Panomachine V3.1 Product guide

PanoMachine V3.1

User book

March 008

Summary : 1. Description of the PanoMachine.

2. How to make a 360 panorama.

3. How to make a 160 panorama

(or the angle of your choice..)

4. How to use the PanoMachine as a

turntable.

5. Using intervalometer mode.

6. How to make time-lapse videos with

camera motion.

7. What is the Custom mode ?

8. Warnings

Appendix : 1. How to connect your camera to the

PanoMachine.

2. How to know the number of views needed

for a 360 panorama.

3. Angle of lenses.

4. Remote control of the PanoMachine.

5. Setting power applied to the motor of

PanoMachine.

6. Tips and tricks.

1 - Description of the PanoMachine

The PanoMachine is an automatic rotating head designed to rotate and trigger a camera exactly the way you

want. So it can do numerous jobs : the most commons are:

•taking pictures on a 36 ° angle in order to make 36 ° panoramas by stitching.

•taking pictures for making QuickTime VR Object files

•taking pictures to create high definition timelapse videos.

But other uses are possible, as spherical QTVR or doing a job of survey. The limit is your imagination…

With a PanoMachine, shooting a 36 ° panorama is really fast and reliable. As frequency of shoots can be really

faster than with any other way, moving subjects are not such a problem than when you make a panorama “by

hand”. Multiplying panoramas is very simple: just press the button, all is done by the machine. So taking

several rows with different inclination of the camera in order to built spherical QTVR is easy.

In addition, PanoMachine is much more faster than any human being : it is able to take a 36 ° panorama is 3

secondes !

Shooting objects for QuickTime object files is as simple than making panoramas. Just press the button …

All the actual reflex cameras can be used. Triggering of the camera can be done by two ways: by a shutter

release cable or by an infrared signal emitted by the PanoMachine (only for Nikon D5 ,D7 ,D8 and Canon

EOS3 D,35 D,4 D).

There is 7 program modes wich allow to use the PanoMachine on a very simple

way:

•Pano360 ° mode

for making 36 ° panoramas

•Timelapse mode

for making timelapse pictures while panning

•Turntable mode

for QuickTime VR object files

•Custom mode

for customized programming, where you can access all the program

options to control the PanoMachine in details.

•Intervalometer mode

powerfull intervalometer to make series of pictures at a fixed interval of

time.

•360CR mode

making a fast 36 ° panorama with continuous rotation.

•Rotate mode

just rotate the head at a specified speed

Custom mode :

You can program the PanoMachine for repeating takes of view automatically with intervals of time given in

seconds, minutes or hour. For example, it can makes a complete panorama, each hour, during 1 hours,

without any human action. It can work alone for hours, or for days if you connect it to an external power

source.

The PanoMachine is designed to work as an automatic device but you can also use it as a semi-automatic

device : rotation is automatic but shooting can be manual. The PanoMachine will wait for you to take each

picture.

Almost all can be programmed on the PanoMachine :

Angle of rotation from 1 ° to 72 °

Number of positions from 1 to 5

Time between shoots from to 25 (1 ' of

sec, sec, min, hrs)

Number of panoramas from 1 to 5

Time between panoramas from to 25 (sec,

min or hrs)

Direction of rotation.

Speed of rotation (up to 1 minutes for 36 °)

Triggering of the camera : cable or infrared

(Canon or Nikon)

Auto and semi-auto mode ...

Easy use :

START and STOP buttons for fast action

Green display with backligth (blue display on

demand)

Release cable for START : the PanoMachine

can be started from several meters with a

cable, a radio control or any other electric

device.

The head can be turned easily by hand, to

begin process at the position of your choice. At

the end of the process, the head will go back

to its initial position if needed.

Rotating head is with ¼ thread ,

Connectable to an external power source.

The Pano achine is delivered with theses devices :

•a Canon EOS3 /35 /4 D release cable

•a infra-red emitter to trigger NikonD5 /D7 /D8 cameras and Canon EOS3 /35 D/4 D cameras.

•a infra-red control unit to program and control the PanoMachine

Power source : 6 AA batteries or external power source (7.5 volts – 5 mA).

Weigth: 1.2 kg (with six AA batteries).

