HDR Aquisition - Pano Head Setup

Before we begin.  Sorry this post has taken so long to finish.  Life gets in the way!  Enjoy!

Part of the art and science of taking good panoramic imagery is stitching together multiple images with as little parallax shift as possible.  This means you need to align the nodal point/entrance pupil around the center of your rotation axis of the panoramic head.

Most everyone I know refers to this "no-parallax" point of the lens as the "nodal point" but while writing this entry I have found that this is actually called the Entrance Pupil.   Here's a little bit of a cut and paste from that wikipedia entry.

The geometric location of the entrance pupil is the vertex of the camera's angle of view^[1] and consequently its center of perspective, perspective point, view point, projection centre^[2] or no-parallax point^[3]. When the optical system is physically rotated about its entrance pupil, the perspective geometry of its image does not change. In panoramic photography, for example, it is important to rotate or pivot the camera about its entrance pupil in order to avoid parallax errors in the final, stitched panorama^[4][5]. Depending on the lens design, the entrance pupil location on the optical axis may be behind, within or in front of the lens system; and even at infinite distance from the lens in the case of telecentric systems.

Ok now you know what then entrance pupil is what next.  Lets calibrate our Nodal Ninja.  The Nodal Ninja like most panoramic rigs operate in a similar manner.  You have to align your camera in 2 different axis in order to have your camera in the proper position on the pano head.

A. Align the center of your lens with the center rotation axis of your panoramic head.

We'll call this adjustment the left-right adjustment.  First mount the camera on the Horizontal arm.  Rotate the horizontal arm until the camera is pointed directly down at the center rotational point of the pano head.  Now adjust the "left-right" of the vertical arm until the lens is directly over the center rotational point.  It is sometimes easier to put a longer lens on the camera so you can see the center of the rig a big better.  Once you have this properly adjusted for your camera this setting will never change no matter what lens you have on the camera.

If this isn't correctly aligned you will get a broken image at the nadir point of a stitched panoramic.

John Houghton explains this very well.

An indication that the lateral position is not quite right is a broken, sawtooth edge to the head at the nadir in a stitched panorama (an unpatched nadir, of course).  The example on the right is a typical example:

The top of the head looks somewhat like a circular saw. In this case, the "teeth" are set for cutting with a clockwise rotation of the saw.  This indicates that the entrance pupil is offset to the left of the pano head axis, as viewed from the back of the camera, so the camera needs to be shifted a little to the right. If the saw is set for cutting with a counter-clockwise rotation, then the camera needs to be shifted to the left. (image to the right is from John's site) 

B. Align the entrance pupil of your lens with the center rotation axis of your panoramic head.
Next we will align the front back position of the camera on the horizontal arm.  A simple way to do this is to line up two vertical items.  Place one close to camera and the second item further way.  From a center framed position these two items should appear to be stacked on top of each other.  Rotate the camera to the left and right about 20-30 degrees.  When rotated the two items will be in exactly the same position if the camera is aligned.  If the two items do not appear to be "stacked" on top of each other, then simply adjust the forward or back position camera until the items are aligned.

Fisheye Considerations

John Houghton also notes that you need to be aware the entrance pupil for a fisheye is not centered on a single point.  Basically he says that you want to adjust your entrance pupil to correspond with the angle your stitch.  He also notes that this will compromise the accuracy of your zenith and nadir points, but stitching software is usually good enough to fix it.  Check out his site for the full explanation.

Now your probably wondering why bother with both axis when shooting with a fisheye?  You could easily use a simpler rig like the Nodal Ninja 180.  With the NN180 you only align the entrance pupil on one axis and not two.  Wouldn't this be easier on set?

This is true.  But using a panoramic head designed specifically a fisheye limits you to just using a fisheye.  The NN5 allows you do use any lens.  And depending on the lens used you get a significantly higher resolution final panoramic than one created using a fisheye lens.  If you need to capture a high resolution sky or cityscape your in trouble if you only have a fisheye rig.  End of the day if you have the extra coin to buy multiple rigs... go for it!  They happily sell you more than one, but for me one rig that can do both is a bit more cost effective.

Taking your time at this step will result in panoramas that take minutes to stitch together.  And the team back at the office will love you for it!  In fact they may pick you up on their shoulders and parade you around the office, like the hero that you are!

Next time, lets shoot some pictures!

Here is a quick resource list that I came across in my research for this entry.  These guys have put together some very good sites which inspired me while writing this blog entry.

