Forgot Password
Pentax Camera Forums Home
 

Reply
Show Printable Version Search this Thread
01-26-2015, 01:43 PM   #31
Veteran Member
kh1234567890's Avatar

Join Date: Sep 2010
Location: Manchester, UK
Photos: Gallery
Posts: 2,653
QuoteOriginally posted by WPRESTO Quote
2) It is essentially impossible to rotate the camera/lens precisely around the nodal point without using a tripod (=cannot do it hand held).
Actually it is not that hard :




Handheld without any aids, 3 shots, DA21, f/5.6, stitched in Autopano Giga to give projection like the DA15. Took a couple of minutes to do.

But we digress

.


Last edited by kh1234567890; 01-26-2015 at 02:45 PM.
01-26-2015, 01:45 PM   #32
Site Supporter
Site Supporter
mgvh's Avatar

Join Date: Sep 2010
Location: MD
Photos: Gallery | Albums
Posts: 1,029
You don't necessarily need the camera GPS device (though it would be handy).
I just use my Garmin running watch that has GPS. Make sure the time on your camera and your GPS are the same. Track your path and save/export the GPS file (GPX or TPX file) it generates. Then use the free Geosetter program which allows you to synchronize the GPS data with the timestamps on your pictures and automatically apply the location data to the metadata of the image file.
01-26-2015, 02:47 PM   #33
Loyal Site Supporter
Loyal Site Supporter




Join Date: Dec 2009
Location: Dallas / Yucatan
Posts: 1,829
Original Poster
QuoteOriginally posted by mgvh Quote
You don't necessarily need the camera GPS device (though it would be handy).
I just use my Garmin running watch that has GPS. Make sure the time on your camera and your GPS are the same. Track your path and save/export the GPS file (GPX or TPX file) it generates. Then use the free Geosetter program which allows you to synchronize the GPS data with the timestamps on your pictures and automatically apply the location data to the metadata of the image file.
This reminds me of how I once was the master of 'all things' technical, but then took a staff job (policy, procedures, coordination; instead of hardware/software) and now I'm falling quickly behind in every area.

Very interesting concept. It's another GAS issues, meaning I'd need a Garmin running watch, too (do I have to run? ) Seems there are quite a few to choose from. The synchro of GPS data with timestamps on the pics would seem to make it all so easy.

The Pentax O-GPS seems to have some other uses, like astrotracking, which would be nice (maybe?) and perhaps end up with some nighttime shots of the structures and stars in combination? I've gotta say, the nights are a lot more comfortable than the days in the sun.

This is all expanding into many new areas. I love chasing them, but upfront, I want to take clear and interesting photos. Those aspects of the "gear needed issues" keep bringing me back to lenses and, perhaps, a new-to-me body.
01-26-2015, 02:56 PM   #34
Site Supporter
Site Supporter
crewl1's Avatar

Join Date: Jul 2010
Location: Los Angeles, CA
Photos: Gallery | Albums
Posts: 9,807
QuoteOriginally posted by yucatanPentax Quote
The Pentax O-GPS seems to have some other uses, like astrotracking, which would be nice (maybe?) and perhaps end up with some nighttime shots of the structures and stars in combination?
As I understand this it rotates the sensor in conjunction with stars tracking across the night sky, so wouldn't this function give blurry land structures?

01-26-2015, 02:58 PM   #35
Veteran Member
kh1234567890's Avatar

Join Date: Sep 2010
Location: Manchester, UK
Photos: Gallery
Posts: 2,653
QuoteOriginally posted by mgvh Quote
I just use my Garmin running watch that has GPS. Make sure the time on your camera and your GPS are the same. Track your path and save/export the GPS file (GPX or TPX file) it generates. Then use the free Geosetter program which allows you to synchronize the GPS data with the timestamps on your pictures and automatically apply the location data to the metadata of the image file.
Your mobile phone will probably do GPS and record a track which can then be exported to a GPX file and synched with your shots in GeoSetter. Since I invariably forget to change the time zone on the camera or set its clock accurately, I just take a shot of phone time display every so often and use that to line up the timestamps in GeoSetter.
01-26-2015, 03:17 PM   #36
Veteran Member
emalvick's Avatar

Join Date: Feb 2008
Location: Davis, CA
Photos: Gallery
Posts: 1,642
Like others I rely on GeoSetter to sync images. When my wife and I have traveled over the past 5 years we have one GPS device that records a track-log and then we just sync our images with the tracklog in GeoSetter. I still have the flash shoe available, and it allows me to Geotag for two cameras.

In the past two years, I ended up buying a device by QStarz that basically just records where you've been and nothing more. It won't navigate. There are no screens. etc. It just records a point every 10 seconds (per my settings). I throw it in my camera bag and it just works. I take it home and can pull off the track-log(s) (it records a new log each day). I've also used my phone for shorter trips if I'm confident that logging will kill the battery. Phones can do that sometimes...