Dimensions: 12cm x 12cm x 16cm

The PanoMachine is controlled by a IR Remote control

unit :

Base for tripod : ¼ and 3/8 screws

2- How to make a 360 panorama

Making a 36 ° panorama is rather simple but there is several ways to do it :

1. First way is using PANO360° mode : the PanoMachine will turn on 36 °, stopping at each position for

camera trigger. This works in all cases, even with very slow exposure time.

2. Second way is using 360CR mode (CR is for Continuous Rotation) : the PanoMachine will not stop at

each position : it will turn continuously and it will trigger the camera at all the positions without

stopping : obviously, as the camera is moving, the exposure time must be sufficiently fast to avoid

blurring : from 1/5 s to 1/4 s depending on resolution and rotation speed. Making a 36 °

panorama is really faster : 5 seconds with a 1 mm lens !

3. Third way is using 360CRC mode (Continuous Rotation) with Continuous Shooting. Your camera must

be setted to continuous shooting so it will shoot pictures at a high rate (from 2 to 8 frames/seconds,

depending on your camera) and you will adjust the rotation speed of PanoMachine to get the good

number of pictures in a complete turn. With a 1 mm lens, it is now possible to take a 36 ° panorama

is 3 seconds ! Really fast ...

2.1 - PANO360 mode

First step is programming of the PanoMachine : you just need to make it one time. Once this is done, you don’t

have to do it again since you change your camera or your intentions. The PanoMachine will keep all the settings

in memory even if you change batteries.

Second step is take of view. Set the camera, install your tripod at the good place and press the button START.

Here are the informations you must give to the PanoMachine processor :

If you are not familiar with 36 ° take of view, before making pictures, you will read on the tables given in

Appendix3 the number of views needed for covering a 36 ° turn with your own camera and its lens. This

number will depend on your camera type, on the focal length of your lens and on the position you will shoot the

pictures (vertically or horizontally).

For example, with a Nikon D7 (D5 ) or a Canon Digital Rebel (Eos3 D or Eos35 D) fixed vertically and the

zoom lens on 18mm focal length, you will need 12 positions to cover 36 °.

In this case, overlapping between views will be 4 %. This overlap is necessary for stitching software to join

pictures with best quality. Depending on your software and your needs, this overlapping could varies from 2 %

to 5 %. 3 or 4 % seems to be a good compromise for most of people and most of software's.

Then, programming of the PanoMachine is simple :

1. select Mode=PANO360

2. select the number of positions needed : in our example, Npos=12

3. select the type of release in Trigger :

- if your camera is a D7 , D7 s, D5 , D8 , select Trig=NikonIR1

- if you prefer to use a cable release, select Trig=CABLE

- if your camera is a Canon Digital Rebel (Eos), you can select Trig=CanonIR1

4. select Tshoot=2 seconds if your camera is a little lazy (as Canon 3 D) or Tshoot=0 second if your

camera is a recent one with big muscles and a big buffer (as Canon 35 D)

5. To get pictures easy to join with your panorama software, the camera position must be adjusted so the

camera will rotate around the nodal point of the lens. The axis of rotation must be place under the nodal

point of the lens. This adjustment is important if there are some close objects on the pictures. If not (as a

panorama of mountains or the skyline), this adjustment is not necessary (for more information about this

technical point, just look at the web).

The location of the nodal point is depending of the focal length of the lens. For a fixed focal lens, this

position is placed at a same distance of the film (or sensor) (for a 55mm lens, it will be 55mm in front of

the sensor). So you must adjust the sliding fixation point of your bracket to 55mm.

If you use a zoom lens, its is really easier : the rotation position is just under the front of lens.

6. If you choose infra-red triggering, be sure that you have selected the infra-red remote control option on

your camera.

Then, just fix the PanoMachine on a tripod and press START button.

Nota : At each position, the PanoMachine will trigger the camera :12 positions will give 12 pictures. But we

took in account the suggestions of ours customers and we added an extra picture at the end of the processes

when making a 36 ° panorama. This last picture is at the same position than the first (because the camera has

made a complete turn) but some seconds has been flown since the first picture so it can have changed a little.

This picture could be useful if a Photoshop work is necessary to join the start and the end of the 36 °

panorama. So 12 positions gives 13 pictures and the last picture is (almost) the same than the first !

This extra picture is added only if angle of panorama is 36 °)

Here is a example for Npos=8 .

