PanoToolsNG

New motorized pano head

30 messages

1 2

Don French-3

New motorized pano head

Reply Threaded

Many months ago I said that I would soon have something worthwhile to
offer this group. Well it didn't happen soon, but I do have
something to offer finally. I hope that you consider it worthwhile.
Please be so kind as to check out AutoMate 1.0, my new motorized pano
head at http://www.TheGadgetWorks.com

Don French

Mark D. Fink

RE: New motorized pano head

Reply Threaded

Don,

A very impressive system. I particularly like the depth of features and
options for the controller. This is well thought out. I do have one
question. How do you account for parallax? Judging from the video, I don't
see how you can set the lens to the proper NPP, especially when you pitch
the camera.

Mark
www.nyc.360cities.net
www.pinnacle-vr.com
www.northernlight.net

> -----Original Message-----
> From: [hidden email] [mailto:[hidden email]] On
> Behalf Of Don French
> Sent: Monday, June 16, 2008 9:16 PM
> To: [hidden email]
> Subject: [PanoToolsNG] New motorized pano head
>
> Many months ago I said that I would soon have something worthwhile to
> offer this group. Well it didn't happen soon, but I do have
> something to offer finally. I hope that you consider it worthwhile.
> Please be so kind as to check out AutoMate 1.0, my new motorized pano
> head at http://www.TheGadgetWorks.com
>
> Don French
>
>
> ------------------------------------
>
> --
>
>
>

Fung Yu

Re: New motorized pano head

Reply Threaded

In reply to this post by Don French-3

Wow! At first look with that mounted long lens I'm
imagining tracking laser gun for long range targets!

Certainly an impressive system that I like to play
with! I presume you'll need some sliding plates to
adjust your camera/lens combination to align the
NPP?

Keep us updated! Cheers!

At 09:16 AM 6/17/2008, you wrote:

>Many months ago I said that I would soon have something worthwhile to
>offer this group. Well it didn't happen soon, but I do have
>something to offer finally. I hope that you consider it worthwhile.
>Please be so kind as to check out AutoMate 1.0, my new motorized pano
>head at <http://www.TheGadgetWorks.com>http://www.TheGadgetWorks.com
>
>Don French

[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]

Don French-3

Re: New motorized pano head

Reply Threaded

In reply to this post by Mark D. Fink

Thank you, Mark.

Yes, I expected that question to be asked first on this forum, and it
is a very good and valid question.

It is easy to position the nodal point over the axis of horizontal
rotation by using of any of many commercially available rails or the
horizontal section of a Nodal Ninja or similar. But it is not
possible to vertically rotate about the nodal point with AutoMate, at
least not with use the automated motorized tilting feature. This is a
limitation of the machine, as you correctly observed.

It is possible of course, as a half-way measure, to mount a manual
tilting head on the rotating platform for the sole purpose of doing
the vertical rotations. In this way, you could still at least benefit
from the automated horizontal rotation, and you would of course have
the benefit all the other features, such as the intervalometer.

Another way to answer the question is that it depends on what kind of
panos you shoot. If you take gigapixel panos of landscapes with a 400
mm lens, for example, rotating about the nodal point is usually not
necessary. It is only if there is something in the foreground that
parallax becomes an issue. And, as someone said at the xRez Yosemite
event, how do you find the nodal point of a 400 mm lens anyway.

But I am aware that most of people in this particular group are
interested in shooting spherical panos with wide angle lenses, where
there are definitely parallax issues. AutoMate is probably not well
suited for this application, except with the half-way measure
mentioned above.

But AutoMate also opens the door to doing new kinds of panos. It is
particularly easy, for example, to take time-lapse panos with
AutoMate, where you rotate, and possibly tilt, just a bit at every
interval, creating such interesting things as spiral time-lapse panos.

And if you do product photography, and have use for a programmable,
rotating, tilting, product table, ... :-)

Anyway, no, AutoMate is not perfect for every application.

Don French

--- In [hidden email], "Mark D. Fink" <markdfink@...> wrote:
>
> Don,
>
> A very impressive system. I particularly like the depth of features and
> options for the controller. This is well thought out. I do have one
> question. How do you account for parallax? Judging from the video, I
don't
> see how you can set the lens to the proper NPP, especially when you
pitch

> the camera.
>
> Mark
> www.nyc.360cities.net
> www.pinnacle-vr.com
> www.northernlight.net
>
>
> > -----Original Message-----
> > From: [hidden email]

[mailto:[hidden email]] On

> > Behalf Of Don French
> > Sent: Monday, June 16, 2008 9:16 PM
> > To: [hidden email]
> > Subject: [PanoToolsNG] New motorized pano head
> >
> > Many months ago I said that I would soon have something worthwhile to
> > offer this group. Well it didn't happen soon, but I do have
> > something to offer finally. I hope that you consider it worthwhile.
> > Please be so kind as to check out AutoMate 1.0, my new motorized pano
> > head at http://www.TheGadgetWorks.com
> >
> > Don French
> >
> >
> > ------------------------------------
> >
> > --
> >
> >
> >
>

Don French-3

Re: New motorized pano head

Reply Threaded

In reply to this post by Mark D. Fink

My pano gadget was featured on Gizmodo today!

http://gizmodo.com/5017214/automate-motorized-camera-mount-adds-tracking-time-lapse-to-your-dsl-for-panoramic-pics

I can hardly believe the amazing response I got as a result. My inbox
filled up almost instantly with requests to participate in the beta
program. I think that panoramic photography has gone mainstream,
thanks in large part to the Gigapan and the flood of ink they got last
year and again last month.

