PanoTools:
Re: Need help stitching my helicopter panorama!
Douglas L. Urner 2005-Jun-09 06:19:37
I goofed on the price of a D70, actually they are only $75. D100s
which have a wired remote are the same price these days.
Doug
--
Douglas L. Urner <#removed#> Port Orchard, WA +1 360 769 5565
On Jun 8, 2005, at 11:04 :42, Douglas L. Urner wrote:
> Here's a thought. Around here a D70 rents for around $150/day +
> about $20/day for a fisheye. Perhaps you could build a simple mount
> for 4 D70s and dangle them below the hovering helicopter and trigger
> them with a remote (or use the 's' models instead and use a wired
> remote). The camera rental would be about a wash with the helicopter
> time (assuming you only have on D70) and you'd be pretty sure to get
> a good sequence. Paralax would only be due to the difference in
> camera positions (probably less than a foot).
>
> If you did this, you'd probably be able to be way more productive
> with the chopper, so you could probably get quite a few different
> shots and you'd save a ton of stitching time.
>
> Doug
> --
> Douglas L. Urner <#removed#> Port Orchard, WA +1 360 769 5565
>
>
> On Jun 8, 2005, at 10:10 :42, Piotr Popik wrote:
>
>
>> I wonder what the guys who did that sucessfully would say. Is the
>> use of
>> GPS critical? Was that due to the difficult conditions (like the
>> wind,
>> etc)? Sounds like a tough job, anyway.
>> Reagrds, Piotr
>>
>> On Wed, 8 Jun 2005, James Coffee wrote:
>>
>>
>>
>>> If nothing else this thread is making me much more appreciative of
>>> shots taken from a helicopter. I'm the kind of guy who when
>>> someone asks "can you do..." I say yes. I hope no one asks me to
>>> photograph from a helicopter and then stitch. I'll have to try to
>>> remember to say no.
>>>
>>> -Jim Coffee-
>>>
>>> ----- Original Message -----
>>> From: Edward Fink
>>> To: #removed#
>>> Sent: Wednesday, June 08, 2005 9:37 AM
>>> Subject: RE: [PanoTools] Need help stitching my helicopter
>>> panorama!
>>>
>>>
>>> Well, I got another chance at the helicopter panorama on
>>> Monday,
>>> but so far I haven't had any better luck stitching than last week.
>>>
>>> The helicopter company decided not give a discount for
>>> retakes -
>>> it cost the same $500 per hour as the first time, so I STRONGLY
>>> emphasized to the pilot AGAIN the need to maintain position.
>>>
>>> We went with what we thought was the easiest, simplest way:
>>> having the pilot pirouette in position while I sat behind him
>>> and leaned
>>> out as far as I could, shooting continuously around the circle.
>>> We went
>>> with Bernhard's suggestion to try and rotate as fast as
>>> possible, hoping
>>> I could finish a set before he drifted too far.
>>>
>>> We didn't move as much as last week, but we moved off
>>> center -
>>> it looks our circle covered about a one block radius. So far I
>>> haven't
>>> got a good stitch out of it.
>>>
>>> Out of desperation I finally used one of the photos as a
>>> map,
>>> and I drew arrows showing our location, and the direction the
>>> camera was
>>> facing. I made each arrow a separate Photoshop layer and named
>>> it the
>>> same as the image name so I can use the map to select what
>>> images to
>>> try.
>>>
>>> That really helped a lot to understand our movement, and by
>>> stacking up the different passes on top of each other I was able
>>> to find
>>> some places where a shot from the second pass better matches
>>> something
>>> on the first pass, and vice versa.
>>>
>>> Unfortunately, I found at least a couple of places where I
>>> had
>>> three of the compass points (4 shots with my D70/Sigma 8mm)
>>> fairly close
>>> together, but then the shot for the last compass point was two
>>> blocks
>>> away. I haven't yet tried to stitch some of the new
>>> combinations that
>>> I've found because of the map, but that's the next step.
>>>
>>> It took many hours to create the map. The hardest part
>>> for me,
>>> without any flying experience, was looking at the images and
>>> trying to
>>> figure out EXACTLY what the helicopter is over. Sometimes I
>>> thought I
>>> was looking at the west side of a building, but when I looked
>>> again
>>> later, I realized that it was just the shadow, and not the
>>> actual side
>>> of the building, meaning I was really at least slightly east of
>>> the
>>> building instead of west.
>>>
>>> The taller the building, the more perspective clues, but our
>>> wide circle went over several parking lots and small buildings
>>> that make
>>> it a lot harder to judge exactly where we were.
>>>
>>> Anyway, I just thought I'd pass that info along while I
>>> continue
>>> trying to stitch different combinations of the pictures. If
>>> anyone
>>> wants to see the flattened version of my map with all the location
>>> arrows to show how much the drift was, they're at:
>>>
>>> http://new-eden.com/temp/MapLowPasses.jpg
>>> http://new-eden.com/temp/MapHighPasses.jpg
>>>
>>> We really want the lower altitude (2500') shots, be we tried
>>> some at a higher altitude too, thinking that would give me more
>>> slack
>>> even if the pilot drifted. No such luck so far.
>>>
>>> (The arrow point is the estimated helicopter position, the
>>> direction is
>>> the camera direction. The really long arrows on the low altitude
>>> map
>>> indicate nadir shots that don't extend to the horizon. It's
>>> faster to
>>> draw a long arrow than change colors. The landing skids are so
>>> visible
>>> in the nadirs that to use them you'd probably need a pair almost
>>> perfectly 180 degree apart.)
>>>
>>> Thanks again to everyone for the many tips and
>>> suggestions! If
>>> the client doesn't dump me instead of the pilot, I may
>>> eventually have a
>>> chance to try ALL your suggestions!
>>>
>>> If I get another pilot, I'd like to show him everyone's
>>> suggestions and see what he'd prefer.
>>>
>>> Right now my tentative plan, if I get a third chance, is
>>> to try
>>> and take more responsibility instead of leaving so much to the
>>> pilot,
>>> and put the camera on a pole horizontally and (hopefully)
>>> rotate it
>>> before the pilot can drift so far. (The way Willy shoots out
>>> over a
>>> railing.) I've got a heavy duty, 12' telescoping light stand,
>>> and I'm
>>> going to stick my camera on that and do some tests out the
>>> window. That
>>> should also help me better deal with the landing skids. This
>>> time I
>>> leaned as far out as my seat belt would let me, then I held my
>>> camera
>>> out as far as the neck strap would allow, and I STILL got a lot of
>>> landing skid in the pictures.
>>>
>>>
>>> Ed
>>> #removed#
>>> http://www.new-eden.com/
>>> No eternal reward will forgive us now for wasting the dawn.
>>> -- Jim Morrison --
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>>
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