The tracker I used is one of the devices that looks like the first item in the link below (I'm not sure on the model number). Other companies make similar devices.

Amazon.com: qstarz

It's not the easiest thing to use when it comes to getting the data off of it, but as long as you don't try to do more than just getting a tracklog off of it, it's sufficient.
01-26-2015, 03:59 PM   #37
Loyal Site Supporter
Loyal Site Supporter
WPRESTO's Avatar

Join Date: Aug 2010
Location: Massachusetts
Photos: Gallery | Albums
Posts: 58,949
I'm still at the colored-pin-in-map stage of relocating where I was.

01-26-2015, 08:19 PM   #38
Loyal Site Supporter
Loyal Site Supporter




Join Date: Dec 2009
Location: Dallas / Yucatan
Posts: 1,829
Original Poster
QuoteOriginally posted by crewl1 Quote
As I understand this it rotates the sensor in conjunction with stars tracking across the night sky, so wouldn't this function give blurry land structures?

That's what I would expect. A moving sensor compensating for star movement should blur stationary items, right?
But look at these photos.

I readily admit I know nothing about this. Maybe someone who has been astrotracking can explain more to us? O-GPS 1 help here?

Last edited by yucatanPentax; 01-26-2015 at 08:24 PM.
01-26-2015, 08:38 PM   #39
Site Supporter
Site Supporter
RobA_Oz's Avatar

Join Date: Nov 2008
Location: Tasmania, Australia
Photos: Gallery
Posts: 8,182
QuoteOriginally posted by Kerrowdown Quote
... I suppose that I could just use my SMC Pentax Shift 28mm F3.5 in the first place and be done with it.
How do you find its performance in the corners? My copy isn't wonderful for detailed work, but I haven't experimented too much with complex subjects and stopping down.
01-26-2015, 09:49 PM   #40
Loyal Site Supporter
Loyal Site Supporter




Join Date: Jun 2009
Location: Tumbleweed, Arizona
Photos: Gallery | Albums
Posts: 5,698
QuoteOriginally posted by yucatanPentax Quote
  1. Visit (the same and more) sites and take more interesting photos than in the past.
  2. Visit sites, taking better technical (sharp) and artistic photos than the past.
  3. Create visual impressions of the larger site area and tie in individual structures and structure details to the overall scene <-- point at which I began this thread.
  4. Add panoramas.
  5. Add GPS and mapping. And the "walk-through" concept is really intriguing.
Evening - I just wanted to add a bit here. On your list here, I do think that you can do everything with what you currently have. I would go out and shoot some stitched panos just to see if it works for you. If it does not appeal to you - don't bother with them. On the "walk-through", the program does feature matching backed to a degree with location, but does not require any location information to work. So, you really do not need any GPS. I am thinking a bit into the future here where I do think that location will become more important. But as folks have commented, there are other way to add location information in - if you desire to do so.

I also wanted to toss some comments in on the topic of stitching panos. To be perfectly accurate, rotating perfectly around the nodal point is the best. Now, in actual practice - unless you have something close in, in front of you - parallax is not really going to be a problem. I have really only shot a couple of panos where it has been a problem, and I should have recognized it and move a bit so that it would not have occurred. Either that, or pulled out my pano head (that I did not bring a couple of times) and used it. Large scale structures, I really doubt that you will have any parallax problems - as they are usually isolated to tall thin objects - small trees, branches, light poles, stuff like that. Yup - its a generalization, but it usually works. In my opinion where pano heads really shine is when you are taking multiple rows with lots of frames. Hand holding, you can make a mistake and leave a void or an empty spot. I do a lot of single row panos, directly off my ballhead with out any nodal rail - but they are landscapes or cityscapes.

QuoteOriginally posted by yucatanPentax Quote
That's what I would expect. A moving sensor compensating for star movement should blur stationary items, right?
But look at these photos.

I readily admit I know nothing about this. Maybe someone who has been astrotracking can explain more to us? O-GPS 1 help here?
I can fill in some detail off the link that you have. I was using that thread as kind of a notebook of what I did and what worked and didn't. It was my first time out with the GPS unit and really shooting the Milky Way. So it was a learning experience on everything. The thread turned in to much more that what I ever imagined. The first page or so of images are of Superstition Mountain. I was using a 12-24 @ 12 or so mm there and found that I could shoot up to about 40 seconds without a lot of noticeable blurring of the landscape. I am now really torn about using the GPS unit to shoot stars with landscape items in them. The other approach is layering in two images - one of the landscape without GPS and then of the star sky with GPS. I have not mastered that as of yet. The Milky Way starts to get good again here in the Northern Hemisphere in February through October. I intend to go out and do some more of this. I have some additional ideas that I want to try. Ultimately, fast glass is the answer to this, and the only really glass available is the Sigma 18-35/f1.8, especially wide at something like 18mm.

