# Testing a new lens - & Stereoscope effect



## DonaldG (Aug 23, 2007)

Been testing a new prime (Sigma 50mm f/2.8 macro) mounted on my Canon 20D

Here are a couple of stereo pairs - you have to squint (go boss-eyed) to see the full 3D effect.





















Henry!









Strawberry - close-up









Strawberry - 1:1 macro


----------



## WereBo (Apr 5, 2008)

WOW!!! Talk about crystal clarity!!!

I tried squinting but I still couldn't get the 3D effect, I'd need to clamber into my mum's loft, then hope I could find my old 3D-viewer that was given away, I think it was in boxes of 'Weetabix', when I was a young pup :grin:

The pic of Henry is very well done and subtly shows extraordinary detail, right down to the minute gap where the jet-trail starts and the plane ends ray:

The strawberry close-up steals the show though - Totally amazing!!! 

Oh, if they're your strawberries, then Mrs WereBo is officially annoyed, hers are still green!









:grin:


----------



## DonaldG (Aug 23, 2007)

Thanks WereBo

the 'squint' method is best done by positioning the centre dividing line in line with your nose. Then slowly go cross-eyed so that the left image merges with the right. this will create 3 images in your brain. At the point of perfect merge, the 3D effect will literally jump out!

After all, it is an optical delusion :grin:

I am quite pleased with the lens - I bought it primarily to do 360 degree high definition panoramas - I have been using my big zoom lens but it is physically too large to align the nodal point on the axis of the pano.

Here are a couple that I did with a pro pano head - can't dispay them here so here is a couple of links..

A Church Yard

Inside the Church


----------



## WereBo (Apr 5, 2008)

Even as a young pup, the 'squint' method never seemed to work for me and now I wear glasses, I can't even get close to going 'boss-eyed' :grin:

I assume the pano-head is motorised? The effect is amazing, although dizzying when spinning round after zooming in, it gives an excellent demonstration of the 'fish-eye' effect :laugh:


I love your village there, it's very reminiscent to where a good chum of mine lives - Luccombe, in Somerset.


----------



## SABL (Jul 4, 2008)

Nice work, Donald!! 

I can't do the 3D, either...................................................plus, my mom told me not to cross my eyes or they would stay that way!!


----------



## DonaldG (Aug 23, 2007)

Thanks SABL - they only stay that way when the wind changes and you tell a lie! :grin:

WereBo: No the pano head is not motorised. it is a manually turned one with indexing stops available for all focal length lenses...:









The Indexing head is sitting on a fine adjustment levelling head so that the whole thing can be bought into true with the bubble spirit level.

The next three images show the Canon 5DMk2 with a 28mm~300mm zoom lens - As you can see, the lens is a brute of a thing and though it is a fantastic bit of kit, the lens is a wee bit too big to set up properly. The other gadget attached to the camera and plugged into the side is a wireless release unit ...:
















Although I mainly do cylindrical panos, I am starting to get into 360 degree sphericals. So, once you have taken all the shots for a normal 360, the camera gets tilted up to take another series of shots, then pointed down to do the same. You end up with hundreds of pictures that have to be stitched together...:







...

With a 50mm lens on a 'crop' camera like the 20D that has a 1.6 multiplication factor, and with it in vertical (portrait) mode, allowing for image overlap, 360 pano needs 28 frames (One every 12.8 degrees). On a full frame camera like the 5D2, only 18 frames need be exposed (one every 20 degrees)

All that said & done, it is very easy to do a 180, 270 or 360 degree pano with only a basic camera and no pano head...

1 hold the camera in horizontal mode
2 put the horizon in the centre line of the viewfinder and keep the camera level
3 Take a shot but before you move, take note of what is dead centre of the viewfinder...
4 ... keeping the camera level, carefully turn clockwise and place the object that was dead centre in the first shot, place it on the left edge of the viewfinder and take the next frame...Then...repeat '4' until the desired scene is captured

Ideally you should set the camera to manual focus and manual exposure. That ensures equal exposure, frame by frame and that the camera auto-focus is not 'hunting'

All you have to do now is stitch them all together...There are several software offerings that will automatically stitch panos - Just Google 'Panorama software'

This one was taken purely hand held as per above










The best is PTgui which does a fantastic job, but it ain't fee...


