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someday maybe. Yes, I've done the required drooling over it.Large Format 8x20"
http://www.chamonixviewcamera.com/820.html
Tell me if I understood correctly:
-you are taking panoramic pictures with people
Yes. I imagine a grouping of people. As in the very long sample, you could say this group is a kind of village council
of the area that the warlord controls as his main base. I then find a location that can give me a sense of their environment,
but is not my primary consideration. My main thing is doing individual portraits. By sprinkling them around, at different depths,
and in mini-groupings, I also then get relationships to each other, or against each other, while getting a sense of their physical world.
while allowing me to spread them out, and create ini-groupings that speak of relationships.
-you are stitching individual images
-each individual image is lit separately, assistants may move the lights between images
Yes. Here's me flying by the seat of my pants.
Once I've got the sub-groupings in my head, I place them in their spots and place markers,
now having the full spread clear in my head.
then clear everybody out.
My tripod is placed center to the imagined final frame from left to right.
I compose for vertical, and then do a pass of individual frames overlapping, from L to R. - once with infinity in focus
and another pass with the space in between my closest subject, and infinity.
I had no sense of how I would deal with different planes of focus, and hoped that exposing for strobe,
held on a boom overhead each subject, would give me depth of field. If not, I'd layer in from the focus layers below.
I then repeat the process, shooting only one person at a time, from L to R, until I get to the overlap between the first and the second person, and so on...
Aside from my film shooter, I really only have locals (farmers, policemen etc..) to work as PAs and lighting, in a rowdy crowd atmosphere..
-you want more resolution than what your P45 is capable of (39 mpx), to print 3 feet tall (0.9m).
For the final print to be 3" tall, you would need about 7200 pixels vertically to print at 200dpi. The IQ180 is 10328 x 7760, so that would work if you just pan horizontally and take individual pictures in the "landscape" orientation.
sounds good. As the above long pano was really my main test, with the P45, I had to shoot vertically only. I've since decided to be more sensible, and aim for shorter lengths. The long sample, for example, is now 4ft x 56ft...need to rethink all that.
I can always jam several panels together to create an impression of length. As well, I could probably stop aiming for seamless stitching,
like one would for pure landscape, and live with that.
I expect however, to be shooting large groups for a while - so I'd have to figure out how to shoot more manageable shorter spreads, while making sure that I could reasonably stitch several groupings together, and clone and heal the seams where they meet.
And I'm sure a proper pano head would help a lot.
right now, 80mp back seems the most efficient compromise - considering I'm shooting a lot more traditional formats than just the panorama. Thanks a lot, and if there are any suggestions, I'd love to hear them.
This is my 3 cents worth. (inflation and all). How big are the final prints to be? It would seem to me that 45MP is more than enough to get the job done. I print 60" prints off of 12 MP. If it is sharp and you have a reasonable ISO so noise is not an issue, I just cannot imagine that you won't be able to make prints of any size that even at smelling distance won't be wonderful and thread count sharp. I now use a 36 MP Nikon and at base or near base ISO, locked down on a tripod, I cannot imagine what the upper limit might be in print size.
Thanks for the real-world perspective. I've heard it said as well, or have inferred from my own reading.
A used 80mp back is still a lot of $$ for me, at least. I do have a grant, as major as they go, but I do have other major production issues like flights, local transport etc, a crew to house and feed over three months..though, one's main capture device is pretty major.
The main issue is, its almost all in my head - I've never had a print the size I imagine, I've never shot with anything MF digital other than my P45. I'm gonna take care of that soon as I get back stateside, for sure...Yet, I just know. Cropping in, flesh tones, major focus issues with my eyes, improved interface, better sensors, a little more headroom...I'm kinda all alone out there, big crowds, drunk soldiers - so anything that can help me speed it up, and have confidence in the shot I just took is golden...
I'm no techie by a long shot - its always been 5o asa, all manual everything, since back in the day. But a little future-proofing seems like not a bad thing.
I'll call that a bit of a vote of confidence in myself.
Thanks for the input - you definitely got my head buzzing tonight..
thanks for the links. I did try a simple nodal-finding thing, but yes, if I get that down, its one less thing to worry about.A few further comments:
1: you can stitch panoramas as wide as you like providing that the camera rotates around the entrance pupil or the lens. To determine the position of the entrance pupil, check these sites:
http://www.johnhpanos.com/epcalib.htm
http://zooroomtechnologies.com/zr_Blog/_cameragear/_articles/_article012.html
https://www.nikonians.org/reviews/panoramas-finding-the-entrance-pupil-of-a-lens
2: the longer the lens, the less accurate the adjustment of the position of the entrance pupil should be. If you shoot outside and have plenty of space, use a long lens.
3: if you only do a single row, you don't really need a full pano head, just some kind of berth to attach your camera in position, preferably with an adjustable position. That can be an adjustable slide or a bar with a row of holes for your camera screw. As these are relatively simple mechanics, you could probably find a local machinist to build you the parts for relatively little money in Africa, although you may need to find someone versed in both photography and engineering to explain what you need. But maybe you have technical people in your party?
4: the resolution of your P45 will do the 3" tall print job if you can shoot the individual pictures in portrait position.
5: you are using an RZ 67 Pro IID. Panoramas will be easier with a lighter, smaller camera, either a Mamiya 645 or Hasselblad H1 for your back or even a Sony A7Rii.
If I already have the subjects' positions fixed and marked anyway, is there a difference to the final stitch - if I move my tripod to face each grouping or individual - Keep the same lens/same frame/same exposure but be able to light better than one guy with a strobe on a boom pole. Will shoot generous overlaps of course. Basically I'd "track" along a horizontal line, L to R, until I get to my last subject. As opposed to "panning" from a fixed position in the center. One might worry about getting a good stitch out of all that. But if I wasn't, and took care to overlap, and kept the tripod on this imaginary horizontal line...
Am I asking for too much trouble post-wise?
you are really brave not only because of the location and circumstances of you project but also because of the equipment you are going to use, in my commercial world camera and data backup options would have a much higher priority than resolution. so not even remotely would i consider a rz with an old digital back. in my view the best option for this task would be to have 2 canon 5dsr with the l 24-70 2,8 zoom lens and some high quality primes. this setup has many advantages - immediate backup because you can use 2 cards in camera - the zoom allows you to better adjust the framing - you have some deep of filed advantage compared to mf which can make stitching and composition easier - you can shot jpg and raw and use the jpg´s to build panoramas on location for preview even on an ipad or phone - you save money....You are most likely very correct there.
Hmm...more tweaks to the workflow then.
Nice thing now is I now have the time to shoot over two days
what I'd cram into 4 hours. Never thought of shooting in a circle.
Time to test out all this, including renting backs. yes. Thank you sir.
Thanks for your thoughts. Every input or reaction is really helpful, and I'm not being just polite.you are really brave not only because of the location and circumstances of you project but also because of the equipment you are going to use, in my commercial world camera and data backup options would have a much higher priority than resolution. so not even remotely would i consider a rz with an old digital back. in my view the best option for this task would be to have 2 canon 5dsr with the l 24-70 2,8 zoom lens and some high quality primes. this setup has many advantages - immediate backup because you can use 2 cards in camera - the zoom allows you to better adjust the framing - you have some deep of filed advantage compared to mf which can make stitching and composition easier - you can shot jpg and raw and use the jpg´s to build panoramas on location for preview even on an ipad or phone - you save money....