The following presented Panorama Calculator is specially designed for the Manfrotto panorama head 303SPH. The calculator takes into account the fix horizontal raster 90°, 60°, 45°, 36°, 30°, 24°, 20°, 15°, 10° und 5° of the 303SPH. For a given horizontal field of view, the Panorama Calculator calculates the appropriate raster to insert the screw on the right place on the 303SPH. Thereby the predefined horizontal overlap is guaranteed. The vertical parameters are certainly calculated to adjust the elevator with sufficient vertical overlap between each row. This depends on the selected vertical field of view and the vertical overlap.
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The calculator calculates all relevant panorama parameters for cylindrical (MultiRow) and spherical panoramas. For spherical panoramas, a special algorithm reduces the number of images in rows successively, when the vertical angle is larger than a given angle away from the panorama horizon. Thereby the predefined horizontal overlap is guaranteed all the time. The calculations are based on the predefined horizontal/vertical panorama field of fiew, the predefined horizontal/vertical overlap between images and the camera model (sensor size) and the focal length of the lens to capture the panorama. As an extra, the Panorama Calculator provides a bracketing calculator to make it easy to estimate the different shutter speeds in a bracket when shooting DRI / HDRI photos or panoramas. I also added a calculator to estimate the hyper focal distance (HFD) and Depth of Field (DoF) for a given sensor (camera model) and focal length.
If you like to find out more about the Manfrotto 303SPH Panorama Calculator, just carry on reading. Additionally, the complete operator's manual and a short guide can be downloaded under the following link: Products / Download
Panorama VR Heads: Manfrotto 303SPH
Panorama Calculator for: Manfrotto 303SPH
Panorama Calculator Menu Structure
Hyper focal distance and Depth of Field Calculator
The Panorama Calculator represented here, is developed for the operating system Windows from Microsoft
.
Good news for MAC
user! The Panorama Calculator should work also on a MAC with Intel CPU and installed "Wine". More details under the following link:
Which are the calculated parameters?
Which are the parameter inputs?
- Auto Norm. (Distance: Medial to Infinity)
- Auto Ext. (Close up / Macro
- Manually set angle of view mode
Further characteristics:
Which are the calculated parameters?
Which are the parameter inputs?
- Camera model with its parameters (to set once for a specific camera)
- Focal length of the used lens in millimeters [mm]
- Indivual minimal overlap between columns and rows in degrees [°]
- Three different calculation modes to calculate the vertical parameters:
- Caculation in fix step sizes
- Optimize Nadir/Zenith
- Take into account dead angle
- Calculation mode: Angle of View of a single image:
- Auto Norm. (Distance: Medial to Infinity)
- Auto Ext. (Close up / Macro
Further characteristics:
- Fix aperture and shutter speed for the brightest details in the panorama.
- Number of images pro camera position
- EV (Evaluation Value) step size selectable out of 6 values:½ EV step size: ½, 1, 1½, 2, 2½ and 3
or
1/3 EV step size: 1/3, 2/3, 1, 1 1/3, 1 2/3 and 2
Calculates shutter speeds for dark to bright areas of the panorama in max. 15 steps
Note: Most SLR cameras supporting an automatic bracketing mode. The Bracketing Calculator supports 15 images in a bracket. Normally SLR cameras are supporting just 3 images in a bracket.
With the horizontal and vertical sliding plates, the 303SPH MultiRow/Spherical panorama head can be adjusted exactly to the equipment specific Pivot Point. In most tutorials in the World Wide Web, this point is also named as the Nodal Point. The Pivot Point is placed where the entrance pupil of the lens is situated. It is the common point to rotate and tilt the camera in its horizontal and vertical axis. A correct adjusted Pivot Point avoids perspective distortion while stitching the single images to a panorama. The 303SPH’s vertical bracket can be unlocked and rotated through 90°, then re-locked that the head takes up less space in transportation. The sliding plate mechanisms are protected against knocks and bumps.
