The FZ1000 is one of the most versatile cameras you can
buy. One of it's capabilities is making good quality panoramas in camera. I
offer some suggestions for best results.
Panorama Mode is accessed via the {Scn} Mode on the main mode
dial. It is the #25 and last item listed,
after such gems as "Cute Dessert",
"Appetising Food" and "Romantic Sunset Glow".
Setting up
1. Go to the Setup Menu, Page 3 and set Menu Resume ON.
2. Turn the Mode Dial to {Scn}
3. Press Menu/Set to
enter the menus. See a SCN submenu appear
above the Rec Menu icon. Click on the [Scene Switch] tab and scroll to #25,
Panorama. If your camera is showing #1:
Clear Portrait, scroll backwards to #25
directly.
The next time you select {Scn} on the Mode Dial, Panorama
will display.
4. Select JPG/Fine Image Quality, from whichever portal you have
decided will access Quality, be it the
Rec menu, Q Menu or a Fn button.
5. With the Mode Dial at {Scn} enter the Rec Menu and scroll
to [Panorama Settings], Page 4/7. Press
Menu/Set and see two submenus, [Direction] and [Filter Select]. Select
direction. See four options.
At this point there is a disconnect between the Owners
Manual, the icons on the menu screen and the camera's actual behaviour.
My suggestion is to select the bottom of the four options under [Direction]. Ignore the arrows.
This will allow you to hold the camera in portrait
orientation and swing horizontally from left to right. This provides greater picture
height than holding the camera in
landscape orientation often allowing a pleasing result particularly with
architectural subjects.
Or you can select the top option under [Direction]. This gives less picture height but potentially
more width and opens up the possibility of dramatic double perspectives.
You can hold the camera in landscape or portrait orientation and sweep either horizontally or vertically with either orientation. Just experiment with the [Direction] options until you find the one you want.
You can hold the camera in landscape or portrait orientation and sweep either horizontally or vertically with either orientation. Just experiment with the [Direction] options until you find the one you want.
I have thus far not tried any of the filters, which include
"Expressive", "Retro", "Old Days" etc............There are lots of them.
6. Allocate the electronic level gauge to a Fn button or
press the Disp button until it appears. You want to see this gauge to level the
camera at commencement of the panorama sweep even though it disappears off the
screen during the sweep.
7. Manual Focus with peaking is compatible with Panorama but Manual Exposure
is not.
How it works The lens is set automatically to the wide
end, focal length E25mm. Zoom is not available.
Look at the whole scene which will be captured and decide which part thereof you think is likely to provide the best
exposure metering and autofocus (or manual focus). Half press and hold the shutter button with the camera pointed at
this part of the scene to lock exposure metering and focus.
Swing the camera to the start point of the sweep and when
the camera is level, press the shutter button once, no need to hold it down.
Steadily and smoothly swing left to right while the camera
fires off many exposures in quick succession. A little display on the live view
screen shows (correctly) which way to swing the camera and indicates progress
of the capture sequence.
The camera magically merges all the individual exposures
into one big panorama which you can review
immediately on the live view screen.
Supporting the camera
Ideally you want the camera to be at a height half way between the top and bottom of the
anticipated final picture and you want to hold the camera so the sensor is
vertical throughout the sweep. The stitching software is pretty clever though
and will tolerate the camera being pointed up or down during the sweep. This however can introduce some curious
perspective distortions with architectural subjects.
Hand Held This can be at
eye level viewing through the EVF or
waist level, which can work well indoors. In this case I recommend swinging out
the monitor 90 degrees and viewing by looking directly down. Set the LVF/Monitor switch to Monitor so the
eye sensor doesn't black out the monitor as you hold the camera in close to
your body.
Swing by pivoting your whole body around.
Tripod Set up the tripod
so the center column is vertical. This will prevent yaw as you swing the camera
around.
Best exposure and
focus The best way to focus is
manually. Otherwise you get 49 Area which may or may not focus where you want.
For exposure you need to experiment. The FZ1000 has a
moderate tendency to clip highlights with JPG capture. So you need to select
the optimum part of the scene to lock in exposure at the beginning. Exposure Compensation is available and may be
useful. You can also set the AF/AE-L button to AE Lock or AF+AE Lock but the
Lock Hold tab is greyed out in {Scn} Mode.
Practice The first 20 or so times I tried Panorama,
things did not work out so well. There is definitely an acquired skill to
holding the camera optimally, getting the optimum exposure, swinging around smoothly
at the optimum speed and selecting good subjects for the pano treatment.
Post Capture Editing I have found that even with my best efforts panos
often need a bit of help in my image editor. I first use Photoshop Camera RAW
(which can edit JPGs) to adjust highlight and shadow tone and often adjust
color balance. Sometimes perspective corrections can be made here too.
But not uncommonly with hand held capture and architectural
subjects there is variable departure of verticals from true, across the width of the frame.
To fix these I use Photoshop > Edit > Transform >
Warp. This allows me to push and pull sections of the image to get verticals
lined up everywhere.
Summary Making panoramas is fun, gives a different
perspective on many subjects and is one way to overcome the lack of an ultra
wide angle zoom setting on the FZ1000.
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