Michel Toby's website
johnpanos.com - Finding the No-Parallax Point
The Nodal Point (This has a very cool laser plotted graph of a sigma 8mm lens's entrance pupil)
Nodal Ninja website
Digital Grin (nodal point tutorial)
The Really Right Stuff
Big Ben's Panoramic Tutorials 
vrphotography.com
The "Grid" tutorial

Sony Announces devlopment of new Single Lens 3d Camera

This looks pretty cool.

Buttery smooth 3d and frame rates up to 240 fps!  Here's the cut and paste...  or the original link.

This technology combines a newly developed optical system for single lens 3D camera which captures the left and right images simultaneously, together with existing high frame rate (HFR) recording technology to realize 240fps 3D filming. Sony will demonstrate a prototype model incorporating this technology at "CEATEC JAPAN 2009", to be held at Makuhari Messe convention center in Chiba city, Japan, from October 6th.
In existing half mirror 3D camera systems with separate lenses for the left and right eyes, the parallax range is adjustable, enabling the depth of the 3D images to be modified. However, when operating the zoom and focus functions of such systems, the sensitivity of the human eye, in particular to differences in the size and rotational movement of dual images, as well as any vertical misalignment or difference in image quality has meant that complex technology has been required to ensure that each camera lens is closely coordinated, and there are no discrepancies in the optical axis, image size, and focus. The introduction of a single lens system resolves any issues that may occur as a result of having different optical characteristics for each eye.

Enlarge

Optical system for single lens 3D camera

Furthermore, by using mirrors in place of shutters, incoming light can now be simultaneously separated into left and right images and recorded as it reaches the parallel light area (the area where diverging light from the point of focus on the subject matter becomes parallel) of the relay lens. The separated left and right images are then processed and recorded with the respective left and right image sensors. As there is no difference in time between when the left and right eye images are captured, it is possible for natural and smooth 3D images to be captured, even of scenes involving rapid movement. Optical tests have shown that a frame rate 240fps represents the limit of human visual perception, and beyond that it becomes difficult to detect differences in terms of blur and "jerkiness" of moving images (where images that were continuous are now seen as a series of distinct snapshots). By developing a 240fps frame rate CMOS image sensor with properties close to the human eye, which is capable of capture natural images of even fast moving subject matter, Sony has succeeded in enhancing the quality of 3D video images.

The combination of Sony's new single lens 3D system and its 240fps high frame rate technology has realized a single lens 3D camera system, based on universal properties of the human eye, which enables natural and smooth 3D images with no accommodation-vergence conflict to be recorded.
Technological Features:
1. New single lens optical system
- Captures left and right images simultaneously to deliver natural and smooth 3D images with no accommodation-vergence conflict.
- Eliminates the need for lens synchronization, ensuring easily accurate control of 3D zoom and focus functions.
- When polarized glasses are not used, viewers with still be able to see natural 2D images, as the disparity of the images for left and right eyes are within the range that human eyes can recognize as a blur.
2. 240fps image capture to realize high quality motion images
- Realizes high quality capture of 3D content including fast-moving subject matter such as sports.
Source: Sony

HDR Aquisition - Gear

First before we get into gear, we need to decide how you want to take your panoramic HDRs.  You can shoot an panoramic HDR with just about any lens.  It just depends on how much time you have to devote to shooting your complete data set.

Generally the longer the lens the more angles you'll need to take a complete panorama.  And that will increase your final overall compiled image resolution.  The wider the lens the fewer angles you need to take for a complete set but then you will have lower resolution compared to shooting with a longer lens.  Final resolution also depends on your camera's Megapixel size.

There are lots of different types of setups for shooting HDR panoramic environments.  Below is my current setup, and I will also go over some of the alternative gear available.

Since we are talking about on set data acquisition my setup is geared towards speed.  Thus I am using a wide angle lens.  In addition I put a my 24-105mm lens and shoot a non spherical pano with the same system outline below.  This is good for background plates where resolution is the key.

My Gear for Shooting panoramic HDRs on Set.

• Canon 5d Mk II
• Sigma 8mm Fisheye lens
• Nodal Ninja 5
• Manfrotto tripod
• Canon Shutter Release Cable
• Hot shoe bubble level

I would consider this a solid DSLR HDR panoramic setup.  This setup has a full frame censor and the 8mm fisheye lens can shoot an entire panoramic environment with just 3 angles (120 degrees apart).