Manfrotto 303SPH |
The base element 300N allows the photographer to rotate the panorama head horizontally over 360° with 10 different constant step sizes. This is flexible enough to guarantee for most equipment combinations a convenient overlap between adjoining images. The different programmable horizontal step sizes are:
90°, 60°, 45°, 36°, 30°, 24°, 20°, 15°, 10°, 5°
and in accordance to the numbers of steps or photos per 360°:
4, 6, 8, 10, 12, 15, 18, 24, 36, 72
The tilt or vertical positions can be adjusted on the vertical bracket to any value in between ±90°.
For additional information’s please choose the corresponding links under "Informations => Links":
The Manfrotto 303SPH Panorama Calculator is fully integrated in the philosophy of the Manfrotto 303SPH with their fix horizontal programmable step sizes. To calculate the correct horizontal and vertical parameters, the Panorama Calculator takes into account most equipment combination. The calculation guarantees a horizontal and vertical overlap between adjoining images as entered in the Panorama Calculators input mask.
Another option to make a panorama is to use the bracketing mode of a DSLR camera. In this mode, for each camera position a sequence of images with different shutter speed are captured. This enables the photographer to blend the different sequences of images to a single HDRI image (High Dynamic Range Imaging).
The Panorama Calculator supports the panorama types MultiRow and Spherical. Furthermore a bracketing calculator helps the photographer to estimate the different shutter speeds as base to create a HDRI image.
The following menu structure of the Panorama Calculator should describe the different menus in more detail. This will show you how easy and fast the parameters for a specific equipment combination can be calculated.
The calculator will be available and delivered by e-mail with a detailed documentation.
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For more details click on a calculator in the vertical menu bar. |
For more details click on the "Select" button.
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The picture above shows the menu structure of the Panorama Calculator. A click on a one of the light gray submenu will jump to a high resolution picture and a more detailed description of the menu. The Panorama Calculator is bi language, German and English. The selection of language is done by shortcuts or by selecting in the menu “Extra”.
The MultiRow Panorama Calculator is divided into an input and an output field. Before calculating the parameters, the default input fields should be overwritten with the values estimated for a specific panorama. In the output fields, important horizontal and vertical parameters are displayed to position the panorama head for each single image. The "Calculation" button and the status line are placed at the bottom. If necessary, warnings are displayed in the status line.
After starting the MultiRow Panorama Calculator, the indicated “Camera Model” at the top of the input field should be checked. If a different camera is displayed as the one should be used, it’s easy to choose the correct camera model in the database via the “Select” button.
Before starting a calculation the following parameters should be entered in the input masks:
Horizontal and vertical Angle of View (AoV) of a lens given by the manufacturer are appropriate when the range finder is set to infinity. When panoramas are taken in the close up or macro range, the AoV will be narrower compared to the AoV when the range finder is set to infinity. The influence of this optical fact is more important for longer focal lengths and less important for wide angle lenses. The "Calculation Modes: Angle of View 1 Pic H/V" has the following meaning:
This calculation modus does not allow a mixed calculation for near, medium and far distances. Even though it is very helpful to know the behavior of the AoV for a single image for a specific distance. This allows the photographer to add an additional column and/or row to be sure the overlaps are sufficient.
After pressing the "Calculation" button, all the Manfrotto 303SPH necessary parameters are displayed in the output field to position the panorama head for each image.
In this version, the Panorama Calculator calculates an optimized number of images for each single row . Thereby, the programmable step sizes of the Manfrotto 303SPH are taken into account. Especially in high resolution panoramas this algorithm saves a lot of images .
When removing the tick "Optimizer for no. of Columns in Rows", the Panorama Calculator calculates the horizontal parameters for the horizontal plain. These parameters are used also for rest of the rows.
The Spherical Panorama Calculator is divided into an input and an output field. Before calculating the parameters, the default input fields should be overwritten with the values estimated for a specific panorama. In the output fields, important horizontal and vertical parameters are displayed to position the panorama head for each single image. The "Calculation" button and the status line are placed at the bottom. If necessary, warnings are displayed in the status line.
