Scarborough360

The camera can be used with a whole range of different focal lengths depending on the quantity of frames you are wanting to produce to make your spin movie.

We use a Canon EOS 1DS MK II with an 8mm fisheye which covers 180 degree field of view. To get the very best image quality the optimum aperture needs to be used to ensure a crisp result from your chosen focal length. We use f8 on the 8mm at infinity. This lens creates a huge depth of focus and so depth of field is not a concern using this aperture.

The tripod needs to have a panoramic head attached. This allows the camera to be rotated through 360 degrees with precision. It also allows the lens nodal point to be centred directly over the axis point of the tripod. This is probably the key to accurate panoramic photograph making. It is technical and takes time to implement well. We tend to make 4 x 180 degree quadrants of each scene and finally make a nadir exposure in case we want to view the floor of the photograph in the publishing software.