Nota : If you choose infra-red control to release the camera, verify that the emitter is well oriented to the

camera. On most of cameras, the infra-red receiver is a tiny black surface on front side of the camera. Although

the PanoMachine standard emitter have a wide angle, it must not be oriented at the opposite direction of the

receiver …

Nota : By changing options in Custom mode (see Appendix 1), you can use the PanoMachine differently. For

example :

-At each position, the PanoMachine will trigger the camera. But if you want the camera to be triggered

several times at each position, it is possible (see NbrShoot value).

-The PanoMachine is able to shoot several panoramas with a time interval between each panorama : for

example, each hour during 1 hours, it can shoot automatically a panoramas, without any action from you.

-At each position, the camera will be triggered automatically. But if you want to trigger the camera by

yourself, it is possible : at each position, the PanoMachine will wait for you and will ask for pressing the OK

button on remote control. (See Appendix 1)

Nota : Focus can be done by two ways. You can use autofocus. But it is often more convenient to focus your

camera before shooting the panorama and to keep this focus adjustment for the whole panorama. Then you will

be sure that focus is the same on all the pictures. (In this case, if you are using a cable release, you can specify

a Tfocus value of zero (Tfocus= on Custom mode) , and you will have a faster take of view.

Nota : Be careful when shooting with low light conditions or great exposure time. Tshutter value must be

greater than exposure time of the camera (have a look to CUSTOM mode chapter and chronograms for more

details).

2.1 - 360CR mode

What means 360CR ?

360 is for 36 °

CR is for Continuous Rotation

In this mode, the PanoMachine will trigger the camera at each position but the PanoMachine will not stop at

each position : it will rotate and trigger simultaneously. So shooting is made faster than when stopping for each

picture.

Of course, the exposure speed must not be too slow to avoid bluring. So select a high exposure time, at least

1/1 s (the higher the resolution, the higher the exposure time).

Rotation speed depends on the weight of your camera, the vibrations thats it can occur and the resolution that

you need. For heavy cameras and spherical bracket , you can also use POWER options in Custom mode to set

maximum power.

Tshutter can be modified depending on your camera. Recent cameras can be triggered with a short duration (as

2 ms).

An example with a Canon EOS35 D and a 1 mm Sigma zoom lens:

Npos=7

Trig=Cable

Speed=5s/36 °

Power=Auto

Tshutter=2 ms

Press START and a panorama is made in 5 secondes.

Nota : it can be necessary to use manual focus to speed up the shooting rate of your camera.

You can also use the CONTINUOUS SHOOTING mode of your camera:

The camera will shoot pictures at the higher possible rate (from 2 to 8 frames/seconds, depending on

your camera) . The rotation speed of the head must be adjusted so there will be the good number of

pictures at the end of rotation.

As a example :

If you want 8 pictures for a 36 ° panorama and if your camera shoot pictures at 2 frames/second in continuous

mode, then the rotation speed must be 8/2 = 4 seconds/36 °.

That is a really fast way to make panoramas but remember that exposure time must be fast enough to avoid

blurred pictures. So it could be difficult to use this mode indoor and when light is poor...

3 - How to make a 160 panorama (or the angle of your choice..)

Making a panorama which total angle is different from 36 ° is easy. Simply by using the CUSTOM mode, you

can specify the value of your choice for ANGLE option.

As with a 36 ° angle panorama, the number of pîctures will depend on the angle of your lens. To know this

angle, just look at the tables given in Appendix 5. For example, with your Nikon D7 or your Canon EOS35 D,

and using the 18mm focal length, the table gives 45° for vertical position pictures.

So you will change the number of pictures (Npos option on PanoMachine board) until the angle shown by the

screen between parenthesis (it is the angle between two pictures) will be less than the 45° of your lens. Then

you will have a overlap between pictures. Here is the screens of the PanoMachine :

And here is what will be done by the PanoMachine :

For the rest, the PanoMachine works exactly the same than in PANO360 mode.

ANGLE = 160

Npos=4 (40 )

4 - How to use the PanoMachine as a turntable.

The Turntable mode is almost the same than the PANO36 ° mode the camera and the subject are switched.

You will place a object on the rotating head to make it turn while the camera shoot it at each position.

Fix a plate on the rotating head and place the object on

its center. The camera will be put on a tripod, aiming the

object. Triggering the camera would be done by cable or

by the infared remote system of the PanoMachine.