After starting the Spherical Panorama Calculator, the indicated “Camera Model” at the top of the input field should be checked. If a different camera is displayed as the one should be used, it’s easy to choose the correct camera model in the database via the “Select” button.
When the “Camera Model” is set and the "Camera-Parameter" as Sensor size, Sensor resolution and Dead angle in the database are OK, just three parameters has to be entered in the input field before starting a calculation. The parameters are the focal length of the lens in millimeter and the minimum planned "Min. Overlap Columns (H)" and "Min. Overlap Rows (V)". The engraved value on the lens, without any factor, should be entered in the input mask “Focal Length”.
A click on the “Calculation” button calculates the necessary parameter to position the panorama head for each single image in the panorama. And most important, all horizontal and vertical overlaps between adjoining images are at least the value entered in the input fields "Min. Overlap Columns (H)" and "Min. Overlap Rows (V)" (with some exception).
To calculate the position of the rows (vertical), three calculation modes are available:
In this mode, the positions of the rows are calculated to get fix step sizes between ±90° in the vertical axis. The image at +90° is called as the image in Zenith and the image at -90° is called as the image in Nadir.
While turning the panorama head fully from 0° to 360° horizontally, this calculation mode has a disadvantage. The top row overlaps the image in Zenith also at the length side of the image format. In this case an overlap as set in "Min. Overlap Rows (V)" can’t be guaranteed. The reason, why most panorama photographers normally use this calculation mode - it’s so easy to use.
This calculation mode eliminates the disadvantage of the mode with fix step sizes. While the top row overlaps the length side of the image in Zenith, the calculator calculats an overlap of at least "Min. Overlap Rows (V)". The consequence is slightly reduced overlaps between the rows.
The third and last calculation mode takes into account the dead angle caused by the panorama head in Nadir. In the calculation modes mentioned before it is possible that the lowest row to Nadir moves into the dead angle of the panorama head. In this case the photographer will capture image information which can't be used for the panorama.
This calculation mode moves the lowest row to Nadir out of the dead angel and allocates the rest of the rows to get equal overlaps between rows. Between Zenith and the top row an overlap of "Min. Overlap Rows (V)" is guaranteed as mentioned for the calculation mode “Optimize Zenith/Nadir” . Possibly the overlap between the lowest row and Nadir wouldn’t reach the value "Min. Overlap Rows (V)".
Horizontal and vertical Angle of View (AoV) of a lens given by the manufacturer are appropriate when the range finder is set to infinity. When panoramas are taken in the close up or macro range, the AoV will be narrower compared to the AoV when the range finder is set to infinity. The influence of this optical fact is more important for longer focal lengths and less important for wide angle lenses. The "Calculation Modes: Angle of View 1 Pic H/V" has the following meaning:
This calculation modus does not allow a mixed calculation for near, medium and far distances. Even though it is very helpful to know the behavior of the AoV for a single image for a specific distance. This allows the photographer to add an additional column and/or row to be sure the overlaps are sufficient.
Short introduction
In HDRI (High Dynamic Range Imaging) panorama photography “Bracketing” technique is used to master high dynamic range. That means, for a specific camera position, a whole set of images are taken. Each image in a “Bracket” should be taken with different shutter speeds. Between the images in the Bracket a fix EV-step size is used. As documented in the following image, it is a common practice to use odd-numbered values of images in a “Bracket”. So each “Bracket” has its centre image and symmetrical allocated the rest of the images as implemented in most digital DSLR cameras. During the whole panorama shooting the aperture should not be change to achieve constant depth of field in the panorama. As an example an EV-step size value of 1 EV complies with a change of the aperture form 5.6 to 8 or vs. 8 to 5.6.