--- In [hidden email], "Mark D. Fink" <markdfink@...> wrote:
>
> Don,
>
> A very impressive system. I particularly like the depth of features and
> options for the controller. This is well thought out. I do have one
> question. How do you account for parallax? Judging from the video, I
don't
> see how you can set the lens to the proper NPP, especially when you
pitch

> the camera.
>
> Mark
> www.nyc.360cities.net
> www.pinnacle-vr.com
> www.northernlight.net
>
>
> > -----Original Message-----
> > From: [hidden email]

[mailto:[hidden email]] On

Don French-3

Re: New motorized pano head

Reply Threaded

Those of you going to Prague will be able to get a peek at the
AutoMate, thanks to Torsten Hemke who bought a beta unit and will be
bringing to the conference. The beta program is still open if others
want to join.

Don French
www.TheGadgetWorks.com

--- In [hidden email], "Don French" <DCFrench@...> wrote:
>
> My pano gadget was featured on Gizmodo today!
>
>
http://gizmodo.com/5017214/automate-motorized-camera-mount-adds-tracking-time-lapse-to-your-dsl-for-panoramic-pics

>
> I can hardly believe the amazing response I got as a result. My inbox
> filled up almost instantly with requests to participate in the beta
> program. I think that panoramic photography has gone mainstream,
> thanks in large part to the Gigapan and the flood of ink they got last
> year and again last month.
>
>
>
> --- In [hidden email], "Mark D. Fink" <markdfink@> wrote:
> >
> > Don,
> >
> > A very impressive system. I particularly like the depth of

features and

> > options for the controller. This is well thought out. I do have one
> > question. How do you account for parallax? Judging from the video, I
> don't
> > see how you can set the lens to the proper NPP, especially when you
> pitch
> > the camera.
> >
> > Mark
> > www.nyc.360cities.net
> > www.pinnacle-vr.com
> > www.northernlight.net
> >
> >
> > > -----Original Message-----
> > > From: [hidden email]
> [mailto:[hidden email]] On
> > > Behalf Of Don French
> > > Sent: Monday, June 16, 2008 9:16 PM
> > > To: [hidden email]
> > > Subject: [PanoToolsNG] New motorized pano head
> > >
> > > Many months ago I said that I would soon have something

worthwhile to
> > > offer this group. Well it didn't happen soon, but I do have
> > > something to offer finally. I hope that you consider it worthwhile.
> > > Please be so kind as to check out AutoMate 1.0, my new motorized
pano

> > > head at http://www.TheGadgetWorks.com
> > >
> > > Don French
> > >
> > >
> > > ------------------------------------
> > >
> > > --
> > >
> > >
> > >
> >
>

aaronmspence

Re: New motorized pano head

Reply Threaded

In reply to this post by Don French-3

G'day Don,

Great work on the robotic head. I have a few of those motorized (hot)
heads lying around (older models so may not be the same), I'm
wondering if you're customising the head or just controlling it? If
you're not customising them, can I buy the extra bits needed to have a
beta model?

Sorry to be so cheap :)

Thanks, Aaron.

Don French-3

Re: New motorized pano head

Reply Threaded

I am sorry, Araon, but I can't just can't do that at this time. I
have already turned down similar requests and it just isn't feasible
for me, given the unknown nature of the units out there.

Don

--- In [hidden email], "Aaron Spence" <aaron@...> wrote:

>
> G'day Don,
>
> Great work on the robotic head. I have a few of those motorized (hot)
> heads lying around (older models so may not be the same), I'm
> wondering if you're customising the head or just controlling it? If
> you're not customising them, can I buy the extra bits needed to have a
> beta model?
>
> Sorry to be so cheap :)
>
> Thanks, Aaron.
>

Giorgio Marchetto - GIS Solution

Re: New motorized pano head

Reply Threaded

In reply to this post by Don French-3

Looking at this interesting motorized panhead
I am asking if your head it is really useful to automate my panoramas.

I usually shot with my D300+Sigma 10.5mm fisheye.
So it is 6 (+0) + 1 (+90°) + 1 (-90°) multi-exposure-shot.

Do do this, a motorized pan-head should be able to:
1) tilt +90/-90
2) avoid parallax error

A motorized head should be able to control the vertical bracket of the
pano-head.
This is the best (only?) way to accomplish these requests.
Tilting all the pan-head resuls in a lack od nodal point.

The VR Drive Panorama Set from Roudshot is all-in-one with the panhead.
I don't know if the tilt up&down of this VR Drive is motorized or manual.
However this costs really much more than your unit!

If the GadgetWorks panhead should be able to do this, with a friendly price
it should be really great!

Good luck!

Giorgio Marchetto

aaronmspence

Re: New motorized pano head

Reply Threaded

In reply to this post by Don French-3

No worries Don, I didn't expect it would work... asked just in case.
I'll be watching with interest though as you work through the beta
program :)

Thanks, Aaron.
http://panedia.com

Don French-3

Re: New motorized pano head

Reply Threaded

In reply to this post by Giorgio Marchetto - GIS Solution

Giorgio,

You also asked me these questions in a private email but I will answer
them again here, and in a little more detail.

AutoMate is limited to 30 degrees of automated tilt (15 below the
horizon and 15 above). Actually, the height of the scene that you can
automatically tilt through is more than 30 degrees. It is 30 degrees
plus the field of view of the lens you are using.

But you can also tilt much more that with a very inexpensive addition.
I put a $20 Manfrotto 3232 Swivel tilt head
(http://tinyurl.com/6nq57f ) between the robot and the camera when I
need more vertical range. With this arrangement, I take the pano
sequence in segments, each of which has 30 degrees of automated tilt.
After each segment, I lower the AutoMate to its bottom limit and raise
the 3232 30 degrees and take another automated segment. This is so
easy that it is really not much of a compromise.