Infra-red emitter of the PanoMachine can be remove from

the PanoMachine and put at a more convenient place for

triggering the camera.

For the rest, the PanoMachine works exactly the same

than in PANO360 mode.

Making 12 pictures or 64 pictures is not really different :

the PanoMachine will do it for you.

Most of your job will be lightning of the scene. By using a

white plate and a white background, the object will be

more present . By removing background with Photoshop,

the will seem to float in the air : the effect is really good.

You can also do this using light boxes or by over-exposure

of a white background.

5 - Using intervalometer mode.

In Intervalometer mode, the PanoMachine will not rotate. It is only a simplified mode to use intervalometer

extended possibilities of the PanoMachine without the obligation to think about rotation options. (You can also

use the PanoMachine as a extended intervalometer with rotation possibilities using the Custom mode).

Here are the values you will specify :

A number of take of views (Nviews)

A interval of time between views

A number of cycles (Ncycle)

A interval of time between cycles

The PanoMachine will shoot like this :

In this example, there is 3 pictures by cycles (Nviews=3).

The PanoMachine will continue to shoot until the number of cycles is reached (Ncycle).

Time between shoots from 1 to 25 (tenth of second, seconds, minutes or hours)

Number of cycles from 1 to 5

Time between two cycles from 1 to 25 (seconds, minutes or hours)

6 - Making Time-lapse videos with camera motion .

The Pano achine can be used to shoot automatically a great number of pictures (up to 5000) . So it is easy to

create time-lapse videos with these pictures. In addition, as the Pano achine is capable of moving on very

small angle between 2 pictures, you will have the possibility to move your camera during take of view and the

result will be a time-lapse video with a smooth camera motion. This motion can be adjusted precisely, which can

be useful to a lots of jobs video: why not following the sun during a whole day ?

Using a camera instead of a camcorder will give you a better quality, higher resolution (and the ability to create

very high definition video) , the use of Photoshop to modify pictures, etc etc .. .

For this, select TI ELAPSE mode. Choose a large number of pictures and the angle of your choice if you want

the camera to move during sequence (if you want a video without panning during take of view, choose 0

degrés).

For example, 600 pictures (Npos=600) and 90° (Angle=90°).

The resulted video would last 20 secondes at 30 frames/seconde (600/30=20) with a panoramic motion of the

camera on a 90° angle.

To generate a video with these pictures, you can use a video software like Adobe Premiere. It will do a perfect

job without any problem but as it is really expensive, I use a free software which is well known and easy to

download on the web: its name is VirtualDub. Windows ovie aker can also be used but I think results are not

as good because it can’t generate video at 30 pictures/second as VirtualDub (something like only 15

frames/second for Windows ovie aker). So VirtualDub is better for this use at my opinion.

Here are some advises to make time-lapse videos :

•It is important to keep constant conditions of take of view between each pictures. So …

- Use manual exposition : fix a exposure time and a f-number. Automatic exposition would cause too much

change from a picture to another, specially when some clouds are playing with the sun.

- Use manual focusing. With autofocus, it can occur minor changes in focus and it can cause a very slight

change in magnification of the picture. It is a very small change but it can be noticeable and generate

unpleasant vibrations on the screen . ( This problem would be less noticeable with a fixed focal lens).

•To edit the video (modify brightness, colours or other things), you can use your video software. But you can

also use Photoshop automation to do the job on each picture. You will have all the filters of Photoshop and

the job will be of the best quality.

•Compressing the video can be a problem if you use VirtualDub: for compressing, you need a « codec » and

VirtualDub don’ gives lots of codec. Cinepack codec is included and it gives a high quality but resulted

videos can be huge : 25 o for a 20 seconds video with a screen of 640x480 pixels. Don’t hope to share

easily this type of videos with your friends on the web … DivX codec can do the job as well and the file

will be only 1.5 o : so I recommend to download this codec or another of the same kind. Lots of them can

be download freely on the web. Once you have installed this codec, VirtualDub will recognise it

automatically.

•With a Ni h battery pack of 2700mAh, the Pano achine will run for about 10 hours.

If you want to shoot pictures during more than 10 hours, don’t forgot to connect the Pano achine to an

external power source : a AC/DC power supply for indoor use , or a lead battery and a regulator for outdoor

use.

