ok, so after playing with a couple of canon tilt/shifts, i became convinced i want to try something else (note: did not try the mk2 versions yet, but don't have high expectations). call it itchy hands...

here's the question to hassy buffs: i want to build a combo for a pano work, but don't want to splurge thousands on it. i'm thinking mirex, pano head and a hassy lens. question is which hassy? which lens would you consider for a potential pano work on canon 5d and why? i typically gravitate towards wides/standards but for starters I'll set 100mm as the upper bound. also, while reading this, can you comment on whether there's any optical difference between hassy c t*, ci t*, cf t* and cfe t* lenses?

EDIT: i am hoping the combo will be cheaper then the cheapest hartblei with zeiss glass, and at least as good quality-wise. note to myself - try hartblei with zeiss glass before setting it as a benchmark ;-)

I had the same intent. It's not cheap. I chose a second hand 40 cf, as it is their widest, is sharp, has little distortion, and has the Zeiss look. The earlier versions are not as good optically, and the later IF version, while a smidgeon sharper, has significant distortion and is 3-4 times as expensive (CFE nonIF version is not optically better than the CF version). The CF is plenty sharp. It is however a hefty lens. The Mirex adapter has some limits on the weight of the lens (ie. they don't recommend lenses over 100mm) because the tilt mechanism is held in place only by a friction screw (which is tiny). I turn the mirex upside down to avoid slipping issues if I'm not using the tilt mechanism.

Some are using a Mamiya Mirex adapter and then adding a Hasselblad adapter on top of that. While that may be an adequate solution, it seems like it would add weight, length, and more room for machining error to the whole Frankenstein piece.

Other lenses in the 50-100 mm range are cheaper than the 40 cf. The 100 is reported to be very nice. Realistically speaking, you get more than enough pixels in these panos to worry about the lens differences too much (ie IQ), other than picking your preferred focal length.

I also bought the RRS pano elements package second hand and put it on top of a Markins Q3 (some will say undersized, but it works for my travel purposes).

I had to made the same decision few days ago.
thanks to the forum I guess I did the right thing now.
Yesterday I received my Mirex (Canon/Mamiya), looks nice and high quality.
I expect to get a Mamiya Sekor C 35mm N on Friday, which I bought on ebay.

In the nest step maybe I´ll try the Mamiya to Hassy adapter with some fine lenses ... we will see.

I bought the Mirex mainly for Scheimpflug (Tilt) and Architecture (Shift). For my Panos I use a VR Head and Ballhead from RRS. It´s first clas quality !

But maybe in future I´ll stitch some shift-images too ...


@ erichard:

nice pano, no stitchingproblems there. How long was the time in front of the computer ?
there are a lot of moving objects ...

roschko wrote:
@ erichard:

nice pano, no stitchingproblems there. How long was the time in front of the computer ?
there are a lot of moving objects ...



I was wondering if anyone would notice that. Yes, and I had to make the stoplights coincide, as on some, they were green in one and yellow in another. Part of the reason I took so little time at the camera was to get everyone in a static position, rather than in multiples. You really do have to take several photos at each angle to handle the problems that inevitably crop up. That took a while to get right, and there are a couple glitches I couldn't correct, which if you look closely you may notice (more funny than problems.)

Here's one from another day down there, and there are massively more people than the previous photo, as it was French Quarter Fest that day. I didn't include it in this thread because I took it with the Leica 100mm (no Mirex):

http://gigapan.org/viewGigapanFullscreen.php?auth=3879dad3a1a78650ecfa6c743f7f26cc

That one is just over 360 degrees. That Leica is a sweet lens. Look at the colors in that shot. For those not used to Gigapan, remember to zoom in to see the detail.

I would try the new 17 TS-E or the 24 TS-E first. I think you would be very surprised. In fact I would love to see a comparison between the new mark ll's and what you are suggesting above.

i would too ;-) but considering i don't have either at the moment....

the 17 ts-e would probably have quite a bit of distortion, making it less suitable for pano stitching.

eRichard,

haha, on that first Pano at Cafe Du Monde I see the dude with the beer in a brown bag 4 times.

excellent job. I was inspecting it fairly closely.

thumps up!

The lens is relatively distortion free. You stitch by shifting the lens not by pano rotating.

except when you do 360, then shifting alone doesn't cut it...

No

brucemuir wrote:
eRichard,

haha, on that first Pano at Cafe Du Monde I see the dude with the beer in a brown bag 4 times.

excellent job. I was inspecting it fairly closely.

thumps up!

You got it & thanks. By looking at how far he gets between shots, you can see the speed of the panos (frequency). If I had taken a few more shots at those angles, I could have layered/masked him out. Oh well. I was more experimenting than trying to come up with the world's greatest pano. I do very much like how the Hassy/Zeiss renders the scene.

eRichrd,
no, no no,I wasn't cutting on you my friend.

I spent quite awhile looking around on Decatur St, the level of detail is just mind blowing.

I hung out down there for a few months when I helped a buddie move there in the 80's so it brought back memories.

I don't know much about the amount of work that goes into one of these but yes, the spots that dude shows up in is a testament to your disciplined technique.

One of my favorites is the guy who is about to get his croissant stolen by some tourists dog .

Great work, I enjoyed it. Amazing.

Bruce, Thanks again, I took it as a compliment the first time, no worries. I always look at my images in a critical light, trying to think what I could have done better.

I was born in New Orleans, and that spot is about my favorite in town. It's hard to find so much authentic atmosphere for so little money (coffee and beignets for a buck or two.)