The other question is about parallax. I addressed this in an earlier
post, but I will do it again. First, parallax is not an issue for
panos where there are no foreground/background issues. That is, if
everything is at infinity or in the same plane regardless of distance,
parallax problems do not exist and there is no need whatsoever to
rotate or tilt about the nodal point.

But if the scene is such that there will be stitching problems due to
parallax, there is a way that you might be able to take advantage of
the powerful features of AutoMate to make your pano. AutoMate has a
small front-to-back adjustment that gives you some flexibility in
mounting the camera, but you can also attach a rail with which to
position the nodal point above the rotational axis and thus eliminate
any potential problems with horizontal parallax. This completely
solves the problem for single row panos.

However, if the situation requires that you also tilt about the nodal
point, your choices are much more limited. Perhaps you could mount a
Nodal Ninja or some similar pano head on top of the robot and use
AutoMate to do the rotating while you do the tilting manually. I have
never tried it so I can't say how well it would work. Maybe one of the
beta testers can try it and report their experience. But other than
that, if you want a motorized pano head to make spherical panos where
parallax is a problem, and you want to use your DSLR to shoot it, you
might need to consider the PixOrb, at 50 pounds (20 kilos) and
$11,500. Or you could build your own motorized pano head, as others
have done with varying success.

So, to summarize, AutoMate is great for some things and just not
designed for others. It does add HDR and time lapse to the equation.
And it also adds extreme flexibility and programmability and user
friendliness, not to mention that it is much less expensive than any
other motorized pano head that can hold a DSLR. Also, it is so small
that it can fit in your camera bag and it only weighs 2.0 pounds (less
than a kilo), including its 4AA batteries. But it isn't the solution
to every problem.

I hope that you get a chance to see one in action soon, as the
near-universal response from those who have see it, is surprise that
it is so small, compact, and well made. But you need to be the judge
of that for yourself.

Don French
www.TheGadgetWorks.com

--- In [hidden email], "Giorgio Marchetto - GIS Solution"
<giorgio.marchetto@...> wrote:

>
> Looking at this interesting motorized panhead
> I am asking if your head it is really useful to automate my panoramas.
>
> I usually shot with my D300+Sigma 10.5mm fisheye.
> So it is 6 (+0) + 1 (+90°) + 1 (-90°) multi-exposure-shot.
>
> Do do this, a motorized pan-head should be able to:
> 1) tilt +90/-90
> 2) avoid parallax error
>
> A motorized head should be able to control the vertical bracket of the
> pano-head.
> This is the best (only?) way to accomplish these requests.
> Tilting all the pan-head resuls in a lack od nodal point.
>
> The VR Drive Panorama Set from Roudshot is all-in-one with the panhead.
> I don't know if the tilt up&down of this VR Drive is motorized or

manual.
> However this costs really much more than your unit!
>
> If the GadgetWorks panhead should be able to do this, with a
friendly price
> it should be really great!
>
> Good luck!
>
> Giorgio Marchetto
>

Don French-3

Re: New motorized pano head

Reply Threaded

And if you would like to read an unsolicited third-party review,
Digital Outback Photo just published one:

http://www.outbackphoto.com/CONTENT_2007_01/section_gear_cameras/20080730_AutoMate/index.html

Don French
www.TheGadgetWorks.com

--- In [hidden email], "Don French" <DCFrench@...> wrote:

>
> Giorgio,
>
> You also asked me these questions in a private email but I will answer
> them again here, and in a little more detail.
>
> AutoMate is limited to 30 degrees of automated tilt (15 below the
> horizon and 15 above). Actually, the height of the scene that you can
> automatically tilt through is more than 30 degrees. It is 30 degrees
> plus the field of view of the lens you are using.
>
> But you can also tilt much more that with a very inexpensive addition.
> I put a $20 Manfrotto 3232 Swivel tilt head
> (http://tinyurl.com/6nq57f ) between the robot and the camera when I
> need more vertical range. With this arrangement, I take the pano
> sequence in segments, each of which has 30 degrees of automated tilt.
> After each segment, I lower the AutoMate to its bottom limit and raise
> the 3232 30 degrees and take another automated segment. This is so
> easy that it is really not much of a compromise.
>
> The other question is about parallax. I addressed this in an earlier
> post, but I will do it again. First, parallax is not an issue for
> panos where there are no foreground/background issues. That is, if
> everything is at infinity or in the same plane regardless of distance,
> parallax problems do not exist and there is no need whatsoever to
> rotate or tilt about the nodal point.
>
> But if the scene is such that there will be stitching problems due to
> parallax, there is a way that you might be able to take advantage of
> the powerful features of AutoMate to make your pano. AutoMate has a
> small front-to-back adjustment that gives you some flexibility in
> mounting the camera, but you can also attach a rail with which to
> position the nodal point above the rotational axis and thus eliminate
> any potential problems with horizontal parallax. This completely
> solves the problem for single row panos.
>
> However, if the situation requires that you also tilt about the nodal
> point, your choices are much more limited. Perhaps you could mount a
> Nodal Ninja or some similar pano head on top of the robot and use
> AutoMate to do the rotating while you do the tilting manually. I have
> never tried it so I can't say how well it would work. Maybe one of the
> beta testers can try it and report their experience. But other than
> that, if you want a motorized pano head to make spherical panos where
> parallax is a problem, and you want to use your DSLR to shoot it, you
> might need to consider the PixOrb, at 50 pounds (20 kilos) and
> $11,500. Or you could build your own motorized pano head, as others
> have done with varying success.
>
> So, to summarize, AutoMate is great for some things and just not
> designed for others. It does add HDR and time lapse to the equation.
> And it also adds extreme flexibility and programmability and user
> friendliness, not to mention that it is much less expensive than any
> other motorized pano head that can hold a DSLR. Also, it is so small
> that it can fit in your camera bag and it only weighs 2.0 pounds (less
> than a kilo), including its 4AA batteries. But it isn't the solution
> to every problem.
>
> I hope that you get a chance to see one in action soon, as the
> near-universal response from those who have see it, is surprise that
> it is so small, compact, and well made. But you need to be the judge
> of that for yourself.
>
> Don French
> www.TheGadgetWorks.com
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
> --- In [hidden email], "Giorgio Marchetto - GIS Solution"
> <giorgio.marchetto@> wrote:
> >
> > Looking at this interesting motorized panhead
> > I am asking if your head it is really useful to automate my panoramas.
> >
> > I usually shot with my D300+Sigma 10.5mm fisheye.
> > So it is 6 (+0) + 1 (+90°) + 1 (-90°) multi-exposure-shot.
> >
> > Do do this, a motorized pan-head should be able to:
> > 1) tilt +90/-90
> > 2) avoid parallax error
> >
> > A motorized head should be able to control the vertical bracket of the
> > pano-head.
> > This is the best (only?) way to accomplish these requests.
> > Tilting all the pan-head resuls in a lack od nodal point.
> >
> > The VR Drive Panorama Set from Roudshot is all-in-one with the