•To get a precisely controlled motion, don’t forget this :

Time between two pictures = Time between shoots ( Tshoot ) + Time for focusing ( Tfocus ) + Time for

shutter ( Tshutter )

•When using the Pano achine as a time-lapse machine, it is not important to place lens on a precise

position on axis of rotation as when making panoramas. Best position is when the camera system is

balanced around axis of rotation.

•IT IS I PORTANT TO USE A SLOW ROTATION SPEED TO GET THE BEST ANGULAR

RESOLUTION BETWEEN PICTURES ! A slow speed is automatically selected when using

mode=Timelapse but if you select mode=Custom to made time-lapse pictures, be careful to select a

rotation speed slower than 100s/360°. With such a speed, resolution will be about 0,1 degree.

•When the Pano achine rotate at a low speed during a long time, it is wise to use automatic power

selection. Avoid selecting a high power on the motor in this case. If you select 100% of power and

make it rotate during a long time, the motor and the driver of the motor would probably heat too much :

then the automatic overheating protection system will work as soon as the temperature will be too high

and the motor will stop rotating or it will rotate with hieratic motions. So be careful when using non-

automatic power selection.

7 – What is CUSTOM mode ?

The CUSTO mode is the most versatile mode of the Pano achine: any option can be accessed and modified

to the value of your choice.

Here are the parameters which can be set by user :

Display Definition Maximum values

Angle= Total angle of a panorama (or angle of process for other modes) 1 to 72 degres

Npos= Number of positions to shoot 1 to 5

Shoot= Automatic triggering or semi-auto process (wait for button press to trigger) Auto/SemiAuto

Trig= This is the type of camera triggering : cable or infra-red remote control Cable/CanonIR/NikonIR

Dir= Direction of rotation (clockwise or counter-clockwise) CW/CCW

Speed= Rotation speed of the rotating head From 3s/36 °

to 1 min/36 °

Power= Power applied to the rotating head during rotation Auto / or

from 1 to 1 %

Tshoot= Duration between two shoots (don't include triggering durations) -25 (ms/sec/min/hrs)

NbrShoot= Number of shoots at each position 1 to 5

NbrPano= Number of panoramas (or number of processes for other modes) 1 to 5

Tpano= Time between two panoramas (or 2 processes) when NbrPano>1 -25 (sec/min/hrs)

Twake= Duration of focus electronic contact to wake up the camera at start of

process (Depending on your camera)

-25 ms

Tfocus= Set how long the focus button is electronically pushed down.

(Depending on your camera and lens , 5 ms is a medium value)

-25 ms

or Continuous

Tshutter= Set how long the shutter button is electronically pushed down.

(Depending on your camera, usually 2 or 3 ms)

-3 ms

or Continuous

Hold= Power applied to the rotating head during holding phases Auto / or

from 1 to 1 %

AutoReturn= Return to starting position at the end of panorama YES or NO

Return= Rotation speed of the rotating head during return (if AutoReturn=Yes) From 3s/36 °

to 3 s/36 °

Light= Back light power of the display 25,5 ,75 or 1 %

LowBatStop Stop the Panomachine if batteries are too low. Useful with rechargeable

batteries to avoid damaging them by deep discharge with long process as

time-lapse (can last during long hours).

YES or NO

Here is the chronology of triggering :

Nota 1 : Tshutter can be setted to continuous activation : use it when your camera is set to Continuous

shooting.

Tfocus can be setted to continuous activation : camera will react faster between views when shooting.

Nota 2 : Tpano delay is accessible only if the number of panoramas (Nbr ano) is greater than 1.

Specifying a value of Nbr pano greater than 1 will give you the possibility to make automatic

panoramas without staying beside your anoMachine. It will do the job alone, making a panorama at

each interval of time specified by Tpano.

For very long interval of time, you can use the auto-shut-off mode of your camera by using a cable

release (infra-red can’t wake up the camera). The anoMachine will wake up the camera before

making the panorama. The time of wake up is specified by Twake and can be of 2500 ms maximum.

All the parameters of the PanoMachine can be modified when choosing the Custom mode. When going back to

another mode, the selected values are kept except the values setted for this new mode. For example, when

switching to Pano360 mode, all values are kept except Angle which go back to 360 and NbrPano and

NbrShoot which go back to 1.

