The BIG Panoramic Photography Potential of CAPSULE PRO

• stability and accuracy (bent thin, unbraced L-shaped plates bend from the weight of the photographic equipment, resonate when moving and taking pictures)
• their customization is limited, so they cannot be calibrated for every camera+lens set
• full 180° vertical rotation is not possible with larger camera and lens combinations.
• the landscape orientation of the camera position is necessary in many cases, but it increases the length of the power arms on the L-bracket and thus also the load on the motors. This is one of the reasons why portrait orientation is more common during panoramic photography.

I wanted to transfer this solution into my version of L-bracket, but this required more serious planning and manufacturing. Finally, the following custom-made parts were added to my improved panoramic head:

In this case, the Tilt arm is just a simple macro rail, which has also got some modifications. Of course, there are other panoramic heads that contain such macro rails, but in this case I only chose them because of their simplicity and thinness.

After the production of special accessories, let's see what components my panoramic head for Capsule Pro consists of. Of course this is only one concept among many, and it’s also just a quick presentation. Within this line, it is possible to design a completely new product or to expand the function of an already existing product with only a few additional components.

Since the rotating part taken from the MIOPS L-bracket has been placed on top of the vertical Arca Swiss Plate, the Tilt Capsule Pro is a little higher than necessary. This is of course useful in many cases, but it would still be better to create a shorter or adjustable version.

Let's see how the panoramic head looks with some photographic equipment. The picture below shows a combination of a Nikon D5100 type DSLR camera body and a Nikkor AF 85mm f1.8D lens.

This version supports portrait-oriented camera mounting in this form, but a landscape-oriented MIOPS component can also be easily connected to this design.

This type of panoramic head construction has the following advantages:

• The head can be adjusted in the direction of both axes, so the nodal point can be calibrated for many more camera+lens combinations within certain limits.
• Stability and accuracy
• The possibility of making a full spherical panorama
• It can be disassembled quickly and easily, so it takes up less space for storage and transport.
• In portrait position, the camera puts less strain on the Tilt motor, leaving more power for movement.

Now let's see the practical examples, because in the last six months I managed to test the panoramic skills of the Capsule Pro in really special locations.

Depending on the conditions and the amount of images, a panorama can even be taken with some manual panoramic head. However, if the camera is located at a height that is difficult to reach, the use of an automated head is already indispensable. When creating high-resolution, so-called gigapixel panoramas, especially in the case of interior spaces, it is necessary to position the camera vertically in the center of the space too. Without that, it’s almost impossible to adjust the focus in all directions properly.

Technical details of photography:

• Camera: Nikon D5100 (16MP) - Sensor: Crop

• Lens: Nikon AF-S 35mm f/1.8G - Focal Length: 35

• Camera orientation (Layout): Portrait

• Camera height: 4m

• Aperture: f16

• Shutter Speed (0EV): 1/2s

• ISO: 250

• Exposure bracketing: 0EV, -2.0EV, +2.0EV (for HDR)

• Total photo: 399

• Total shooting directions: 133

• 19 column and 7 row - Overlap: 30%

• Total shooting time: about 30min

• Panorama size: 48.000 x 24.000 pixel (full 360° x 180° spherical type)

The MIOPS Capsule Pro starts the horizontal rotation between two positions with a slight acceleration and ends with the same amount of deceleration. This is extremely useful in order to minimize the vibrations caused by the movement of the panoramic head, as this way the images will be sharp even with slower shutter speeds.

With the Capsule Pro, it’s possible to use Exposure bracketing to create HDR panoramas. The desired bracketing values and the continuous shooting mode must be set on the camera. In the MIOPS application, you only need to make sure that the exposure time is set to a value that covers the duration of recording the entire bracketing series.

Click on the picture to view the end result

2.) Library of ELTE - Budapest (Hungary)

The size of gigapixel panoramas can be increased by the resolution of the cameras and the focal length of the lens. Of course, the combination of sensor size and crop factor can also influence how many images can be taken with the same lens to create a complete spherical panorama. With a bigger camera sensor, we can save time due to fewer photos, but in this case we either increase the focal length of the lens or the resolution of the camera to compensate for the lack of a crop factor.

In the huge interior of ELTE's (Eötvös Loránd University) library, the angle of view of the 50mm prime lens worked perfectly. With a higher resolution full-frame camera, fewer images could have been used to create an even higher resolution panorama.

Technical details of photography:

• Camera: Nikon D5100 (16MP) - Sensor: Crop

• Lens: Nikon AF-S 50mm f/1.8G - Focal Length: 50

• Camera orientation (Layout): Portrait

• Camera height: 6m

• Aperture: f16

• Shutter Speed (0EV): 1/2s

• ISO: 400

• Exposure bracketing: 0EV, -2.0EV, +2.0EV (for HDR)

• Total photo: 840

• Total shooting directions: 280

• 28 column and 10 row - Overlap: 30%

• Total shooting time: about 45min

• Panorama size: 70.000 x 35.000 pixel (full 360° x 180° spherical)

One Capsule Pro weighs 458g, while in my case the entire panoramic structure including the two rotators was 1700g. With these values, the automated panoramic head of MIOPS is considered a rather lightweight device, as it can be loaded with a camera system of up to 2000g when weighted to the center. These parameters allow precise panoramic photography at heights of up to 10 meters when using a sufficiently stable high tripod.

Click on the picture to view the end result

3.) Hungarian Parliament at night - Budapest

There are times when we don't need to capture the full 360-degree panoramic coverage. In case a larger building is the subject of the selected panorama, it’s worth taking photos from a distance to minimize distortion due to the angle of view of the matched panorama.

