Creating 360 degree panorama shot with still images

[James B.]

Can anyone point me to any examples online, or offer any helpful tips in creating a smooth 360 panorama shot using images?

Reasons for using stills as opposed to video are 3-fold

- better resolution
- no jello (using a DSLR)
- creating smooth continuous pan impossible without motorized rig

I already have a custom panorama head which I can use for precisely determining the rotation degrees.

So for a 7.5 second pan, @ 24fps I would need 180 total images. 360/180 would give a 2 degree increment each shot.

 

[bevan goldswain]

"Smoothness" will happen when you have motion blur relative to the speed of the pan and when you pan speed ramps up and then down.

I shot something similar years ago, had a much less precise head for the rotation. All stills were sharp and I ramped the speed and added blur in after effects, worked well.

Checkout the "Astro" kick starter project.

 

[Dr. Sassi]

Hi James,

Perhaps before I say anything about panos, how about the Motion Mount. So far I can tell (Motion Mount Canon), it is just a great option to avoid most artifacts.

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Do you like to shoot live or do you shoot in an environment with no motion, just camera motion?

If the latter, you might shoot less images than you mentioned, to create a 360º/180º and place this in a 3D software package. As I teach Cinema4D, that would be my biased suggestion (but any 3D should handle that, even NUKE can do that).

The advantage is here, that you can determine the panning speed later on and change as well the motion blur. If you create an HDRI pano, then the motion blur will look most of the time even better.

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I do a lot of panoramas. (https://plus.google.com/photos/110784099379805584044/albums/5667823169431960481) -- I shot my first panorama in the '90s. Since then for many reasons and projects, partly for my movies, as background (Animation/Practical mix)
I have used a lot of software and my best advice is to get PTGui for this. It is not often that I don't use it a day.

In a few weeks I will start posting my "Panorama" sub series (Part of the "Photography for 3D Artists" series), if you have a little bit of time, perhaps that will answer all questions.
https://plus.google.com/b/104476677499865416121/104476677499865416121/posts
The main question would be, what target use do you have and what resolution do you think you need as deliverable. Considering the field of view as well, and you have your initial resolution; My tip is always to go >1.5 times higher in pano resolution than you need as final.


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A 7.5 second pan for a 360º, that sounds more like a fisheye pan? Even that will be super fast. Anything longer (lens-wise) is certainly just horizontal motion blur.
http://www.red.com/learn/red-101/camera-panning-speed
... or the ACS Manual 10th edition Page 891+


Good luck