New and in need of help!

Ok guys I am very new to this so, first off apologies for any naive questions! But, I am very keen and would much appreciate any help you guys can give me.

I have recently got my hands on some equipment (below) and I would very much like to get in to producing 360s.

Kit and software:
Cannon G9
GoPano 360 One Shot lens
EasyPano Studio 2008

I know I am probably already risking the tut-tut-tut of you pros by admitting I have a One Shot lens, but, humour me Honestly, is there a place for using these? Advertising rentals for instance? (not necessarily needing the highest quality but need to be produced quickly and available for the agents ASAP)

I am very interested in moving in to stitching high quality 360s also, but cost is an issue at the moment. Am I best waiting till I am in a position to get the Sigma 8mm? Or are there good alternatives? At this point, would I also need to upgrade to a DSLR? Would the Sigma even work with the G9? The G9 is 12.1MB and supports RAW output but Im not sure if thats enough once you get in to the fisheyes, stitching etc?

Last one (for now!) Pano heads. There are quite a few out there. What would you recommend? Nodal Ninja?  Or would one of the cheaper 360 Precision heads be good enough?

Think thats about it!

Thanks

Chris

 

---

Hi and welcome Chris,
JMHO, but I think the first thing you should do is spend some time checking out people around you that provide tours. Look at the quality and price point, and then decide if you could be competitive. In some markets nothing less then the very best stands a chance, in others One Shot IS the very best. From that point you will have a better idea if upgrading is worth it.

Also, on the front page of this "equipment" section, select "show threads > All" and you will be able to find more information on recommended equipment.

Vince

---

Hi Vince, 

Thanks for your post. I took your advice and have been through all the posts in this section. Some really good advice on there. Would still like someones in put on if my G9 is up to the task or beyond help. And still not sure if the Sigma (or the Nikon 10.5) would even work with it. Which probably means not!

As for the market research yep been doing a lot of that over the past few months and it varies wildly over here. Some top notch stuff out there (pricy too) and some bloody awful efforts too! I think there may be some space for the one shot stuff at the lower end but I would really like to get in the proper stuff! As one of the other guys mentioned in another thread its my name on this! ;-)

Thanks again all advice welcome!

Chris

 

---

Hi Chris and welcome to the forum.
If all you have is a one shot then use it and learn as much as you can from it. A lot of us started with one shots and upgraded to DSLR. Learn from this forum and when you do upgrade you will only have to do it once. I made all the mistakes and had to upgrade twice.
There is a market for one-shots if you can learn to produce good images from it. No it will never stand up to the quality of a good DSLR and fisheye but you can get decent results from one. Having said that, a DSLR is only as good as the photographer.
If you bracket your images and learn to work with them you can satisfy the real estate community for the right price. And with a one shot you can turn them out fairly fast. Just remember you will probably have to work fairly cheap until you can build up your quality and demand more money.
Good luck and just ask any questions you have, and you will have many.

---

Nikon D300, D3s, Nikon 10.5 lens, RingT105N+Footplate+MrotatorTCPs, Giottos MT9261 Tripod, Manfrotto 410 Jr geared head.

If you know the "secret" then everyday is a good day!

G'day Chris,

Welcome to the Easypano forums

One Shot lenses have their place in the scheme of things, usually quick and dirty low budget real estate tours. The Canon G9 is a good camera to use the one shot lens with as you can shot RAW and so long as you are up to learning how to process RAW images correctly you will be able to get the maximum out of the one shot mirror images. Though you are always better suited to a camera with swivel LCD screen so you can see your composure. I do not know the GoPano One-Shot product but I have played with and used both the Kaidan and 0-360 versions and I can tell you the 0-360 is superior.

That said, one shot images are the very bottom of the heap and you shouldn't expect miracles of anything near fullscreen with this quality of panorama imaging. 

The G9 used without a one shot, fisheye or wide angle lens will still be able to give better results for simple cylindrical panorama images when used on a panohead like the Agnos MrotatorUM or Nodal Ninja 3 MKII.

As for fitting a Nikkor 10.5mm Fisheye or Sigma 8mm Fisheye to your Canon G9 - Forget it! These lenses are for DSLR camera bodies. You alternatives would be the Raynox FE180Pro (Full Circular 3 shots Raynox Option) with adapter or maybe a Nikon FC-E8 or FC-E9 (Full Circular 3 shots) with adapters. Now the quality would be higher than the One-Shot but still well short of the DSLR.

Talking DSLR, If you were to go Canon body you could use either the Sigma 4.5mm (Full Circular 2 or 3 Shots), Sigma 8mm (Drum 4, 4+T or 4+TB), Sigma 10mm Fisheyes (Fullframe 6+TB) or a Tokina 10-17mm Zoom Fisheye (Fullframe 6+TB @10mm setting). All the same options would be available for the Nikon Body along with the Nikkor 10.5mm Fisheye (Fullframe 6+TB).

All things for you to ponder. Hope this helps!

Regards, Smooth

---

Guys, your advice is very much appreciated. I'll keep you posted on my progress and I'm sure there will be plenty more questions!

 

Thanks again

 

Chris

 

---