david vs goliath, aka why bother with G lens?

[andrewlee]

The Kit lens is very good for stitched panoramas.

From my testing, Autostitch can stitch photos from the kit lens (@18mm) much faster than the tokina at-x 17mm prime (non-pro) and tamron 24-135.

I believe it's because the barrel distortion on the kit lens is more "consistent" than the tokina or tamron.

5D + kit lens + autostitch = XPan Digital

(who needs the XPan II)

 

[Agetan]

Oh course, at the end, 18-70 kit lens is not bad for what it is... as it is nice and cheap and yet enough for general purpose lens. Remember one thing though... if you are buying G series lens, you are not only buying the glass but build quality... It is very different between the 2. If you don't need realiability and won't fired when a lens quit on you, then 18-70 is fine... however, G lens is still the best choice if realibility is a concern.

However, either one, it is still the person stand behind the camera make it count.

Re: Andrew.... Xpan has its own advantage when come to Panoramic. It take 1 frame to record everything, hence picture with moving subject become possible.

Now, when you are in situation where stitching is require, the problem with moving things become an issue.

Not the easiest thing to do right panorama stitch especially in tight spot, special equipment is needed for it.

I am doing 360 pano for real estate Virtual reality and u will understand my pain!!...

If you shoot it well and you have set the program well enough, there will be no problem at all with any lenses.

 

[andrewlee]

I'm unmoved.

Every time I stitch a pano from my kit lens using Autostitch, i tell myself that I've got the best deal in town - a free Hassablad Xpan II D. I shoot my pano's handheld without any tripod. just do a "dry run" to make sure I keep my horizon along the same line.

In autostitch, i set pixel width to 3000 - 3500 pixels and jpeg quality to 100 to get a good "photo-shopable" jpeg.

Honestly, I'm still amazed at the detail of stitched pano's with my kit lens. Part of the fun is waiting for the pano to appear on the screen and to hit the "Actual Size (Ctrl+A)" button - WOW! Pano's from my kit lens are better than from other more expensive lenses.

for those who've always admired pano's, give this combination a try: KM5/7D + 18-70 + Autostitch = Hassablad XPan II D (compact)