For a photographer it is not that easy to estimate an appropriate number of images and the value for the EV-step sizes between the images in a “Bracket”. When using "Bracketing”, the objective is to be sure to cover the whole dynamic range for the panorama. When moving objects as vehicles or walking people are expected during the shooting, it is recommended to choose a conveniend aperture and EV-step size to obtain appropriate shutter speed for the low end of the dynamic range (the dark areas). When the shutter speed is too slow, moving elements will be fuzzy.
As a basic principle, all images should be taken in manual camera mode, whether the panorama is taken with or without “Bracketing”. Thereby, both aperture and focus should be left in manual mode . As mentioned above, between two images in a “Bracket”, the shutter speed is varying in steps of the selected EV-step size. This is necessary to get correct exposure for the full dynamic range of the panorama. When the panorama is taken without “Bracketing”, the shutter speed should be left unchanged too. Furthermore the white balance (WB) should be a fix value or selected by the symbols (sun, clouds ...). The same is appropriate for the ISO value. Focus should be adjusted manually. During the panorama shooting the focus should be readjusted in exceptional cases only.
A very helpful tool to estimate a convenient depth of field can be also downloaded under the following link on the web site of Bon Atkins.
http://www.bobatkins.com/photography/technical/depth_of_field_calc.html
First of all, it is important to measure the exposure for the brightest area in the panorama. When the luminance values for red, green and blue (RGB) exceed 250,250,250 the bright details are lost forever. Not even Photoshop and Co. will help to bring them back. Photographing in RAW format, gives more flexibility in this matter. When aperture and shutter speed are not changed during a panorama shooting the bright areas are exposed correctly but not the dark areas. In this case details in the dark areas are missing. Brightening up these areas is limited. The only way out is HDRI (High Dynamic Range Imaging).
The Panorama Calculator offers support for HDRI
With the following parameters the Bracketing Calculator can calculate up to 15 shutter speeds for a specific camera position (Bracket).
To estimate the lower border (dark areas) of the panorama dynamic range a second exposure measuring should be done. Remember the aperture is still unchanged as used for the upper dynamic range border. This measurement delivers the reference shutter speed for the dark areas. As a next step is to find out a convenient number of images and EV-step size to achieve the measured shutter speed for the dark areas. This is done by varying this values until the longest shutter speed is as close as possible to the one measured for the dark areas. The cameras histogram is very helpful to evaluate the correct exposure for the upper and lower end of the panoramas dynamic range.
After the shooting, programs like Photomatix, PTGui Pro, Photoshop ... are able to fit the single or even a Bracketing sets of an already stitched panorama to a HDRI panorama.
An Example
Let say the measured shutter speed and aperture for the bright areas, the upper limit of the panorama dynamic range, are 1/500” respectively f/8. As mentioned above the aperture stays unchanged during the whole panorama shooting. This to secure constant depth of field for each image. For the second measured shutter speed for the dark areas and the still an unchanged aperture f/8 we get 1/15”.
To avoid fuzziness from moving elements, it is important to take care the shutter speed at the lower end of the dynamic range (dark areas) is not too slow. If so, just use a higher shutter speed when measuring the bright areas in the panorama. Simultaneously the aperture will be decreased and ends in a smaller depth of field.
First calculation
First of all, we set the shutter speed and aperture, measured for the bright areas, in the Panorama Calculator by using up/down arrows. Next we set a trial number of images, used for each camera position, let say 5. And finally the EV-step size to 2 f-stops. With this presets, a first calculation should be done.
The calculated shutter speed for the lower end of the dynamic range shows the value 0.5” and is far away from the measured 1/15”. With this shutter speed the dark areas would be very overexposed – too bright.
To achieve a correct exposure for the dark areas we have two possibilities either we decrement the number of images or the EV-step size.
Second calculation
For the second shutter speeds calculation we use the following input parameters: aperture = 8, shutter speed = 1/500”, number of images = 5 and EV-step size = 1 1/3. The result for the shutter speed for the dark areas is indicated as a 1/13”. This exposure is just 1/3 f-stop overexposed - it's perfect.