Camera position and panoramic angle of view

In this case, in the panorama menu of the MIOPS application, the area to be recorded must be narrowed down by setting the starting (A) and ending (B) points. If we only use one Capsule Pro, we only have the option of horizontal movement, but with two rotators we can already calibrate for two-axis shooting.

Technical details of photography:

• Camera: Nikon D5100 (16MP) - Sensor: Crop

• Lens: Nikon AF 85mm f/1.8D - Focal Length: 85

• Camera orientation (Layout): Portrait

• Aperture: f11

• Shutter Speed: 3s

• ISO: 100

• Total shooting directions: 20

• 10 column and 2 row - Overlap: 30%

• Total shooting time: about 3min

• Panorama size: 27.243 x 15.325 pixel

4.) Pappas Auto Showroom - Budapest (Hungary)

For virtual tours, it is usually not necessary to create gigapixel spherical panoramas consisting of many photos. Moreover, the most common and fastest method does not even require a two-axis panoramic head, since a 360-degree photo can be combined from up to four images with a circular fisheye lens. With so few images, it may seem almost unnecessary to automate the process of panoramic photography.

 

However, accuracy and speed are always very important factors. The Showroom of Pappas Auto contained a lot of reflective surfaces, so before each exposure the photographer had to hide and then return to the camera again due to the manual rotation of the panoramic head. The single Capsule Pro used during the photography made the job very easy, and the bracketing image sequences were completed perfectly.

 

Technical details of photography:

• Camera: Nikon D850 (45MP) - Sensor: Full Frame

• Lens: Nikon AF Fisheye 10.5mm f/2.8G ED (shaved hood) - Focal Length: 10*

• Camera orientation (Layout): Portrait

• Aperture: f11

• Shutter Speed (0EV): 1/50s

• ISO: 800

• Exposure bracketing: 0EV, -4.0EV, -2.0EV, +2.0EV, +4.0EV (for HDR)

• Total photo: 20 / panorama

• Total shooting directions: 4 / panorama

• 4 column - Overlap: 30%

• Total shooting time: 13sec / panorama

• One panorama size: 13.000 x 6.500 pixel (full 360° x 180° spherical)

 * The value of the focal length in the MIOPS application was a bit tricky in this case, since I used a modified cropped fisheye lens on a full frame camera. The program can only calculate with the factory data, so it offers 6 shooting positions for a Focal Length value of 10. This is not bad, but a 360-degree panorama can be stitched from 4 images with this lens too. If we reduce the value of Focal Length to 5, we will already have the number of desired photography directions.

In such special cases, it is worth experimenting with individual settings.

Click on the picture to view the end result

5.) White Raven Skybar - Budapest (Hungary) 

There are special locations that have a wonderful panorama in all directions. These are the points in the world that are the best choice for creating a gigapixel panorama. The White Raven Skybar on the roof of the Hilton hotel in Budapest, is exactly such a place, as it is surrounded by tourist attractions such as the Fisherman's Bastion or the Matthias Church.

 

Since this contains the most shooting directions of all the panoramas in this article (352 pieces), I tested the accuracy of the Capsule Pro’s using a unique scaling method. Because the so-called Papywizard panorama shooting code, which gives the position of each image, is always very helpful for the stitching softwares to create gigapixel panoramas, consisting of many images. However, this code (XML file) only works properly, if the automatic head accurately performs the specified 360-degree horizontal and 180-degree vertical rotation. During the scaling test, it was revealed that even when photographing the entire sphere, it managed to keep the exact positional values along both axes.

Technical details of photography:

• Camera: Nikon D850 (45MP) - Sensor: Full Frame

• Lens: Nikon AF 85mm f/1.8D - Focal Length: 85

• Camera orientation (Layout): Portrait

• Camera height: 7m

• Aperture: f14

• Shutter Speed: 1/1000s

• ISO: 500

• Total shooting directions: 352

• 32 column and 11 row - Overlap: 30%

• Total shooting time: about 32min

• Panorama size: 122.500 x 61.250 pixel (full 360° x 180° spherical)

Despite the summer heat, there was no overheating on the Capsule Pros, even though the devices were in the sun for several hours, and I ran the half-hour panorama program twice.

Another big positive of the Capsule Pro is the battery life. This gigapixel panorama sequence consisting of more than three hundred images consumed only 8% of the available battery power.

Click on the picture to view the end result

Summary

Even the Capsule360 had great potential for panoramic photography, and the Pro, with its more powerful motor and higher battery capacity, could definitely provide a serious alternative for those looking for a versatile yet simple product.

I think the Capsule Pro really has the potential to be taken seriously by the panorama photographers, even though it's a time-lapse specific product. Of course, there is still room for improvement in terms of hardware and software, but its versatile potential is simply undeniable.

I would like to thank MIOPS for making their products available to me and for being completely open to new ideas and technical suggestions.

Last but not least, I would like to thank my dear wife, who contributed to the success of panoramic photography with her devoted patience and professional assistance. 

About the Author

An adept 3D Artist and Photographer, Attila Farkas (Facebook: @photoreal360) harbors a deep passion for spherical panorama photography and the creation of virtual tours. Every day, he's driven by the goal to craft something beautiful, to master a new skill, and to persistently tackle challenges, even if they seem insurmountable.

In his profession, Attila frequently faces situations that challenge his expertise. While he relishes the triumph of finding a solution, he finds equal, if not greater, joy in sharing his amassed knowledge with others. This is the very reason for the existence of this blog. If Attila Farkas has managed to simplify the task for even one individual, he believes his effort has been worthwhile.