> -----Original Message-----
> From: owner-xsi(at)Softimage.COM [mailto:owner-xsi(at)Softimage.COM] On
> Behalf Of Martin Belleau
> Sent: 30-May-2006 21:26
> To: XSI(at)Softimage.COM
> Subject: RE: Unwrapping chrome ball pictures...
>
> Also I noticed that you can't get the complete 180 with a
> chrome ball. (unless someone knows something that I don't).
>
with a chrome ball you should be able to get more than 180. Quite a lot
more, depending on your distance from the ball when you take the shot. You
can confirm this with a quick sketch. With a good long lens I reckon you'd
be getting around 300 degrees horizontal fov. Vertical obvously less.
fisheye lenses. Remember, the angle of coverage will depend on the size of
your sensor plate. Although 36x24mm sensors are becoming more common, lenses
advertised as wide angle aren't always wide angle on a digital camera and
this is something you should consider and ask about when you're buying
lenses for this kind of work. You may end up with a fish-eye lens that
doesn't give you a full 180 degrees.
I saw someone here mention Sigma. It's been my experience for many years
that the best quality lenses are made by the camera manufacturers rather
than the multi-format lens manufacturers like Sigma and Tamron. Canon and
Nikon both make the better lenses but you still get what you pay for, even
with these guys. expect to shell out at least 4 figures for good lenses,
especially extreme wide angle or long focal lengths. Remember, it's not
always about sharpness. Flare is a major consideration because it affects
contrast - I have both Canon and Sigma 24mm lenses, both are similair
sharpness but the contrast of the Canon is much greater. Zoom lenses also
tend to perform not so well as fixed focal length lenses, especially the
wide angle ones.
There was a time when the Zeiss lenses used on Hasselblads were
extraordinary but it seems if you want quality Hasselblads these days you
need to look for the older ones, at least 20 years. Either way, there's
still no subsitute for neg, other than possibly the convenience but I do
think it's a shame that the pure craft of darkroom work seems to be slipping
away from us.
All that said, I'm not so sure that quality is so important for much HDR
work, but if it is, almost certainly a fish-eye will give the better
quality. But then stitching narrower views will probably give even better.
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