Two beach panoramas

[alexch (Alex)]

Hi All,

I got to process the spherical panoramas I shot last new Moon at Loch Ard Gorge on the Great Ocean Road and Squeaky Beach at Wilsons Prom.
Larger versions:
Loch Ard Gorge Panorama
Squeaky Beach Panorama

360 VR tours (flash):

Loch Ard Gorge VR
Squeaky Beach VR

I used Sony NEX-5N (Baader UVIR filter) with the new Samyang 8mm f/2.8 fisheye and Nodal Ninja NN5 pano head (dual-row, 12 images in total, stitched in PTGUI). The lens is very good up to 85% of the frame - much better than any other fisheye I tried on NEX cameras.
For "Loch Ard Gorge" I used Equirectangular and for "Squaky Beach" - Stereographic projection.

Thanks for looking.

Alex

[sheeny (Al)]

They're both gorgeous, Alex.

Al.

[Octane (Humayun)]

Beautiful images, Alex.

H

[leon]

Excellent images Alex, looks so peaceful out there.

Leon

[gregbradley]

I am floored. Fabulously beautiful. I prefer the first image. Colours are mesmerising. Funnily enough I am in the final stages of processing a similar mosaic. I decided to get a pano head as the stitching is becoming a chore.

The foreground is very well lit up. So the camera did well to pick that up so well. Was there any moon at all? 30 seconds F2.8 ISO6400?

Do you find the modified camera better for this sort of shot? The colours are quite deep and seem better than what most cameras can register.

Greg.

[Paul Haese]

Cracker work Alex. Inspirational work.

[Larryp (Laurie)]

Beautiful photos, Alex!

[RickS (Rick)]

Stunning, Alex! I also like the first one best but the second is lovely too.

[LewisM]

Magic. The Earth is just as beautiful as the heavens above.

[alexch (Alex)]

Thanks everyone for the positive comments!

[alexch (Alex)]

Originally Posted by gregbradley

I am floored. Fabulously beautiful. I prefer the first image. Colours are mesmerising. Funnily enough I am in the final stages of processing a similar mosaic. I decided to get a pano head as the stitching is becoming a chore.

The foreground is very well lit up. So the camera did well to pick that up so well. Was there any moon at all? 30 seconds F2.8 ISO6400?

Do you find the modified camera better for this sort of shot? The colours are quite deep and seem better than what most cameras can register.

Greg.

Thanks, Greg!
The settings were: 30 sec, f/2.8, ISO 3200, RAW
WB was set to 2700K and +9 Green bias to make it look natural.

I find that I can push the shadows a bit further with modified NEX5N but it is hard to put a quantifiable measure on it. I am not sure if the modified camera picks up a little more signal in shadows or it is just the extra resolution in 12-image panorama. In any case, the modification was well worth it and it is nice to see pink colour in Eta Carinae, Gum nebula and hints of Barnard's Loop.

I bought mine already modified by Spencer's Camera store (http://www.spencerscamera.com/) - very happy with their service.

I was cursing NEX5N every time I used it with the telescope because the LCD at the back remains lit throughout the exposure. But it works very well in panoramas and scattered/reflected light gently illuminates the foreground.

Pano head with an upper arm rotator is very useful especially with dual-row panoramas. I am very happy with my Nodal Ninja NN5 (now replaced by stronger version of NN4).

Cheers,
Alex

[gregbradley]

Thanks for the info and links Alex.

I wonder if the Nex 6 LCD screen turns off. I have a Fuji XE1 and a lot of these cameras including the Nikon D7000 use the same Sony 16.1mp APS sensor. The Fuji has a different Fuji colour matrix. The latest version of the sensor has phase detect pixels for phase detect autofocus bringing mirrorless cameras AF closer to DSLRs.

My XE1's LCD is able to be turned off. I modded a few Canon DSLRs and a Nikon and I found each time the sensitivity increased a lot.

I suppose the cool White balance and +9 green offsets the red bias the moded camera has. I find with my standard D800E I turn down magenta and green by -1 and temp to 4200.

Greg.

[alexch (Alex)]

Originally Posted by gregbradley

Thanks for the info and links Alex.

I wonder if the Nex 6 LCD screen turns off.

Greg.

NEX6 has the EVF and I think it should be possible to turn off the LCD there. On NEX5N the LCD turns off when the external EVF is inserted.

[Ric]

Fantastic images Alex

The large images are stunning

[ourkind (Carlos)]

Breathtaking images Alex! Thank you for sharing them!!

[multiweb (Marc)]

Cool panos. Very immersive. Thanks for sharing the camera settings too.

[RB (Andrew)]

How lovely !
Well done Alex.

[iceman (Mike)]

Crackers! Absolute crackers.

How do you find the NN?

[Craige]

Alex they are both fantastic. Nice work.

[alexch (Alex)]

Originally Posted by iceman

Crackers! Absolute crackers.

How do you find the NN?

Thanks, Mike!

NN is great, the click-stops on both horizontal and vertical rotators make changing the angle in the dark very quick. I have the 8 stop horizontal rotator.