What lens for taking panoramic shots??

[SeaSpray]

As some of you may remember, I recently bought my DH the Sony A100 DSLR camera, along with the 18-70mm f3.5-5.6 and the 75-300mm f4.5-5.6 lenses.

Now he wants a lens that he can use to basically stand on our balcony at the Polynesian resort and take a panoramic shot of the Magic Kingdom and entire lagoon.

Here's a picture we've taken from the balcony of the Polynesian with our old Olympus camera:

That picture was not zoomed in at all, and you can't see the Grand Floridian to the left, or the Contemporary to the right. So what he wants to be able to do now is to zoom in more, but still maintain a wide panoramic view. Is this possible? And if so, with what type/model lens??

We've looked at these two lenses but aren't sure if they'll accomplish what we're after:

http://www.sonystyle.com/webapp/wcs...51&storeId=10151&langId=-1&productId=11035440

http://www.sonystyle.com/webapp/wcs...51&storeId=10151&langId=-1&productId=11039048

Thanks!

 

[MICKEY88]

I don't think that's possible since zooming in gives you a narrower field of view

I'm fairly sure that the best option is to take a series of pics using a tripod, then stitch them together with software..

 

[SharonLowe]

Unless he buys one of these:

http://shop.lomography.com/shop/main.php?cat=Lomographic_Cameras&pro=hok

or one of these:

http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/shop/972/Cameras_Lenses_Panoramic_Cameras.html

he's going to have to do it the way the rest of us do - take a number of photos on a tripod and stitch them together with software.

 

[MICKEY88]

Unless he buys one of these:

http://shop.lomography.com/shop/main.php?cat=Lomographic_Cameras&pro=hok

or one of these:

http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/shop/972/Cameras_Lenses_Panoramic_Cameras.html

he's going to have to do it the way the rest of us do - take a number of photos on a tripod and stitch them together with software.

those would do the panorama, but still wouldn't let him zoom in would they..??

 

[Furgus]

You could cheat if you have a fairly wide lens, like my Sigma 10-20. You could take the photo at your widest length, then crop it in PS, like this.
Sort of gives the illusion of a pano.

 

[SharonLowe]

those would do the panorama, but still wouldn't let him zoom in would they..??

No they wouldn't but it is the closest thing out there to what he seemed to be looking for....

 

[Anewman]

I don't think that's possible since zooming in gives you a narrower field of view

I'm fairly sure that the best option is to take a series of pics using a tripod, then stitch them together with software..

I agree 100%.

 

[CapeCAD]

Hello everyone, thank you for helping my Wife with the information.

What she was trying to say is, can anyone recommend a good wide angle lens for the Sony Alpha. We take a lot of photos of hotel rooms and landscapes and would like to find out what everyone thinks is a good lens for DSLR cameras.

We know all about panorama pictures, been doing them for years. Here is a panorama we took with our Olympus C-740 of the Dock Yard in Bermuda in 2003:

http://www.capecad.com/images/panorama/DockYard.jpg

Thanks again

 

[ktulu]

I messed around with it with a photog buddy of mine and I used my 50mm, he used his 35mm. If it wasn't for the lighting changing (partly cloudy, so sun, no sun type of situation) it would have been almost perfect for my first attempt, if you don't count things like poor framing

 

[ukcatfan]

Hello everyone, thank you for helping my Wife with the information.

What she was trying to say is, can anyone recommend a good wide angle lens for the Sony Alpha. We take a lot of photos of hotel rooms and landscapes and would like to find out what everyone thinks is a good lens for DSLR cameras.

We know all about panorama pictures, been doing them for years. Here is a panorama we took with our Olympus C-740 of the Dock Yard in Bermuda in 2003:

http://www.capecad.com/images/panorama/DockYard.jpg

Thanks again

Considering that your old p&s was at the widest at ~36-38mm in 35mm equiv., your 18mm lens will be ~28mm(not sure exactly on the Sony) so it might be enough. Lenses wider than that can get very $$$.

If you plan on doing panoramas with the DSLR, you should use a panorama tripod mount b/c they will not work as well as the old p&s without one. The lens to pivot point offset of a DSLR is much more than the p&s, so it becomes difficult to correctly stitch them together. As for what lens to use, that is just dependent on what focal length you want to go with. I doubt it will be the same for each shot.

Kevin