newbie questions, best tools/techniques for the task

[Lee Schwabe <lschwabe@xxxxxxxxxxx>]

Hello,

Please help me if you can to make some decisions regarding a project that I 
must do soon.  I am new to panorama making, have learned a lot by reading 
here, but still could use some advice.  Here's the situation:

I am going to make a panorama from the top of a structure.  Most of the 
interest in the image will be looking downward, below the horizon.  I have 
done a couple tests with a borrowed Sony Mavica.  The first test, done with 
the camera level, stitched with Panorama Factory (and warning, weighing in 
at 2.5 mb!) can be seen at:
http://www.giantdipper.com/newtests/pftest02.mov

The second test, done with an evaluation version of PanaVue Image Assembler 
(and only 325k) can be found at:
http://www.giantdipper.com/newtests/tiltsmbrtr.mov

PanaVue Image Assembler will assemble images that were shot with camera 
tilt, but the result seems to be a smiling horizon line.  Panorama Factory 
seems to stitch better with the camera level, but has no provision for 
tilted originals.

So, I have questions about which equipment/techniques will produce the best 
results.

For equipment, I own Nikon gear with my widest lens being a 24mm.  I have 
available locally to rent 20mm, 15mm rectilinear, or 28mm shift.  No 8mm 
fisheyes available for rent locally.  I'm thinking that I could:

1) rent the 15mm, shoot with the camera not tilted, hope the angle of view 
gets enough image information below the horizon, then crop the excess sky 
from the top.

2) rent the 28mm shift, and shift the lens downward?

I could rent non-locally a 8mm Nikkor or a rotating-lens panoramic.  Both 
would be expensive with shipping/rental/insurance.

Been on the fence for a while now regarding purchase of a digital 
camera.  I like what I've read about the Nikon CP990, but using their 
fisheye adapter seems to be not a surefire good solution, from comments 
that I've read.  I've also been looking at the Kodak DC4800, with an eye on 
its low-light capabilities and that its zoom is 28mm equivalent.  (Price 
reductions on this camera make it especially tempting now.)  The DC4800 has 
a wide-angle adapter that gets it into the 16mm range, but no fisheye 
adapters have I found for this camera.

I don't necessarily need to have a 180 degree vertical field of view.  The 
wider lens and fewer pics needed for the stitch would come in handy 
though.  Where I will be situated, it will be advantageous to work 
fast.  Also, within the image capture area is a street with moving cars, a 
park with moving people, and an ocean with moving waves.  So, fewer pics 
would be an advantage.

I have downloaded, but haven't yet started learning Helmut's Panorama 
Tools.  Would this be an (or the) answer to my tilted camera questions?

So, if any of you have any advice for me, please let me know.  Also please 
let me know if there's something that I've overlooked or an option that 
I've not thought about.

I hope that I have been clear enough to be understandable, but not too 
long-winded.  Any and all advice/information/caveats greatly appreciated, 
and I'll pass it along to somebody else someday.

best regards,
Lee Schwabe

Lee Schwabe
Communications Manager
Meeting Services, Inc.
http://www.msiprod.com