If you have a cropped censor you can still use the utilize this lens but you will need to shoot 4 angles (90 degrees apart).  Sigma also makes a 4.5 mm fisheye lens designed specifically for cropped sensor DSLRs.  They make a variety of mounts for this lens to fit cameras from Canon, Nikon, Pentax,  and Sony.  The 4.5 mm fisheye will allow you to shoot a full panoramic just like a Full Framed DSLR in just 3 angles.

With my current setup I can shoot a full panoramic HDR in about 2-4 minutes depending on the on set lighting conditions. 

There are few newer tools that will speed up this process.  One of them is the Promote Control System.  This device aims to increase the standard 3 images (+/- 2 EV) for Canon Cameras.  This system also works with Nikon cameras but some Nikon cameras have an advantage where their in camera auto bracketing takes up to 7-9 exposures.  The Canon 1Ds MkII/III is the only Canon camera the shoots an auto bracket sequence of more than 3 exposures.  It can shoots 7 (but who has $8k to spend on a camera!).

Check back as I will be reviewing the Promote Control system in the coming weeks.

Other Available HDR Panoramic Gear

If you have the deep pockets or your working on a big budget feature film you might want to check out some super custom imaging systems.  But if your pocket aren't overflowing with cash there is also some budget gear out there to get you started.

• HDR-CAM
• An all in one solution geared towards feature films.  This robust stem can be fired remotely meaning you can stick it in many places there it would be dangerous or impossible for a person to shoot an environment. (ex. on a Technocrane).  This system comes with a complete software package that will compile, log, and prep your HDR for import into Maya.  I believe this system is for rental only.
  
• Spheron
• The Spheron has been around a long time.  It's manufactured in Germany so it has to be good right?  This is a custom imaging system that shoots a full spherical HDR in one pass that has a dynamic range of 26 f-stops.  Like all systems I'm sure this one has a hefty price tag.  It also looks like Spheron has a service for capturing as well.. if you don't want to buy the system.
• Panoscan
• The Panoscan is another custom imaging system that has its optics designed for the camera from the ground up.  Some of this systems highlights (according to the website) a full scan takes 54 seconds.  Shoots in low light up to ISO 3200, Autowhite balance, accepts Mamiya, and Hasselblad lenses, and its unique magnetic slit cap improves image quality by blocking lens flares and reducing glare.  
•  These guys demo their product for me a couple of year ago and it was very impressive and solidly designed.
  
• Peace River
• These guys make a ton of different products.  A standard pano head simular to the nodal ninja and they have a super robo automated panoramic head.  I have not used it my self,  but my good friend Eric Hanson over at xRez has been using their system for years.  I might have to swing by his shop and bring some beers to get hands on review for ya guys.
  
• Ipix Products for consumer and DSLR cameras
• Ipix has been around since 1989 and was one of the first companies to start doing 360 QTVR type stuff.  They carry Peace rivers' 3Sixty pano head but also offer lens and pano head for more consumer type cameras (Nikon P6000, P5000).
• Panosarus
• a budget pano head.
• Manfrotto Pano head
• One of the only "Big" camera accessory manufactures to get into the panohead business.  It is a solid head and does the job, but I cannot recommend it because of the complexety of its setup.  A previous company had one of these and basically it's great once it's setup and configured.. but I hope you have a good memory and some time if it needs to be assembled.

Lets not forget about tripods.  They are very important piece of the puzzle.  You don't need a crazy carbon fiber rig but if you got the cash spend some money on with with a self leveling ball head incorporated into the tripod like many of the Gitzos.

And lastly don't for get a good carrying cases and travel protection.  I love camera bags, but I have a lot of them.   But the one I use most is my Kata Rucksack.  I can jam my Camera, 8mm, 24-105mm, 16-35mm, my speedlight, battery charger, cleaning supplies, many cords and cables and I don't feel like I'm a hunch back with a big sign saying "MUG ME" i have lots of camera gear.

That's if for now... Next time we tackle the setup!  We'll configure out panohead, learn how to find the nodal point of any lens, and setup our camera.

Cross Polarization Photography and Skin Texures

Hello Everyone,

Here is a good trick for capturing only the diffuse component of a person for the basis for diffuse texture maps in a sub surface scattering shading model.

Bascially what you need to do is filter both your lens and your light source. In this case I am filtering a pair for canon 430 EX speedlights with linear polarizing film. The speedlights are mounted on a custom bracket. The purpose of the bracket is to align speedlights with the camera lens in order to evenly light our subject. (me)

First lets look at the results.