----------



## WereBo (Apr 5, 2008)

I tried it manually a few times, the last being when I visited Whitby N Yorks, a few years ago - It was a dismal failure as I ended up with approx 1" across the centres that matched, by the time I'd 'topped an' tailed' them all to give a long parallel view.

It didn't help that I was standing on a slope with strong winds buffeting me, at the time









:grin:


----------



## DonaldG (Aug 23, 2007)

I know the feeling!

when you do the stitching manually, the likelyhood of getting a perfect match is very low because you are working with fixed distances of objects at the edge being different to the same objects in the centre of the photo.

That is where the stitching software comes into its own. The software first scans the images for common objects within the separate frames. It then calculates the various distances and warps the images so that there is a perfect match. the software also smooths out the differing exposures from frame to frame - Usually this works well but not always...


----------



## zuluclayman (Dec 16, 2005)

pano looks good Donald - as do the first ones (links) - have never really done any pano work - might give it a go over the next few weeks - have been experimenting with various techniques (faux tilt-shift using photoshop, lomo-style and similar in video) over the last few months while recovering from head injury and subsequent surgery.
Any suggestions for freeware or cheapish stitching software? Probably will only play with this so don't really want to spend a lot of $$$$ on it.


----------



## DonaldG (Aug 23, 2007)

Sorry to hear about the head injury and surgery ZCM - I sincerely hope that you are well on the road to full recovery.

I have just discovered this FREE pano stitching software 'HUGIN'


----------



## zuluclayman (Dec 16, 2005)

ha ha - Donald I downloaded and started playing with that exact same software yesterday after looking at yours again - looks OK but didn't get much of a chance to play: bad weather and a sore head saw to that :sigh:

thanks for your best wishes - I am getting much better than I was :grin:


----------



## zuluclayman (Dec 16, 2005)

my first beach panorama - waves just wouldn't keep still for me King Canute I am not :sigh: 

This was made using Hugin (freeware panorama stitching software) from 8 shots taken about midway along a 2km beach with a storm approaching from the south - got some great shots later as the storm and late evening light came together











one from later - ocean baths in the stormy evening light: the white igloo looking structure is the pumphouse.


----------



## WereBo (Apr 5, 2008)

Beautifully done Zulu, you've caught the 'heaviness' of the impending storm very well ray:


----------



## DonaldG (Aug 23, 2007)

Great captures ZCM - well done - the camera is working well & so are you...


----------



## Done_Fishin (Oct 10, 2006)

I've also been playing with Hugin, from within Ubuntu 9.10 

here are some recent (weekend of 26th June 2010) photo's i stitched together

This is the Ilea valley famous for the Neda waterfall & river


----------



## Done_Fishin (Oct 10, 2006)

Another panorama style stitched together from photo's of the river by the campsite.

perhaps we need a panorama section .. lol .. Nothing like yours Don .. but everyone has to start somewhere :wave:


----------



## DonaldG (Aug 23, 2007)

Very well done DF. Lovely panos. Looks like I'll have to d/l Hugin and use it too :grin:

Don't forget that panos and also be take vertically as well as horizontally :grin: 

One 'trick' that I use when I can't get back far enough to take, for instance, a church or other building, is to hold the camera vertical (portrait) orientation and do a pano that way this simulates having a much higher resolution camera too.


----------



## Done_Fishin (Oct 10, 2006)

When I don't have my tripod with me I try to give a 1/3rd overlap by keeping the camera steady, waiting for the picture to save, then moving my body slightly to the left .. I usually go left to right.

On one occasion that I made a vertical pan of a waterfall, I had to re-orientate the photos to horizontal then rotate the final picture.

I used to use panorama factory which is now way out of date, but worked fine. No Linux version though.


----------



## zuluclayman (Dec 16, 2005)

another pano done with Hugin - from my trip down to see my sister - the river (about 130 degree pan - 7 images)










further down the river later in the afternoon light - not a pano but a nice shot :grin:


----------



## DonaldG (Aug 23, 2007)

That is a great pano ZCM. Hugin is certainly working for you


----------



## WereBo (Apr 5, 2008)

Beautiful shots there Zulu, I'm impressed with that pano, the 'joins' are absolutely seamless, the water ripples have merged perfectly ray:


----------