So if you want to change the delay for shutter (Tshutter) in Pano360 mode, then select Custom mode,

change this delay and go back to Pano360 mode. The value for Tshutter will be kept.

Here are the parameters which you can be modified in each mode :

Mode Mode Mode Mode Mode Mode Mode

Display Maximum values Pano36 Timelapse Turntable Custom Intervalo 36 CR Rotate

Angle= 1 to 72 degres 360 … 360 … x 360 X

Npos= 1 to 5 … … … … Nbr views … X

Shoot= Auto/SemiAuto … … … … auto auto X

Trig= Cable/CanonIR/NikonIR … … … … … … X

Dir= ClockWise/CCW … … … … x ... …

Speed= 3 to 6 secondes/36 ° 50s 150s … … x … …

Power= Auto or 1 ,2 ,...9 ,1 % … … … … x … …

Tshoot= -25 (ms/sec/min/hrs) … … … … … X X

NbrShoot= 1 to 5 1 1 1 … … … X

NbrPano= 1 to 5 1 1 1 … … … X

Tpano= -25 (sec/min/hrs) … … … … … … X

Twake= -25 ms … … … … … … X

Tfocus= -25 ms or Continuous … … … … … … X

Tshutter= -3 ms or Continuous … … … … … … X

Hold= Auto or 1 ,2 ,...9 ,1 % … … … … X … X

AutoReturn YES or NO … … … … X … X

Return from 3s to 3 s/36 ° … … … … X … X

Light= 25 to 1 % … … … … … … …

LowBatStop YES or NO … … … … … … …

•In grey : not accessible (if necessary, use Custom mode to access it)

•In White : accessible

•X : without objet

•… : value set by user / if this value is grey (not accessible), use Custom mode to modify it.

It is possible to go back to default values by selecting the Reset mode. This mode is accessible just at the end

of the mode selection. Here is the list of avaliables modes.

•Pano360

•Timelapse

•Turntable

•Custom

•Intervalometer

•360CR

•Reset

Chronograms of PanoMachine :

Tshutter must be greater than exposure time of the camera. Otherwise, the camera will move to the next position

while shutter is still opened. So be careful when shooting with low light conditions or great exposure time.

For example: with a exposure time of 2 seconds, selected a 3 seconds value for Tshutter.

8 – Terms of use for PanoMachines

The builder of PanoMachines is not responsible for the consequences, direct, indirect or

accidental, or any other type of damage befalling or resulting from the use of

PanoMachines.

In particular, each user must be aware of the problems wich could occur during the use

of the PanoMachines :

othe PanoMachines are not suitable for any aerial use, such as suspending it

under airplanes, helicopters or other aerial machines.

othe PanoMachines must not be let without any survey during use. Despite all

the care that has been made in designing and building it, PanoMachines are

electric devices wich can be flammable in case of failure, in particular in

places where there are flammable liquids or powders,

oIn any case, the builder of PanoMachines is not responsible of damages wich

could occur to cameras used with the PanoMachines. The user must ensure by

himself that the camera, the PanoMachine and the tripod are correctly fixed

and that the PanoMachine and the system of fixation is in good state, and

sufficiently strong and rigid for a safe use.

The customer alone is responsible for testing this product or its applications before it is

used in the field.

Appendix #1 :

How to connect your camera to the PanoMachine.

As the camera connectors are not all the same, you need a cable with the good plug to connect the Pano achine

to your camera. Here are the connectors for most common Canon and Nikon cameras:

Canon EOS-300D, EOS350D,400D, Digital Rebel :2 5mm stereo connector

Canon Rebel G, Rebel 2000, Elan II,III,7 , EOS-50 :2 5mm stereo connector

Canon EOS-1D, 1Ds, 10D, 20D :N3 Connector

Canon D30, D60, EOS-1V, EOS-3 :N3 Connector

Nikon D100, D1, D1H, D1X, D2H :10 pin connector

Nikon F5, F100, F90, F90s, N90, N90s :10 pin connector

Nikon D70s, D80 : MC-DC1 special connector

Nikon D50, D70 : theses cameras don’t have a cable connection, so they must be controled by infrared signal.

The Pano achine plug is a male 5 pins standard Din connector (180°). It is avaliable at all electronic shops.