panhead.

> > I don't know if the tilt up&down of this VR Drive is motorized or
> manual.
> > However this costs really much more than your unit!
> >
> > If the GadgetWorks panhead should be able to do this, with a
> friendly price
> > it should be really great!
> >
> > Good luck!
> >
> > Giorgio Marchetto
> >
>

CW-12

RE: Re: New motorized pano head

Reply Threaded

If I'm not mistaken, the screenshots on the PDA didnt show a field for
exposure value change. For example, if I want 5 shots at different exposure
values I could only do that if the camera supported a bracket of 5. Is that
right?

_____

From: [hidden email] [mailto:[hidden email]] On
Behalf Of Don French
Sent: Wednesday, July 30, 2008 7:26 PM
To: [hidden email]
Subject: [PanoToolsNG] Re: New motorized pano head

And if you would like to read an unsolicited third-party review,
Digital Outback Photo just published one:

http://www.outbackp
<http://www.outbackphoto.com/CONTENT_2007_01/section_gear_cameras/20080730_A
utoMate/index.html>
hoto.com/CONTENT_2007_01/section_gear_cameras/20080730_AutoMate/index.html

Don French
www.TheGadgetWorks.com

--- In PanoToolsNG@ <mailto:PanoToolsNG%40yahoogroups.com> yahoogroups.com,
"Don French" <DCFrench@...> wrote:

robot and the camera when I

> need more vertical range. With this arrangement, I take the pano
> sequence in segments, each of which has 30 degrees of automated tilt.
> After each segment, I lower the AutoMate to its bottom limit and raise
> the 3232 30 degrees and take another automated segment. This is so
> easy that it is really not much of a compromise.
>
> The other question is about parallax. I addressed this in an earlier
> post, but I will do it again. First, parallax is not an issue for
> panos where there are no foreground/background issues. That is, if
> everything is at infinity or in the same plane regardless of distance,
> parallax problems do not exist and there is no need whatsoever to
> rotate or tilt about the nodal point.
>
> But if the scene is such that there will be stitching problems due to
> parallax, there is a way that you might be able to take advantage of
> the powerful features of AutoMate to make your pano. AutoMate has a
> small front-to-back adjustment that gives you some flexibility in
> mounting the camera, but you can also attach a rail with which to
> position the nodal point above the rotational axis and thus eliminate
> any potential problems with horizontal parallax. This completely
> solves the problem for single row panos.
>
> However, if the situation requires that you also tilt about the nodal
> point, your choices are much more limited. Perhaps you could mount a
> Nodal Ninja or some similar pano head on top of the robot and use
> AutoMate to do the rotating while you do the tilting manually. I have
> never tried it so I can't say how well it would work. Maybe one of the
> beta testers can try it and report their experience. But other than
> that, if you want a motorized pano head to make spherical panos where
> parallax is a problem, and you want to use your DSLR to shoot it, you
> might need to consider the PixOrb, at 50 pounds (20 kilos) and
> $11,500. Or you could build your own motorized pano head, as others
> have done with varying success.
>
> So, to summarize, AutoMate is great for some things and just not
> designed for others. It does add HDR and time lapse to the equation.
> And it also adds extreme flexibility and programmability and user
> friendliness, not to mention that it is much less expensive than any
> other motorized pano head that can hold a DSLR. Also, it is so small
> that it can fit in your camera bag and it only weighs 2.0 pounds (less
> than a kilo), including its 4AA batteries. But it isn't the solution
> to every problem.
>
> I hope that you get a chance to see one in action soon, as the
> near-universal response from those who have see it, is surprise that
> it is so small, compact, and well made. But you need to be the judge
> of that for yourself.
>
> Don French
> www.TheGadgetWorks.com
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
> --- In PanoToolsNG@ <mailto:PanoToolsNG%40yahoogroups.com>

yahoogroups.com, "Giorgio Marchetto - GIS Solution"

> <giorgio.marchetto@> wrote:
> >
> > Looking at this interesting motorized panhead
> > I am asking if your head it is really useful to automate my panoramas.
> >
> > I usually shot with my D300+Sigma 10.5mm fisheye.
> > So it is 6 (+0) + 1 (+90°) + 1 (-90°) multi-exposure-shot.
> >
> > Do do this, a motorized pan-head should be able to:
> > 1) tilt +90/-90
> > 2) avoid parallax error
> >
> > A motorized head should be able to control the vertical bracket of the
> > pano-head.
> > This is the best (only?) way to accomplish these requests.
> > Tilting all the pan-head resuls in a lack od nodal point.
> >
> > The VR Drive Panorama Set from Roudshot is all-in-one with the

panhead.

