shot calculator?

[MikeS]

Hey there. I saw that there was a shot calculator online at one time but the link doesn't take you there anymore. Does anyone have a link to where I might find this information?

[Hugh]

Hello Mike,
Here is a selection you can try.

https://panosociety.com/pages/panorama-shot-calculator

https://panocatcher.com/panoplanner/

http://www.hdrlabs.com/tools/panocalc.html

https://www.lonelyspeck.com/panorama...ap-calculator/
Are any of these what you are looking for or of any help?

[HDphotoart]

Hello!

I have created a calculator for that purpose:

https://panocalc.pblog.at

The calculator has the following features:

• Calculation of the panorama layout for arbitrary multi row full sphere panoramas with normal rectangular lenses
• Graphical interactive rendering of the layout where the focal lenght and the position of the view can be set
• The calculator has an optimized support for index rotators like the Nodal Ninja rotators for practical useable image positions
• Different iterative optimizations for the lowest possible number of required images, special optimization for zenith and nadir images
• The vertical angle of the base row can be defined based on either the image center or the image border. Basing the panorama on the image border line is especially useful for milky way astro panoramas when only the sky should be included and the foreground is captured separately, or e.g. when the panorama should start from a defined bottom angle
• The calculator guarantees that there are no missing parts inside the defined overlap border
• The calculator is based on a simple standalone HTML file and also works offline without a web server. Therefore it can also be used on mobile phones in areas without internet connection

[nick fan]

Hi HDphotoart,

Thanks for sharing such a great tool!
Can you explain the purpose of the last row?

Calculate FOV equivalent

Calculate: , lens focal length: mm, Landscape (Horizontal)Portrait (Vertical)
center vertical angle: °, center horizontal offset: °
Show overlap borders, output type: Canvas (interactive)SVG (static)

Nick

[DorinDXN]

The last row is about how to (pre)view the panorama in an equivellent image with certain FOV with speciffic orientation and initial pan and tilt.

[HDphotoart]

Hi!

I just updated the calculator with some general improvements and bug fixes and I added some more index rotators.


The FOV ("Field Of View") equivalent defines the focal length, offset (azimuth) and vertical angle (altitude) of the rendering output, so you can see what images/panels of the panorama are in view when you would use one single (wide angle) lens. If you disable it the calculator will only output the textual data but no preview.

"Show overlap borders" will enable/disable the rendering of the inner rectangle of each panel which is actually used for alignment, so you can see what's inside and outside the given image overlap.

The SVG output is obsolete, it was just my first implementation, but as SVG is not suitable for high frame rate rendering I switched to a canvas output, so just forget about SVG, I probably will remove it.


It can be used for
* seeing what the calculator produces in general and get an overview. If you just want to do that, use a very short focal length here for a wide view.
* planning shots for the "Brenizer Method " (also known as "Bokeh Panorama" or "Bokehrama") where you use a longer focal length and make a multirow panorama to simulate an extremely fast wide angle lens, or just use the panorama technique to improve resolution for a rectlinear projection
* planning shots for astro-images when you want to use a longer focal length and the panorama technique to improve image quality but the final image should not be a panoramic view but just look like a shot with a shorter focal length (rectlinear projection), so you can see what images you need to cover the image area you need
* refining the alignment when using the panorama alignment tool ("Limit by horizontal angle of view"), so you can see what's going on, as the boundary lines are displayed

I developed the calculator mainly for the astro-purpose, as when it's dark an easy pre-calculated alignment makes things a lot easier as you typically can barely see through the viewfinder what's in the frame, and knowing the minimum required number of images so you dont't waste time when doing extremely long exposures. I like shooting > 180 ° milky way panoramas with a 35mm lens or e.g. using a 50mm lens for the sky part in an astro-image with 14mm.
It also helped me to decide which index rotator best fits my needs.

Regards,
Dominik