(note: the small amount of reflection/specular light on the right hand image is the uncorrected lights in my kitchen. Ideally you would take your photo in a more controlled setting. Also for this example I did not have 2 flash units available so I just used one directly on the hot shoe of the camera)

Why does it work?
Well when I first learned this trick back in the day.. I was just told "it works". But I wanted to know why so I did some digging. Here is what I've found.

I am paraphrasing The Handbook of Cosmetic Science and Technology, Third Edition. Cross polarization photography lets you differentiate between regular glare and back scattered light. The back scattered light is the complextion within the skin.

Both the camera lens and the flash have a filter placed in front of them. When the orientation of the filters are perpendicular (cross polarization) the regular glare is blocked and only the back scattered light is captured.


But when the filters are parallel only the reflected polarized light passes though the filter to be captured by the camera.

What do I need to take photos like this?

The Basics

• Camera
• Circular Polarizer for your camera
• Linear Polarizing Film (to filter your flash)

More Advanced Setup

• Camera
• Circular Polarizer for your camera
• External Flash units (I used 2)
• Linear Polarizing Film (to filter your flash)
• Flash diffusers (make sure the one you buy fits your flash)
  
• Flash bracket (My good friend and boss Les Ekker helped me make a nifty bracket)
• An external hot shoe extensions
• An adapter to connect more than one flash to your PC sync port
• Extra tripod mounting plate
• some standard "quarter/20" screws (1/4 inch screws with a 20 degree pitch threads). This will fit a standard camera mounting hole.
  

The Flash Bracket


Les had some extra 1/4 aluminum stock laying around so after some carefull planning we drilled a bunch of through holes. 2 hole for the hot shoe adapters. 1 hold for the camera, and the last through hole we threaded and attached a standard tripod mounting plate.

After we did all that... we threw the thing in a vice and gave it a good twist. This was to align the flashes as best as possible with the front of the lens.

presto chango.... hand dual flash bracket! (when I say we...I mean Les, he did most of the work as I drank a beer in his shop.)

Making the flash filter



The flash filter was simple to make. I ordered a sheet of the polarizing film and simply used a sharp exacto knife to cut out a shape that matched the end of the diffuser. We simply taped the film to the end of the diffuser with some common "silver" tape that you can find at the hardware store. I think its generally used to repair dryer hoses. The silver tape will help contain any light leaks from the flash and focus as much light out through the filter.


Shooting Conditions

When shooting you want to control as much as the light as possible and have little or no reflective/specular light sources. (light fixtures, computer monitors, windows etc...)

make sure to focus and have fun.


Now what do I do with these...

Once you've taken a set of photos in each position (perpendicular and parallel) you can do some fancy photoshop action by either inverting or using difference matting techinques to derive a specular only map. These 2 images will take you a long way.


But wait there's more....

This technique works on all kinds of stuff. I've used it to shoot rubber tires, plants, leather and a bunch of other stuff...


here is a link to a page that I came across in my researching for this project.... just wanted to give some credit to naturescapes.com

Here is a flickr gallery that has more pictures of the rig.
enjoy

Andy

Simple Survey: Suunto Tandem Inclinometer

Once piece of equipment that isn't in my bag yet but is very handy is the Suunto Tandem compass & inclinometer.

This simple piece of equipment can do many things. It can help you figure out where the sun is going to be at a certain time of day. It is very handy when setting up for golden hour shoots. It can help you figure out how many degrees a camera pans. It can also help you align your directTV satellite dish!

The tip I'm going to talk about today is how to use an inclinometer to do some simple and quick outdoor set surveys. All you need is the inclinometer/compass, a laser tape measure, and some simple math.

This piece of equipment is sometimes referred to as a "sighting" compass because the compass/inclinometer is read by looking through an eyepiece on the side of the unit. There are two eye pieces and two floating dials on the device. For purposes of this tip we're just using the top dial, the inclinometer.

Hold the inclinometer vertically so that you're looking through the eyepiece with one eye. It takes some getting used to reading because you actually read the inclinometer's scale with one eye, and sight your target with the other eye. If you're using this for the first time it may be simpler to close one eye first, focus on the scale, then open your other eye and sight your target. You need to relax your gaze so that you are looking at both the scale and your target that you want to measure. This is the most difficult to master when using this device.

Hold the scale to your dominate eye and sight with the other eye. Then simply tilt your head up and down and the scale will tell you what degree of incline you are sighting.

Ok, now that we know how to use it, let's measure something. In the above image I want to measure/survey the wall height.

In this example A, D, M, N are values that you can easily measure. B, C are difficult to measure. The Wall Height = B (calculated side of our triangle) + D (distance of our eyesight from the ground).