•Connecting to a Canon Eos400D (Digital Rebel) is very simple. The stereo jack 2.5mm connector is

avaliable for a very low price at any electronic shop. This cable is given with the Pano achine.

oHere is cable wiring for Canon N3 plug:

oHere is cable wiring for Nikon cameras:

aking your own cable for Pano achine :

Canon 2.5mm jack connector for EOS300,350 or 400D is easy to find everywhere (you can even take one on a

mini headphone, it will works).

But for other cameras, it is often a specific connector and the maker of the camera use to sell it at a high price.

Happily, it is most of the time easy to find one for a very low price on www.ebay.com. Search for a realase cable

made in China or made in HongKong and the tranportation charges will be often more expensive than the cable

itself : total price will stay below 20 USD and it will be delivered in your mailbox.

You can take the connector of a release cable or a cable for double triggering or any other cable which have the

specific connector for your camera.

Once you have a cable and the good connector, you need to find wiring of this connector :

Cable connectors for reflex cameras often works the same : there is 3 pins, one for SHUTTER, one for FOCUS

and a GROUND pin :

•When SHUTTER is connected to GROUND, camera takes a picture.

•When FOCUS is connected to GROUND, camera lens make focus.

It is easy to find wiring when the connector is plugged to the camera. You just need to connect pins two by two

until you discover the use of each pin.

At start, just take two pins and look at the result on the camera. Three things can happens :

4. The camera takes a picture : one of the pin is GROUND and the other is SHUTTER.

5. The camera lens focus : one of the pin is GROUND and the other is FOCUS.

6. Nothing happens : one of the wire is FOCUS and the other is SHUTTER.

By connecting all wires two by two, you can find which is which. But the easy way is to connect wires until

nothing happens :

If nothing happens : then the two pins are SHUTTER and FOCUS (and of course, the third is GROUND) . Now

you just need to find which is SHUTTER and wich is FOCUS. Take one of the two pins and make a contact with

the third (which is GROUND) . If the camera takes a picture, it is SHUTTER, if the camera lens just focus , then

it is FOCUS (lens must be in Autofocus mode).

Nota : when buying a cable from Ebay or from Asia,

colors of wires connected on plug are often a good

indication of the use of each wire. ost of the time,

connections are these :

BLACK = Ground

WHITE = Focus

RED = Shutter

(Sometimes, BLACK and WHITE wires are inverted.)

Here is what the DIN plug will look (from inside the

plug) when connected to such a cable.

Nota : when soldering the Din plug of Pano achine

cable, you will look to the plug from inside : don't

forgot that wiring scheme is inverted (the schemes for

cameras are views from cable plug).

In case of problem :

Here are some tricks to solve problems of connection between a camera and a Pano achine (specialy if you

made your Pano achine cable by yourself and if you confuse right and left ...)

Ensure that the Pano achine cable is ok :

Connect the cable to the camera (but not to the

Pano achine).Then, make a contact between ground

pin and focus pin on the Pano achine plug as shown

on this picture :

(you can use a little screwdriver or any metal part to

do the contact)

The camera must focus. If not, then the cable (or the

camera) must have a problem.

Do the same thing with ground pin and shutter pin as

shown on the picture. The camera must take a

picture. If not, then the cable (or the camera) must

have a problem.

To verify the wires of the cable, you can use a ohmmetter (a voltmeter with ohm measure): one side of the

ohmmeter on a wire, the other side on the pins of the cable plug. Resistance must be very very small (some ohms

or less than 1 ohm).

Contact problems with a bad plug can occur. Be sure that the plug is in good state (specialy for 2,5mm jack:

some of them are of really poor quality)

If the cable and the camera are ok but the camera don't trigger, be sure that delay times for shutter and focus are

ok. Depending on cameras, the delay time for shutter could be too short (mini=200or 300ms for Canon EOS)

NOTA : if you connect together the 3 wires (ground, shutter and focus), the camera will trigger...

So if focus and ground are inverted, you will believe that all is ok ... until you make a try with focus delay = 0 !

If shutter and focus wire are inverted, you could also have a similar problem.

Appendix #2 :

How many views to made a 360 panorama.

The number of views needed to cover a 36 ° angle is given by the here under tables. This number depend on

the size of your camera sensor, on the focal length of lens and on the position of the camera (vertically or

horizontally).