[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]

CW-12

RE: Re: New motorized pano head

Reply Threaded

In reply to this post by Don French-3

Don,

I'd like to try this device. I have a Nodal Ninja 5 (NN5), 40D and 2.8/f
24-70L lens that I use for panos. I can tell you a lot about NPPor how to
quickly find the pupil entrance of a lens :). My concern is that attaching
the AutoMate on its side to the upper arm or the NN5 and then attaching a
camera and lens, the cantilevered weight might be too much and cause the arm
to twist, introducing a parallax error. Also the lower arm of the NN5 might
be too short to handle the additional (height) dimension of the AutoMate.
That is, one might not be able to attach the AutoMate and have the lens
centered over the pivot point. How do I get an AutoMate to test these
issues?

Thanks in advance.
Colin

_____

From: [hidden email] [mailto:[hidden email]] On
Behalf Of Don French
Sent: Wednesday, July 30, 2008 6:26 PM
To: [hidden email]
Subject: [PanoToolsNG] Re: New motorized pano head

Giorgio,

You also asked me these questions in a private email but I will answer
them again here, and in a little more detail.

AutoMate is limited to 30 degrees of automated tilt (15 below the
horizon and 15 above). Actually, the height of the scene that you can
automatically tilt through is more than 30 degrees. It is 30 degrees
plus the field of view of the lens you are using.

But you can also tilt much more that with a very inexpensive addition.
I put a $20 Manfrotto 3232 Swivel tilt head
(http://tinyurl. <http://tinyurl.com/6nq57f> com/6nq57f ) between the robot
and the camera when I
need more vertical range. With this arrangement, I take the pano
sequence in segments, each of which has 30 degrees of automated tilt.
After each segment, I lower the AutoMate to its bottom limit and raise
the 3232 30 degrees and take another automated segment. This is so
easy that it is really not much of a compromise.

The other question is about parallax. I addressed this in an earlier
post, but I will do it again. First, parallax is not an issue for
panos where there are no foreground/background issues. That is, if
everything is at infinity or in the same plane regardless of distance,
parallax problems do not exist and there is no need whatsoever to
rotate or tilt about the nodal point.

But if the scene is such that there will be stitching problems due to
parallax, there is a way that you might be able to take advantage of
the powerful features of AutoMate to make your pano. AutoMate has a
small front-to-back adjustment that gives you some flexibility in
mounting the camera, but you can also attach a rail with which to
position the nodal point above the rotational axis and thus eliminate
any potential problems with horizontal parallax. This completely
solves the problem for single row panos.

However, if the situation requires that you also tilt about the nodal
point, your choices are much more limited. Perhaps you could mount a
Nodal Ninja or some similar pano head on top of the robot and use
AutoMate to do the rotating while you do the tilting manually. I have
never tried it so I can't say how well it would work. Maybe one of the
beta testers can try it and report their experience. But other than
that, if you want a motorized pano head to make spherical panos where
parallax is a problem, and you want to use your DSLR to shoot it, you
might need to consider the PixOrb, at 50 pounds (20 kilos) and
$11,500. Or you could build your own motorized pano head, as others
have done with varying success.

So, to summarize, AutoMate is great for some things and just not
designed for others. It does add HDR and time lapse to the equation.
And it also adds extreme flexibility and programmability and user
friendliness, not to mention that it is much less expensive than any
other motorized pano head that can hold a DSLR. Also, it is so small
that it can fit in your camera bag and it only weighs 2.0 pounds (less
than a kilo), including its 4AA batteries. But it isn't the solution
to every problem.

I hope that you get a chance to see one in action soon, as the
near-universal response from those who have see it, is surprise that
it is so small, compact, and well made. But you need to be the judge
of that for yourself.

Don French
www.TheGadgetWorks.com

--- In PanoToolsNG@ <mailto:PanoToolsNG%40yahoogroups.com> yahoogroups.com,
"Giorgio Marchetto - GIS Solution"
<giorgio.marchetto@...> wrote:

Don French-3

Re: New motorized pano head

Reply Threaded

In reply to this post by CW-12

That is correct. The only connection between the robot and the camera
is a shutter release cable that can do no more than create the
equivalent of a half-press and full-press of the shutter. But
auto-bracketing combined with the ability to set any number of
exposures per node, does give you the ability to do HDR panos, within
the limitations of your camera's auto-bracketing abilities.

Don French
www.TheGadgetWorks.com

--- In [hidden email], "Colin West" <cwest@...> wrote:
>
> If I'm not mistaken, the screenshots on the PDA didn't show a field for
> exposure value change. For example, if I want 5 shots at different
exposure
> values I could only do that if the camera supported a bracket of 5.
Is that
> right?
>
>
> _____
>
> From: [hidden email]
[mailto:[hidden email]] On

> Behalf Of Don French
> Sent: Wednesday, July 30, 2008 7:26 PM
> To: [hidden email]
> Subject: [PanoToolsNG] Re: New motorized pano head
>
>
>
> And if you would like to read an unsolicited third-party review,
> Digital Outback Photo just published one:
>
> http://www.outbackp
>

<http://www.outbackphoto.com/CONTENT_2007_01/section_gear_cameras/20080730_A
> utoMate/index.html>
>
hoto.com/CONTENT_2007_01/section_gear_cameras/20080730_AutoMate/index.html
>
> Don French
> www.TheGadgetWorks.com
>
> --- In PanoToolsNG@ <mailto:PanoToolsNG%40yahoogroups.com>
yahoogroups.com,

