Thanks all for the comments, which are very constructive for me. I agree that the format (at least the way I have executed it) can leave the pics looking a little cramped.

I gave the stitching thing a go using the DA 70 to start with because I find that lens both sharp and pretty free of distortion, which I thought would be a good thing. Then I realised that I could do with something a little wider and faster, given the times I am able to shoot (early and late), so switched to the FA 50. The reason for the wide apertures was indeed to try and get the shutter speeds to about 1/50th hand held. I have tried a stitched shot of Richmond Bridge before dawn using a tripod and long exposures, but got a fair amount of variation over time in the sky, and on at least one shot in the series a bus would always go over the bridge leaving a light streak on that exposure - which looks kinda weird on the stitched pic

Having said all that, i do think there is great promise for some striking and detailed images, so once I have access to some better light ( I shall get out and try it with a wider angle lens...

Cheers

Hello all. I have been playing around a little with stitching together panoramic shots and thought I would share a couple of my results so far. All are scenes from London and taken on my walk to and from work so either early morning or evening. As a bit of a detail junkie, I really like the way that this technique can produce images with staggering levels of detail in them (not sure whether that will really come across here, once resized and much smaller), although the 'letterbox' type framing may not be to everyone's taste...? On the processing side, the stitched files are huge (between 60 and 110 Mpixels) so processing times are pretty prolonged (at least on my ageing macbook)

These were all taken using my FA 50 (first three) and DA 70 (last one) and each of these shots is stitiched from 8-11 overlapping images

Fist up, a couple of the Houses of Parliament on Monday night. It was getting dark so these were shot pretty wide open

f1.8:



f2.2:



HMS Belfast yesterday morning, again pretty wide aperture:




and finally, the city from the South Bank last week (in mono):




Hope you like them; any C&C welcomed as ever. Still a technique I am tinkering with...

Regards

I have used the DA35 macro quite a lot and think it is (currently) my favourite macro lens. Any lens will hunt, I think, in low light, although a macro lens tends to have a much finer focus adjustment and longer travel from end to end, so the focus-hunting is accentuated on this lens. That said, manually focussing is very straightforward because it has the quickshift feature (just turn the focussing ring), or you could manually focus to get close to pin sharp and then use autofocus to finish... When using autofocus I personally find it much easier to set the AF to the rear button only rather than having it on the shutter button as well.

In terms of getting bugs - the main thing is patience and lots of practice. Follow the bugs and find out how they behave and try to predict their behaviour... that makes things easier. A spot of stealth is good too, and you could also try a bit of flash. I tend to use either hotshoe mounted or built in flash but with the power output wound down quite a lot to avoid the whole thing being blown out. I use a diffuser if I can as well. The season makes a big difference IMO too - on a sunny day in the summer, if you can find a park or a meadow with wild flowers and butterflies, the whole thing gets a lot easier...

Hope that helps

I have used Microglobe several times, but only ever over the counter as opposed to by mail order. I have had no problems and they have a lot of stuff which is often competitively priced. It is true to say, however, that their website is not always totally up-to-date (in my experience). Best bet is to either ring them up or drop in if you are in the vicinity. It always reminds me of Arkwright's shop in Open All Hours - stuffed shelves and stuff piled up and a couple of chaps who rifle through the piles of boxes to find what you are looking for...

Regards

I use a thin transparent sticky membrane which sticks over the screen. Very cheap and you just cut it to size and apply. Doesn't leave any residue when peeled off, but does collect scratches, smears, grease etc so I wouldn't be without it. I think I bought a pack of small sheets of the stuff at Jessops for about a fiver when I bought my K10d about three years ago. Still got some sheets left.

Regards

I agree with all the above - magic!

Regards

I rather like it. It's a shame the contextual habitat is a bit scraggy but I like the composition and the placement of the duck in the frame. Nice one.

Regards

It's an absolute stunner! Very nice indeed.

Regards

Gosh what a great set. Very sharp. I can feel a twitch of the old LBA...


Regards

I just had 2 parcels arrive today which were posted on the 8th and the 14th December, so the parcels are taking a while, but getting through in the end... (in my case at least)

Regards