APS size sensor (half frame size)

Canon EOS3 D, 35 D, Nikon D5 /D7

Vertically

Focal length (mm)

Overlap 8 10 12 14 16 18 20 30 40 50 55 70

20% 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 16 21 26 29 37

30% 6 7 8 9 10 11 13 18 24 30 33 42

40% 7 8 9 11 12 13 15 21 28 35 39 49

50% 8 10 11 13 14 16 18 26 34 42 46 59

Horizontally

Focal length (mm)

Overlap 8 10 12 14 16 18 20 30 40 50 55 70

20% 4 5 5 6 7 7 8 11 15 18 20 25

30% 5 5 6 7 7 8 9 13 17 21 23 29

40% 6 6 7 8 9 10 10 15 20 24 27 34

50% 7 8 8 9 10 11 12 18 23 29 32 40

Full Frame size (24x26)

Vertically

Focal length (mm)

Overlap 8 10 12 14 16 18 20 30 40 50 55 70

20% 4 4 5 6 6 7 7 10 13 17 18 23

30% 5 5 6 6 7 8 8 12 15 19 21 26

40% 5 6 7 7 8 9 10 14 18 22 24 31

50% 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 17 22 27 29 37

Horizontally

Focal length (mm)

Overlap 8 10 12 14 16 18 20 30 40 50 55 70

20% 3444555791112 16

30% 4 4 5 5 5 6 6 8 11 13 14 18

40% 5 5 5 6 6 7 7 10 12 15 17 21

50% 5 6 6 7 7 8 9 12 15 18 20 25

Appendix #3 : Angle of lens.

As it is really boring to perform mathematic calculations during take of view, here are tables which give the

angle of view of your lens, depending on its focal length and the sensor size .

Full size frame :

24x36 sensor / vertically

Focal length (mm) 8 9 10 12 14 18 20 25 30 35 40 45 50 55

Angle (degrees) 113 106 100 90 81 67 62 51 44 38 33 30 27 25

24x36 sensor / horizontally

Focal length (mm) 8 9 10 12 14 18 20 25 30 35 40 45 50 55

Angle (degrees) 132 127 122 113 104 90 84 72 62 54 48 44 40 36

Half size frame (APS):

15x22 sensor / vertically

Focal length (mm) 8 9 10 12 14 18 20 25 30 35 40 45 50 55

Angle (degrees) 86 80 74 64 56 45 41 33 28 24 21 19 17 16

15x22 sensor / horizontally

Focal length (mm) 8 9 10 12 14 18 20 25 30 35 40 45 50 55

Angle (degrees) 108 101 95 85 76 63 58 47 40 35 31 27 25 23

Canon Eos300D, Eos350D, Digital Rebel, Nikon d50,D70,D70s have a half size sensor.

If your camera sensor or your lens is a special one, use the here under formula to calculate the angle of view :

Angle = Arc tan (sensor’s dimension/2/focal length) * 36 / pi

•Angle : degres

•dimension, focal length : minimeters

•Pi : 3.14159

Sensor’s dimensions for some usual cameras :

Camera Width Height

Canon Eos 10D 22.7 15.1

Canon Eos 1D markII 28.7 19.1

Canon Eos 1Ds 35.8 23.8

Canon Eos 1Ds markII 36 24

Canon Eos 20D/20Da 22.5 15

Canon Eos 300D 22.7 15.1

Canon Eos 350D 22.2 14.8

Canon Eos 5D 35.8 23.9

Canon Eos 1D 28.7 19.1

Epson RD1 23.7 15.6

Kodak DCS Pro 23.7 15.6

Minolta Dyna 5D/7D 23.5 15.7

Back Leica Modul R 26.4 17.6

Mamya ZD 48 36

Nikon D50/D70/D100/D1 23.7 15.6

Nikon D2H 23.7 15.5

Nikon D2Hs 23.3 15.5

Nikon D2 23.7 15.7

Olympus E1 17.4 13.1

Olympus E300/E500 17.4 13.1

Penta ITS D/DI/Ds/Ds2 23.5 15.7

Sigma SD10/SD9 20.7 13.8

APS size sensor 22.7 15.1

2/3 inch sensor 8.8 6.6

1/1.8 inch sensor 7.2 5.3

1/2.7 inch sensor 5.3 4

FujiFilm S2/s3 23 15.5

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