> "Don French" <DCFrench@> wrote:
> >
> > Giorgio,
> >
> > You also asked me these questions in a private email but I will answer
> > them again here, and in a little more detail.
> >
> > AutoMate is limited to 30 degrees of automated tilt (15 below the
> > horizon and 15 above). Actually, the height of the scene that you can
> > automatically tilt through is more than 30 degrees. It is 30 degrees
> > plus the field of view of the lens you are using.
> >
> > But you can also tilt much more that with a very inexpensive addition.
> > I put a $20 Manfrotto 3232 Swivel tilt head
> > (http://tinyurl. <http://tinyurl.com/6nq57f> com/6nq57f ) between the
> robot and the camera when I
> > need more vertical range. With this arrangement, I take the pano
> > sequence in segments, each of which has 30 degrees of automated tilt.
> > After each segment, I lower the AutoMate to its bottom limit and raise
> > the 3232 30 degrees and take another automated segment. This is so
> > easy that it is really not much of a compromise.
> >
> > The other question is about parallax. I addressed this in an earlier
> > post, but I will do it again. First, parallax is not an issue for
> > panos where there are no foreground/background issues. That is, if
> > everything is at infinity or in the same plane regardless of distance,
> > parallax problems do not exist and there is no need whatsoever to
> > rotate or tilt about the nodal point.
> >
> > But if the scene is such that there will be stitching problems due to
> > parallax, there is a way that you might be able to take advantage of
> > the powerful features of AutoMate to make your pano. AutoMate has a
> > small front-to-back adjustment that gives you some flexibility in
> > mounting the camera, but you can also attach a rail with which to
> > position the nodal point above the rotational axis and thus eliminate
> > any potential problems with horizontal parallax. This completely
> > solves the problem for single row panos.
> >
> > However, if the situation requires that you also tilt about the nodal
> > point, your choices are much more limited. Perhaps you could mount a
> > Nodal Ninja or some similar pano head on top of the robot and use
> > AutoMate to do the rotating while you do the tilting manually. I have
> > never tried it so I can't say how well it would work. Maybe one of the
> > beta testers can try it and report their experience. But other than
> > that, if you want a motorized pano head to make spherical panos where
> > parallax is a problem, and you want to use your DSLR to shoot it, you
> > might need to consider the PixOrb, at 50 pounds (20 kilos) and
> > $11,500. Or you could build your own motorized pano head, as others
> > have done with varying success.
> >
> > So, to summarize, AutoMate is great for some things and just not
> > designed for others. It does add HDR and time lapse to the equation.
> > And it also adds extreme flexibility and programmability and user
> > friendliness, not to mention that it is much less expensive than any
> > other motorized pano head that can hold a DSLR. Also, it is so small
> > that it can fit in your camera bag and it only weighs 2.0 pounds (less
> > than a kilo), including its 4AA batteries. But it isn't the solution
> > to every problem.
> >
> > I hope that you get a chance to see one in action soon, as the
> > near-universal response from those who have see it, is surprise that
> > it is so small, compact, and well made. But you need to be the judge
> > of that for yourself.
> >
> > Don French
> > www.TheGadgetWorks.com
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >
> > --- In PanoToolsNG@ <mailto:PanoToolsNG%40yahoogroups.com>
> yahoogroups.com, "Giorgio Marchetto - GIS Solution"
> > <giorgio.marchetto@> wrote:
> > >
> > > Looking at this interesting motorized panhead
> > > I am asking if your head it is really useful to automate my

panoramas.
> > >
> > > I usually shot with my D300+Sigma 10.5mm fisheye.
> > > So it is 6 (+0) + 1 (+90°) + 1 (-90°) multi-exposure-shot.
> > >
> > > Do do this, a motorized pan-head should be able to:
> > > 1) tilt +90/-90
> > > 2) avoid parallax error
> > >
> > > A motorized head should be able to control the vertical bracket
of the

> > > pano-head.
> > > This is the best (only?) way to accomplish these requests.
> > > Tilting all the pan-head resuls in a lack od nodal point.
> > >
> > > The VR Drive Panorama Set from Roudshot is all-in-one with the
> panhead.
> > > I don't know if the tilt up&down of this VR Drive is motorized or
> > manual.
> > > However this costs really much more than your unit!
> > >
> > > If the GadgetWorks panhead should be able to do this, with a
> > friendly price
> > > it should be really great!
> > >
> > > Good luck!
> > >
> > > Giorgio Marchetto
> > >
> >
>
>
>
>
>
>
> [Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
>

Don French-3

Re: New motorized pano head

Reply Threaded

In reply to this post by CW-12

Well, I would tend to agree with you, Colin. It does not seem like a
very good solution to the problem to me either. I only mentioned it
because others have said that they thought it might work. There is no
really good solution if you must have perfect stitches and there are
objects in the foreground that will prevent that. So you can use the
AutoMate in those cases where either there will be no problems or
where you can ignore the problem because the flaws that result are not
so serious or obvious. But mostly, I think that you are best to use
AutoMate only where there are no such problems, such as for
gigapan-type work. It is not the perfect tool for every job. But it
is a very good tool for some jobs. Take it for what it is worth and
use it to its best advantage.

Don French
www.TheGadgetWorks.com

--- In [hidden email], "Colin West" <cwest@...> wrote:
>
> Don,
>
> I'd like to try this device. I have a Nodal Ninja 5 (NN5), 40D and 2.8/f
> 24-70L lens that I use for panos. I can tell you a lot about NPPor
how to
> quickly find the pupil entrance of a lens :). My concern is that
attaching
> the AutoMate on its side to the upper arm or the NN5 and then
attaching a
> camera and lens, the cantilevered weight might be too much and cause
the arm
> to twist, introducing a parallax error. Also the lower arm of the
NN5 might
> be too short to handle the additional (height) dimension of the
AutoMate.

