require further tweaking as you do the stitch.

Doesn't the same grid that you use to determine being parallel in the vertical plane also apply to the 'rotational' aspect?
 
Edit to my previous post.
I assumed (and probably incorrectly) that you had ground glass focusing. Looking at your camera, it appears not to be the case so my comment about the grid doesn't apply.

How about shooting tethered, using live view->loupe->grid overlay?
 

narikin

New member
The digital back (Phase IQ series) has an optional grid that can be switched on. I'll try that, but it's still guesswork deciding what is directly & exactly opposite you in a building/street. Worth a try though!
 

dougpeterson

Workshop Member
+1 measuring left/right features with distometer.

It will place you parallel to the facade with essentially perfect accuracy - ASSUMING the features of the building are square and symmetrical.

Or if you have an Arca with an eModule Cloud you can use that instead.
 

stephengilbert

Active member
I hate to disagree with Doug or John, but wouldn't measuring the two edges of a building only guarantee that the camera is in the center? Couldn't it still be askew?
 
I took the question to mean that you were having difficulty in determining that you were absolutely perpendicular to the row houses so as not to introduce any keystoning in the horizontal plane, i.e. left to right.

Certainly if you could accurately measure the sensor plane to a uniform surface of the building would be a solution. I'm not aware of any convenient tools to measure that accurately over the distance that you are most likely from the building though. Not sure what a distometer is, as I've only heard that term in an optometrists office? I'd love to know more about what it is.

My assumption is that using the grids (I think they are even movable as well as scalable on that back?) would get you close or at least within the margin of error of what you can see. Would still most likely require some transformation in PS or other software at scale to make it really accurate for the stitch.
 

danlindberg

Well-known member
Measuring left and right with the disto is ofcourse theoretically correct. But in practical doing I have found it quite cumbersome and difficult. Instead I am using a 'low tech' solution that works splendid for me.
Since I got the Alpa Sports Finder (basically just a frame) I am using the upper and lower horizontal bar to line up the roofline and baseline. Squinting my eyes and stepping back a little from the cam/finder shows even the slightest skewed position. Especially when you can jogg between two reference lines.
I do not suppose that you have the sports finder so what you could atleast just try is to use the whole top of your Alpa Max as a reference line (levelled of course), lower yourself so that you are looking sort of right through this line/top of cam and turn the whole cam left and right until you are seeing the same amount of your building (and its reference line) far left and far right.
 

narikin

New member
I took the question to mean that you were having difficulty in determining that you were absolutely perpendicular to the row houses so as not to introduce any keystoning in the horizontal plane, i.e. left to right.
Correct.

I think the easiest way might be to use rising front to set one of the buildings natural horizontal lines, like an upper row of windows, against one of the DB grid lines, and see if it stays true left to right. Any angular misalignment would reveal itself in this line veering off, as it keystones away or towards you, assuming the camera is leveled correctly. Sliding the back left to right (on a stitching camera) would increase any horizontal keystoning's appearance, and make it easier to spot.

Thanks for all the suggestions here, people. Food for thought!
 

narikin

New member
Measuring left and right with the disto is ofcourse theoretically correct. But in practical doing I have found it quite cumbersome and difficult. Instead I am using a 'low tech' solution that works splendid for me.
Since I got the Alpa Sports Finder (basically just a frame) I am using the upper and lower horizontal bar to line up the roofline and baseline. Squinting my eyes and stepping back a little from the cam/finder shows even the slightest skewed position. Especially when you can jogg between two reference lines.
I do not suppose that you have the sports finder so what you could atleast just try is to use the whole top of your Alpa Max as a reference line (levelled of course), lower yourself so that you are looking sort of right through this line/top of cam and turn the whole cam left and right until you are seeing the same amount of your building (and its reference line) far left and far right.
Good suggestion Dan, and kind of similar to what I propose doing.

BTW: is there any piece of the Alpa system you don't own?! It seems they showed you the catalog, and you said "Yes"?
 

jlm

Workshop Member
stephen; if the two distances were the same, the camera would be in the right (and unique) spot. you would then have to pan the camera to center the L/R sides of the image in the view. of course this method would require you be centered as well as parallel.

using the mirror method will get you parallel with no other constraint
 

dick

New member
+1 measuring left/right features with distometer.

It will place you parallel to the facade with essentially perfect accuracy - ASSUMING the features of the building are square and symmetrical.

Or if you have an Arca with an eModule Cloud you can use that instead.
This would work if you can guarantee to compose symmetrically relevant to the features or edges.

...better to resort to a bit of elementary mathematics...

use a Pythagoras right angled triangle (e.g. 3,4,5)

pick a point in the centre of a plane, opposite the desired camera position

pick another point on the edge

measure the three sides of the triangle (including the distance along the face of the plane) and adjust until you are perpendicular to the centre point...

then, if the middle of the image is on the centre point, you know you are perpendicular

...this, of course, assumes that your lens is perpendicular to your film or sensor plane, so, if you cannot accurately zero your movements it will not work

The points might have to be above doors or windows, but, if they were at the same level it would not matter

...or use the digital compass on your iPhone... as metalwork in the building might effect the accuracy of a magnetic compass, digital is better... you do not need reference straight edges on the camera - just

take a bearing along the front of the building,

take a perpendicular bearing from the camera position

note which part of the building is opposite the camera and point the camera at it.

if you cannot set the camera movements to zero, take a bearing across the back of the camera, parallel to the sensor


( I have not posted for a while as I have been ill, but, last week, they got my heart to beat in Normal Sinus Rhythm, so I am now officially normal)
 
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