The first measurement we will take is "M". "M" is the angle from your eye to the top of the building. A good way not to use a lot of math is to use the 45/45/90 deg triangle method. Sight the top of your target and move closer or further away until the angle of sight is 45 degrees. Using simple math principles we know that that "N" is also 45 degrees.

From this position sight down to zero degrees. This is the base of our right angle triangle. Now we calculate distance A by using our handy Hilti laser tape range finder, measure the distance from where you are standing to the "Zero Degree incline" line you just measured.

A = 25'5". Because in a 45/45/90 degree triangle A = B. We also know that B = 25'5"

Now we measure the D. D is how far your eye line is from the ground. In this case D = 5'4".

B + D = Wall Height
25'5" + 5'4" = 29'9"

There you have it. Our wall is approximately 29'9". Now of course this isn't EXACT but its close enough to help us set a scene scale or create tracking geometry for this building.

If you can't for use the 45/45/90 degree triangle method you can still derive the distance of B but you'll need to do a bit more math. I'm not a mathemagician so I use cheat sheets. A buddy of mine (Mike Romey) showed me these Quick study laminated charts. These reference charts are another great addition to the tracking kit.

I'd like to thank Les Ekker for showing me this tip. Les is a VFX Supervisor at Zoic Studios and is an encyclopedia of VFX knowledge. I'm sure we'll see many more tips from Les.

And thanks to Max for helping me out and posing for the reference pictures.

If you have any tips that you would like to share please email me at vfxtips(at)wilkoff(dot)net.

What's in my on set kit?

One of the first things I started to ask people is what do I need to bring on set? Now everyone is different. Some may take the minimalist approach or if your like me and you like gear... you try to have something for every situation. In my opinion the key is to have what you need on your person at the time.

So what I've done is I've put my kit together in a way so that when I arrive at set I can gear up with what I'll need and leave the other stuff at my base camp. (car, hotel room, or trailer). Since I've been doing lots of day shoots around LA I have a 12 gallon container and a small dolly to cart my stuff around. It's pretty handy and I can use the container as a make shift table if needed.

I also have found it handy to have a bag of clothes in the trunk as well. Sometimes if your working all day outside you need to bundle up at the end of the day.

It may seem like a lot of stuff (there is a lot of small stuff), but once I weed out what I need for the day I don't have that much and I can carry everything I need on me.

Pictures of some of the stuff in my On Set Kit

• Canon 5D mark II
• Kata R-103 Backpack
  
• 2 batteries
• 8 mm Sigma Fisheye (for HDRs)
  
• 16-35mm 2.8 L
• 24-105mm F4 IS
  
• 430 EX Speedlight
• LightSphere II
• 6 GIG of CF cards
• Linear polarizer
  
• Canon HV20 HDV Camcorder
• Canon wide angle lens for HV20
  
• tripod- Manfrotto 3001
  
• pan tilt head - Manfrotto 3030
• Guerrilla Pod and small ball head.
  
• Nodal Ninja 5
• Small 8.5 x 11 cutting matte
• Tool belt with pouch (Hip Pock-its w/ Belt)
• Tape Measure
• Pocket knife & Utility blade
• Zip ties
• Round stickers
• Lens cleaning cloth
• Camping water bottle holder
  
• Leatherman - Wave
• Baseball hat
• Floppy "Camping" hat
• Camping Chair
• 6" metal ruler
• Small pocket sized "reporter" notebook
• Olympus voice recorder
• Motorola walkabouts (sometimes we don't get crew walkies)
• sunglasses holder (this attaches anywhere, but I put it on my belt pack)
  
• Car power inverter
• Zipper 3 ring binder (from Staples)
  
• pens,highlighters,white out, glue stick, Sharpies (different colors)
• shot sheets, manuals
• reference info
• aspirin, cold meds, gum, mints
• 12 gallon Container with attached lid
  
• collapsible dolly

Here are Some items that are in Zoic's on set kit that I find useful.

• Hilti Laser Tape Measure
  
• Suunto tandem compass/inclinometer
  
• Gaffe Tape - Yellow, Green,
• 100' roll tape measure
  
• canned air
• hospital footies (to help keep green screened floors clean)
• lots of extra batteries of all kinds
  

I'm looking to upgrade or get the following

• Linear polarizing film
• My own Hilti Laser Tape Measure
  
• My own Suunto inclinometer
• Smaller on set chair

That's it for now. I will update this post as I update my kit! Enjoy. And I look forward to hearing whats in your kit.