> That is, one might not be able to attach the AutoMate and have the lens
> centered over the pivot point. How do I get an AutoMate to test these
> issues?
>
> Thanks in advance.
> Colin
>
> _____
>
> From: [hidden email]

[mailto:[hidden email]] On

> Behalf Of Don French
> Sent: Wednesday, July 30, 2008 6:26 PM
> To: [hidden email]
> Subject: [PanoToolsNG] Re: New motorized pano head
>
>
>
> Giorgio,
>
> You also asked me these questions in a private email but I will answer
> them again here, and in a little more detail.
>
> AutoMate is limited to 30 degrees of automated tilt (15 below the
> horizon and 15 above). Actually, the height of the scene that you can
> automatically tilt through is more than 30 degrees. It is 30 degrees
> plus the field of view of the lens you are using.
>
> But you can also tilt much more that with a very inexpensive addition.
> I put a $20 Manfrotto 3232 Swivel tilt head
> (http://tinyurl. <http://tinyurl.com/6nq57f> com/6nq57f ) between

the robot

> and the camera when I
> need more vertical range. With this arrangement, I take the pano
> sequence in segments, each of which has 30 degrees of automated tilt.
> After each segment, I lower the AutoMate to its bottom limit and raise
> the 3232 30 degrees and take another automated segment. This is so
> easy that it is really not much of a compromise.
>
> The other question is about parallax. I addressed this in an earlier
> post, but I will do it again. First, parallax is not an issue for
> panos where there are no foreground/background issues. That is, if
> everything is at infinity or in the same plane regardless of distance,
> parallax problems do not exist and there is no need whatsoever to
> rotate or tilt about the nodal point.
>
> But if the scene is such that there will be stitching problems due to
> parallax, there is a way that you might be able to take advantage of
> the powerful features of AutoMate to make your pano. AutoMate has a
> small front-to-back adjustment that gives you some flexibility in
> mounting the camera, but you can also attach a rail with which to
> position the nodal point above the rotational axis and thus eliminate
> any potential problems with horizontal parallax. This completely
> solves the problem for single row panos.
>
> However, if the situation requires that you also tilt about the nodal
> point, your choices are much more limited. Perhaps you could mount a
> Nodal Ninja or some similar pano head on top of the robot and use
> AutoMate to do the rotating while you do the tilting manually. I have
> never tried it so I can't say how well it would work. Maybe one of the
> beta testers can try it and report their experience. But other than
> that, if you want a motorized pano head to make spherical panos where
> parallax is a problem, and you want to use your DSLR to shoot it, you
> might need to consider the PixOrb, at 50 pounds (20 kilos) and
> $11,500. Or you could build your own motorized pano head, as others
> have done with varying success.
>
> So, to summarize, AutoMate is great for some things and just not
> designed for others. It does add HDR and time lapse to the equation.
> And it also adds extreme flexibility and programmability and user
> friendliness, not to mention that it is much less expensive than any
> other motorized pano head that can hold a DSLR. Also, it is so small
> that it can fit in your camera bag and it only weighs 2.0 pounds (less
> than a kilo), including its 4AA batteries. But it isn't the solution
> to every problem.
>
> I hope that you get a chance to see one in action soon, as the
> near-universal response from those who have see it, is surprise that
> it is so small, compact, and well made. But you need to be the judge
> of that for yourself.
>
> Don French
> www.TheGadgetWorks.com
>
> --- In PanoToolsNG@ <mailto:PanoToolsNG%40yahoogroups.com>

yahoogroups.com,

> "Giorgio Marchetto - GIS Solution"
> <giorgio.marchetto@> wrote:
> >
> > Looking at this interesting motorized panhead
> > I am asking if your head it is really useful to automate my panoramas.
> >
> > I usually shot with my D300+Sigma 10.5mm fisheye.
> > So it is 6 (+0) + 1 (+90°) + 1 (-90°) multi-exposure-shot.
> >
> > Do do this, a motorized pan-head should be able to:
> > 1) tilt +90/-90
> > 2) avoid parallax error
> >
> > A motorized head should be able to control the vertical bracket of the
> > pano-head.
> > This is the best (only?) way to accomplish these requests.
> > Tilting all the pan-head resuls in a lack od nodal point.
> >
> > The VR Drive Panorama Set from Roudshot is all-in-one with the

panhead.

CW-12

RE: Re: New motorized pano head

Reply Threaded

I'll just pass this along as perhaps an addition to AutoMate. I've found
that controlling a (Canon) camera though the USB port to provide
considerable advantages for many projects as it somewhat turns the camera
into a slave and the PC into the master. There are scripting apps that can
be used to send any number of commands to software that drives the camera.

For example, the combination DSLR Remote Pro (www.breezesys.com) to control
the camera and AutoHotKey (www.autohotkey.com) to run scripts that feed DSLR
Remote Pro provide an extremely flexible resource. With this combination, a
focus-stack of 15 deep and an HDR bracket of 5 provide incredible detail for
many kinds of compositions, let alone a pano row. If AutoMate could be added
to the mixthe app that now runs on a PDA also ran on a mini XP
notebookremote control would take a considerable leap ahead as it would
build even more so on the capabilities of existing software and hardware.

So Don, how hard would it be to compile AutoMate's software under XP,
exposing commands to drive the controller?

