First Try at Pano

[Tri Danimal]

The is taken at a viewing vist overlooking Mono Lake, Ca USA. Let me know what you think C&C is appreciated.

Sony A7iii + Tamron 28-75mm
8 frames at ISO-100, 30mm, F5, 1/250sec

[Shadowman]

Nicely exposed in the foreground, horizon and sky looks a bit stretched though.

[Stagecoach]

The is taken at a viewing vist overlooking Mono Lake, Ca USA. Let me know what you think C&C is appreciated.

It's a good first attempt.

What may have improved things would have been to get the foreground in focus, it's looking rather soft. This could have been achieved by either stopping down and increasing the ISO or selecting your focus plane more carefully to take account of the DoF.

[Wavelength]

I liked it overall...

[Geoff F]

I can't see the joins so that works for me. Tricky exposure range as well.

[Manfred M]

Looks fine at this size. Panos really do not show their faults when viewed at magnifications below 100%, so this small image looks good and seamless. Only you will know how well the merging went when you look at the full-sized version.

[rpcrowe]

I don't do a lot of panos or HDR composites. However, I have done a few panos with the camera in the vertical (portrait) position using an Arca Compatible L Bracket. Unless shooting in confined areas, the L bracket will work as well as a pano bracket in the vertical configuration...

Shooting this way, you can use a longer focal length and get the same top to bottom coverage as you would with a shorter focal length lens shooting with the camera in the landscape position. The amount of left to right coverage is simply predicated on the number of exposures you decide to use in making the composite.

The longer Focal length has a few advantages. Sometimes when shooting with a wide focal length, distortion inhibits the Pano composite. Also longer focal lengths tend to compress the image resulting in a more interesting background.

Another point is that I tend to like panos best when either end is "anchored" by a significant portion of the image - which could be a tree, a mountain, a rock, etc....

Of course a tripod is the best when shooting a series of images for a Pano composite but, a monopod can be useful when a tripod is not available. I can do a fairly good hand held pano series by holding the camera to he eye level viewfinder, locking my elbows into my chest and rotating my body at my hips. IMO, it would be well nigh impossible for me to do an effective hand held pano series if I was viewing via the LCD...


I just took the A6400 outside with several different prime lenses and played with the automatic pano capability of that camera. My verdict is that it does a fairly decent job but, that I don't have the control shooting this way as I would by shooting individual images and assembling them in Photoshop. One thing that is nice: I can shoot the pano left to right, right to left. plus up or down. Choosing the "down" option does a fairly decent job when I have the camera in the vertical position.

I noticed some distortion (see the curving roof line) in this hand-held pano using a 30mm f/1.4 Sigma lens in the vertical position. I don't know if a tripod mounted sequence would show any different result than the hand-held images. I suspect that if I held the camera exactly vertically rather than pointing up a bit, the distortion would be lessened.



The A6400 allows only a finite number of images in any pano sequence and you can only shoot in JPEG. The coverage left to right is predicated on the speed at which I pan while firing the sequence - I suspect that if I panned faster, I could have included more left to right coverage. When shooting a pano of individual shots, I am the one (not the camera) that decides the left to right coverage as well as the overlap. However this auto pano might be worth practicing with...

[Tri Danimal]

Thanks for the comments guys. I have a habit of always using to shallow of a depth of field. When I head outdoors I try to remind myself "stop-down as there is a whole world to see" this has been helping but since this photo was captured early in out trip I don't think I remembered to stop down enough.

[Tri Danimal]

I just took the A6400 outside with several different prime lenses and played with the automatic pano capability of that camera. My verdict is that it does a fairly decent job but, that I don't have the control shooting this way as I would by shooting individual images and assembling them in Photoshop. One thing that is nice: I can shoot the pano left to right, right to left. plus up or down. Choosing the "down" option does a fairly decent job when I have the camera in the vertical position.

I noticed some distortion (see the curving roof line) in this hand-held pano using a 30mm f/1.4 Sigma lens in the vertical position. I don't know if a tripod mounted sequence would show any different result than the hand-held images. I suspect that if I held the camera exactly vertically rather than pointing up a bit, the distortion would be lessened.


The A6400 allows only a finite number of images in any pano sequence and you can only shoot in JPEG. The coverage left to right is predicated on the speed at which I pan while firing the sequence - I suspect that if I panned faster, I could have included more left to right coverage. When shooting a pano of individual shots, I am the one (not the camera) that decides the left to right coverage as well as the overlap. However this auto pano might be worth practicing with...

Richard,

I agree with you, however, I think with the target audience for the A6400 being the YouTube Vlogger I think the JPEG Pano feature of the A6400 will be just right for most of them. Many Vloggers do not want to have to carry multiple cameras on their trips. and you know what they say, "the best camera is the one you have with you when the capture is ready."