Taking panoramas with the D200 ?

One of the things I miss with the D200 is the panorama mode. I was aware
that it wasn't a feature when I bought the camera. I suppose they assume
anyone that can afford a D200 will have a tripod and panorama head; but
when traveling I travel without a tripod or head.

One option is to also take along my Nikon 8400. Going in and out of
panorama mode automatically turns on and off exposure lock. And you get a
partial ghost of the prior picture to help you line up the next.

Of course the D200 has an exposure lock. One option is "AE-L/AF-L Button,"
the default. The exposure is locked only as long as you hold down the
AE-L/AF-L button. Not particularly useful when taking a bunch of shots.
The there is the "AE Lock Hold." Here the AE-L/AF-L button toggles the
exposure lock on and off. But I can't find any visible indication of which
mode it is in. This is quite dangerous, as leaving it locked after you take
a panorama ruins all subsequent pictures. So what are other D200 owners
doing for panoramas?

Don <www.donwiss.com/pictures/> (e-mail link at page bottoms).

 

I assume the D200 has a manual mode.

What I do on my Canon 5 D is use the in camera meter, transfer those
readings to the Manual mode and fire away. Works great for me.

 

doesn't the ae-l indicator in the viewfinder light up?

item #3:
http://www.dpreview.com/reviews/NikonD200/Images/viewfinderdiag.jpg

 

Manual exposure mode?

 

the AEL indicator in the VF stays on. Or switch to manual. As for
lining up the shots, I find turning on the gridlines helps (I use a
ballhead; also I sometimes shoot handheld and then stitch, and the
gridlines do help).

 

I hardly ever take panoramas on tripods. When I do it's an ordinary
tripod, not a special panorama head. I've used this with my Epson
850Z and my Fuji S2; I haven't done a panorama with my D200 yet, but
it'll work just the same as the others. (I'm stitching with Panorama
Factory, the old free version.)

You mention "exposure lock", but seem to have overlooked the
possibility of just using manual exposure (hence no button to keep
pushed).

 

Let me see... I tend to not use the indicators in the view finder, but the
LCD on the top of the camera. With my glasses, and the weight of the camera
(it usually has the 18-200 on it), looking throuugh the viewfinder isn't
all that easy, so I do it only to frame the picture. Okay. I found it. I
suppose it will do.

Don <www.donwiss.com> (e-mail link at home page bottom).

 

I really just do some tests to get the exposure correct, then set it to
manual and take as many photos as needed plus a few extra. Then I stitch
the pictures together. Digital Image Pro and PhotoShop both work well
for that. The extra photos are handy because more is better than fewer.

I did this one with the D200 and about seven or eight images stitched
up. But I did use a tripod (obviously, because it was night.)
http://trupin.smugmug.com/gallery/1279919/1/60120638

 

I've always used PTGui, and I've stitched more than 200.

I went and ate dinner while it was loading........ I gave up. Smugmug can't
handle the original size.

Don <www.donwiss.com/pictures/> (e-mail link at page bottoms).

 

It loaded quick and easy for me, but the size of it made scrolling
difficult. Wait; a second load solved the misplaced controls problem.

I don't see any sharp objects there, among the lights. Was it fog, or
blooming from overexposure, I wonder. A terrific view, and while I'm
not a sharpness fanatic, it seems to me part of the joy in these big,
detailed efforts is in the inspection.

 

A bit of overexposure. I got there a bit later than I would've liked.

But since it's my photo we're talking about, let's overthrow the cult of
sharpness and proper exposure!

 

For what it's worth this is a minor issue with the LightBox JS used by
SmugMug on a small number of machines running Firefox. Unfortunately, I'm a
small sample where two of my three machines will NOT load the image when
one just clicks on the thumbnail. I went back and forth with several
support guys at SM, but we never identified the issue. All you get the
scrolling "loading" message and never any image. Works fine in IE. I've
seen a similar issue with another site using LightBox as well IIRC.

 

No tripod head needed. Use Aperture priority mode to set the aperture you
want then meter across the scene to determine the appropriate average
exposure to use in full manual mode. The following were done with my older
D70, all handled:
http://edwardgruf.com/Digital_Photography/dSLR/pano/index.html

 

If you wanna get really fancy with the D200, set the intervalometer on,
and if you have a steady enough hand, you can just slowly pan while it
takes the photos for you!

:-D

 

The original size loaded OK for me, but because of its size was awkward to
view. The large size looks great, but too small at 800 pixels wide; 1024
would have been better and 1280 would be perfect for most of us, I expect.