A result something like 1/30" we can get when the EV-Step size is reduced from 1 1/3 to 2/3 and the no. of pic/position is increased from 5 to 7. In this case, the exposure for the dark areas will be 11/3 EV-Step underexposed. For a very high panorama dynamic range I would prefer this calculation.
As seen in the example above, by varying the EV-step size and/or the number of images per camera position, the shutter speeds for the “Bracketing” set are displayed after activating the “Calculate” button. The higher the dynamic range of a panorama the more images are needed for a “Bracketing” set. In other words the number of images and the EV-step size should be chosen to guarantee a correct shutter speed also for the dark areas.
Unfortunately most SLR cameras are supporting just 3 images in a Bracket. Normally the EV-steps are selectable in a range of +/- 2 in 1/3 or 1/2 EV-steps. For most Canons and Nikons SLR cameras www.breezesys.com offers for an affordable price a very interesting software solution to capture Brackets remote controlled with up 15 images in a Bracket. For the newer camera models with Live View, the software supports at lot camera settings as focusing, shutter speed, aperture, EV-step size ... including Live View and focus stacking on a notebook. The data transfer is done by a USB connection between camera and notebook. The software itself is downloadable at the owner's expense.
The software package "DSLR Remote Pro" is for Canon DSLR users, PSRemote for some Canon Compact cameras and NK Remote for Nikon DSLR users. For a compatibility check please visit Chris Breeze's website www.breezesys.com.
For further information about HDRI (High Dynamic Range Imaging) I recommend “The HDRI Handbook” from Christian Bloch. He describes all the details and what we can expect in the future in HDRI in a fascinating way.
ISBN: 9781933952055
ISBN-10: 1933952059
For the specific camera parameters, the database provides space for 100 different camera models. The values for the sensor size in millimeters and the number of pixels can be found in the documentation of the camera manufacturer. If not – they are also published in the World Wide Web. The dead angle caused by the panorama head in Nadir can be estimated by the photographer itself (default 18°). In the detailed documentation of the panorama calculator, a straight forward procedure guides the photographer through this task. Different focal length may also have different values for the dead angle of the panorama head. For MultiRow panoramas, which normally have no objects close in front of the lens, there is no need to use the dead angle for calculations. For correct operation of the Panorama-Calculator, a valid value must be defined for the "Dead Angle" in the upper right of the database - else the calculator will generate an error message.
In the first row of the “Camera Parameter” database, the default parameters are placed and will be used for calculation. Any time the Panorama Calculator is started, the default parameters are automatically loaded. It’s easy to place a camera to the first row as the default camera. This is done by overwriting the values in the first row with the new camera parameters and by pressing the button “Save Database” and quit the database by activating the 
. button.
If your camera is already in the database but not in the first row, just mark your camera model and press the buttons " Activate Camera Model" then "Save Database". After that close the Window. Now as long as you do not change anything, your camera is the default camera in the first row.
An other program is the Hyper focal distance and Depth of Field (DoF) Calculator. For high resolution panoramas, photographed with long focal length, Hyper focal distance and Depth of Field plays an important role. In panorama photography, normally Depth of Field can't be large enough. This can be achieved when focusing the lens to the Hyper focal distance. What is the Hyper focal distance and what are the parameters takes influence? The Hyper focal distance depends on the following physical values:
When shooting a panorama, especially high resolution panoramas, normally the photographer likes to get as much as possible sharp in the resulting stitched image. This can be reached when focusing to the so called “Hyper focal Distance”. When do so, the images will be sharp from half of the hyper focal distance to infinitely. This statement is correct when a single image is enlarged not more than 10” x 8” and viewed at a distance not closer than 1 foot.
While the button “Generate Script” is pressed the save dialog opens to save the script file. The script file includes in a nice presentation of all calculated parameters. The script file supports the photographer at the place he likes to take the panorama. Two examples of a script file can be downloaded under the following links: <Script file MultiRow Panorama> <Script file Spherical Panorama>