_____

From: [hidden email] [mailto:[hidden email]] On
Behalf Of Don French
Sent: Wednesday, July 30, 2008 11:17 PM
To: [hidden email]
Subject: [PanoToolsNG] Re: New motorized pano head

Well, I would tend to agree with you, Colin. It does not seem like a
very good solution to the problem to me either. I only mentioned it
because others have said that they thought it might work. There is no
really good solution if you must have perfect stitches and there are
objects in the foreground that will prevent that. So you can use the
AutoMate in those cases where either there will be no problems or
where you can ignore the problem because the flaws that result are not
so serious or obvious. But mostly, I think that you are best to use
AutoMate only where there are no such problems, such as for
gigapan-type work. It is not the perfect tool for every job. But it
is a very good tool for some jobs. Take it for what it is worth and
use it to its best advantage.

Don French
www.TheGadgetWorks.com

--- In PanoToolsNG@ <mailto:PanoToolsNG%40yahoogroups.com> yahoogroups.com,
"Colin West" <cwest@...> wrote:
>
> Don,
>
> I'd like to try this device. I have a Nodal Ninja 5 (NN5), 40D and 2.8/f
> 24-70L lens that I use for panos. I can tell you a lot about NPPor
how to
> quickly find the pupil entrance of a lens :). My concern is that
attaching
> the AutoMate on its side to the upper arm or the NN5 and then
attaching a
> camera and lens, the cantilevered weight might be too much and cause
the arm
> to twist, introducing a parallax error. Also the lower arm of the
NN5 might
> be too short to handle the additional (height) dimension of the
AutoMate.

[mailto:PanoToolsNG@ <mailto:PanoToolsNG%40yahoogroups.com> yahoogroups.com]
On

> Behalf Of Don French
> Sent: Wednesday, July 30, 2008 6:26 PM
> To: PanoToolsNG@ <mailto:PanoToolsNG%40yahoogroups.com> yahoogroups.com
> Subject: [PanoToolsNG] Re: New motorized pano head
>
>
>
> Giorgio,
>
> You also asked me these questions in a private email but I will answer
> them again here, and in a little more detail.
>
> AutoMate is limited to 30 degrees of automated tilt (15 below the
> horizon and 15 above). Actually, the height of the scene that you can
> automatically tilt through is more than 30 degrees. It is 30 degrees
> plus the field of view of the lens you are using.
>
> But you can also tilt much more that with a very inexpensive addition.
> I put a $20 Manfrotto 3232 Swivel tilt head
> (http://tinyurl. <http://tinyurl. <http://tinyurl.com/6nq57f> com/6nq57f>

com/6nq57f ) between
the robot

yahoogroups.com,

panhead.

[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]

Mark D. Fink

RE: Re: New motorized pano head

Reply Threaded

>For example, the combination DSLR Remote Pro (www.breezesys.com) to control
>the camera and AutoHotKey (www.autohotkey.com) to run scripts that feed
>DSLR
>Remote Pro provide an extremely flexible resource. With this combination, a
>focus-stack of 15 deep and an HDR bracket of 5 provide incredible detail
>for
>many kinds of compositions, let alone a pano row. If AutoMate could be
>added
>to the mix-the app that now runs on a PDA also ran on a mini XP
>notebook-remote control would take a considerable leap ahead as it would
>build even more so on the capabilities of existing software and hardware.

Can focus be controlled for focus-stacking? I was under the impression that
it could not, but would LOVE to be wrong on that point.

Mark
www.nyc.360cities.net
www.pinnacle-vr.com
www.northernlight.net

CW-12

RE: Re: New motorized pano head

Reply Threaded

Yes, focus can be wound forward or backward in varying steps. I've focus
stacked 30+ deep for a closeup of a bunch of flowers.

_____

From: [hidden email] [mailto:[hidden email]] On
Behalf Of Mark D. Fink
Sent: Thursday, July 31, 2008 7:15 AM
To: [hidden email]
Subject: RE: [PanoToolsNG] Re: New motorized pano head

Mark D. Fink

RE: Re: New motorized pano head

Reply Threaded

Using what software? Could you share the details?

Thanks,

Mark
www.nyc.360cities.net
www.pinnacle-vr.com
www.northernlight.net

>-----Original Message-----
>From: [hidden email] [mailto:[hidden email]] On
>Behalf Of Colin West
>Sent: Thursday, July 31, 2008 9:27 AM
>To: [hidden email]
>Subject: RE: [PanoToolsNG] Re: New motorized pano head
>
>Yes, focus can be wound forward or backward in varying steps. I've focus
>stacked 30+ deep for a closeup of a bunch of flowers.
>
> _____
>
>From: [hidden email] [mailto:[hidden email]] On
>Behalf Of Mark D. Fink
>Sent: Thursday, July 31, 2008 7:15 AM
>To: [hidden email]
>Subject: RE: [PanoToolsNG] Re: New motorized pano head
>
>
>
>>For example, the combination DSLR Remote Pro (www.breezesys.com) to
>control
>>the camera and AutoHotKey (www.autohotkey.com) to run scripts that feed
>>DSLR
>>Remote Pro provide an extremely flexible resource. With this combination,
>a
>>focus-stack of 15 deep and an HDR bracket of 5 provide incredible detail
>>for
>>many kinds of compositions, let alone a pano row. If AutoMate could be
>>added
>>to the mix-the app that now runs on a PDA also ran on a mini XP
>>notebook-remote control would take a considerable leap ahead as it would
>>build even more so on the capabilities of existing software and hardware.
>
>Can focus be controlled for focus-stacking? I was under the impression that
>it could not, but would LOVE to be wrong on that point.
>
>Mark
>www.nyc.360cities.net
>www.pinnacle-vr.com
>www.northernlight.net
>
>
>
>
>
>
>[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
>
>
>------------------------------------
>
>--
>
>
>

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