The Sigma 18-35/f1.8 would be nice - but, I have just spent my saved camera budget of about 2+ years worth on a K5IIs, a 60-250 with a 1.4TC and have just finished putting together a new PC with a fast CPU, lots of RAM, SSD, and 3TB of mirrored storage - to process on. Right now I am waiting on the 3TB RAID array to do a low level format - and you guys think that a K5 battery takes some time to charge.


Last edited by interested_observer; 01-26-2015 at 10:09 PM.
01-27-2015, 01:29 AM   #41
PEG Moderator
Loyal Site Supporter
Kerrowdown's Avatar

Join Date: Aug 2008
Location: Highlands of Scotland... "Hold Infinity in the palm of your hand" - William Blake
Photos: Gallery
Posts: 57,759
QuoteOriginally posted by RobA_Oz Quote
How do you find its performance in the corners? My copy isn't wonderful for detailed work, but I haven't experimented too much with complex subjects and stopping down.
You'll need to stop down a bit, F11 is the spot spot on mine and I find corners perfectly acceptable for what I need.
01-27-2015, 02:00 AM   #42
Veteran Member




Join Date: Nov 2013
Posts: 4,854
QuoteOriginally posted by kh1234567890 Quote
Actually it is not that hard :




Handheld without any aids, 3 shots, DA21, f/5.6, stitched in Autopano Giga to give projection like the DA15. Took a couple of minutes to do.

But we digress

.
Yes few minutes... and for a 3 shots to get from DA21 to DA15 field of view
01-27-2015, 02:00 AM   #43
Veteran Member




Join Date: Nov 2013
Posts: 4,854
QuoteOriginally posted by Michaelina2 Quote
Really?

Venice Waterfront: K7/DA 15, handheld, 5 image pano, MS-ICS Software, less than 10 minutes...




Grand Canal, Venice: K-x/M 28/2.0, handheld, 2 image pano, MS-ICE Software, about 10 minutes...



Cheers... M
The biggest issue with not using a tripod is on your last shoot where the noise is terrible. I wonder if you shouldn't have applyed some more noise removal at least.
01-27-2015, 02:12 AM   #44
Site Supporter
Site Supporter
RobA_Oz's Avatar

Join Date: Nov 2008
Location: Tasmania, Australia
Photos: Gallery
Posts: 8,182
QuoteOriginally posted by Nicolas06 Quote
The biggest issue with not using a tripod is on your last shoot where the noise is terrible. I wonder if you shouldn't have applyed some more noise removal at least.
To be fair, the noise is only noticeable on the full-sized image from Flickr, and it's always a complication to remove noise in the darker areas, whilst retaining detail elsewhere. Nonetheless, I think Michael's point in relation to hand-held panos is well made.
01-27-2015, 03:13 AM   #45
Pentaxian




Join Date: Apr 2007
Location: Sweden
Posts: 2,106
Rotating around the nodal point is only important if there is something close to the camera.

It's easy to test, close one eye and turn your head back and forth while looking at a fixed point in the distance, put up a finger in front of you and that finger will seem to move in relation to the background while you turn your head. If you could turn you head in the nodal point the finger would not move in relation to the background.

So if there are details in the foreground and you are not rotating in the nodal point, they will appear on different positions in relation to background on different pictures. Thus stiching will be impossible (without som very creative manipulations).
Reply

Bookmarks
  • Submit Thread to Facebook Facebook
  • Submit Thread to Twitter Twitter
  • Submit Thread to Digg Digg
Tags - Make this thread easier to find by adding keywords to it!
catholic, da, direction, distance, example, gps, help, itza, k-mount, lens, lenses, lot, ltd, macro, pentax lens, photos, project, rocks, ruins, shots, sites, slr lens, structures, time, types, wr, yucatan
Thread Tools Search this Thread
Search this Thread:

Advanced Search


Similar Threads
Thread Thread Starter Forum Replies Last Post
Returning to Pentax, looking for some advice on setup for the Wilderness SweFin Troubleshooting and Beginner Help 20 09-11-2014 06:04 AM
Just Picked Up a Bunch of Darkroom Stuff & Looking For Advice! Yael Film Processing, Scanning, and Darkroom 5 04-08-2014 03:11 AM
Looking for some wedding advice. suphfly Troubleshooting and Beginner Help 17 11-20-2013 09:29 PM
Looking for Accessories Advice Killieman Pentax DSLR Discussion 8 07-21-2013 10:55 AM
New user looking for info and advice on adapting a lens for a canon dslr Gypsybird Welcomes and Introductions 4 06-23-2013 08:14 AM



All times are GMT -7. The time now is 09:33 AM. | See also: NikonForums.com, CanonForums.com part of our network of photo forums!
  • Red (Default)
  • Green
  • Gray
  • Dark
  • Dark Yellow
  • Dark Blue
  • Old Red
  • Old Green
  • Old Gray
  • Dial-Up Style
Hello! It's great to see you back on the forum! Have you considered joining the community?
register
Creating a FREE ACCOUNT takes under a minute, removes ads, and lets you post! [Dismiss]
Top