During the past week or so, I've been playing with the RhinoCam from Fotodiox. I had wanted to see what it could do and just how well it might do it.
Although it came in the mail about a week and a half ago, I had to wait for a Sony NEX camera to arrive before I could begin shooting. The first version of the RhinoCam is designed to be used specifically with the NEX. At some point in the future, I'm sure there will be versions that will fit other cameras.
It has been a while since I have done much in the way of large format. However, this piece of hardware seems to mimic at least a portion of the process I remember from my large format film days. Some of the same procedures that are common with large format will be useful here. Little things such as remembering to open up the aperture to focus and to stop it down again before shooting are the same kinds of non-automatic procedures as with large format. However, once set, the digital camera settings make shooting a breeze.
While stitching is not a new idea, the RhinoCam uses a medium format lens that is fixed in one position on the tripod. This allows the axis of the lens to remain in one position, which eliminates parallax problems that happen with traditional stitching created by moving the lens around a nodal point. This idea is not as new as one might think. Large format cameras can be used as a base for digital cameras and used in the same way. The main difference here is in size and perhaps cost.
Relying on the fact that medium format lenses produce a large image circle, the digital camera is mounted on a sliding mechanism on the back, which can be moved through a series of preset shooting positions across the projected image. Thus a small sensor can effectively capture a number of overlapping image frames, which can be stitched into a much larger format image in software.
The image above is a fully stitched test image that I shot with a Hasselblad lens mounted to a RhinoCam back and a Sony NEX 6 digital camera. The NEX 6 has a 16-megapixel APS sensor. A total of 8 shots were produced in a sequence of 2 rows and 4 columns.
This is a screen capture showing a small portion of the final result.
Here, the black frame indicates the approximate area of a normal NEX 6 image frame.
I will be shooting many more of these stitched images in the next few weeks and months. I hope to give you some insight into this interesting tool as I become more acquainted with its use.
Stay tuned for a second and third crack at this interesting device.
Learn how to play with different other imaging techniques from my book.
Buy my book here: Rethinking Digital Photography
AND FOLLOW ME ON TWITTER.
PLEASE NOTE: THIS WORK IS PART OF MY PERSONAL PHOTOGRAPHIC PORTFOLIO. IT IS HOPED THAT YOU WILL RESPECT WHAT I HAVE DONE AND HONOR MY COPYRIGHT. I HAVE BEEN WORKING ON THIS AND ALL OF MY PROJECTS FOR SOME TIME. THE IMAGES ARE A PART OF A MUCH LARGER BODY OF MY WORK. I SHOW IT HERE AS A WAY TO INSPIRE YOU TO DO YOUR OWN PROJECTS, USING YOUR OWN IDEAS. PHOTOGRAPHY IS NOT ABOUT COPYING OR STEALING CONCEPTS OR TECHNIQUES. IT IS ABOUT UTILIZING YOUR TALENTS FOR CREATING YOUR OWN UNIQUE IMAGERY AND ABOUT YOUR OWN WAY OF SEEING THE WORLD. RESPECT THE WORKS OF ALL ARTISTS. DO NOT PLAGIARIZE ANYONE'S ART.
NOTICE: UNLESS OTHERWISE INDICATED, THIS POSTING AS WELL AS ANY AND ALL PHOTOGRAPHS, GALLERY IMAGES, AND ILLUSTRATIONS ARE THE LEGAL COPYRIGHTED © WORKS OF - JOHN NEEL AND ARE NOT TO BE USED ANYWHERE IN THE WORLD, FOR ANY PURPOSE WITHOUT WRITTEN CONSENT FROM THE WRITER, THE PHOTOGRAPHER AND/OR PIXIQ. THE IDEAS EXPRESSED ARE THE PROPERTY OF THE PHOTOGRAPHER AND THE AUTHOR.
"IMAGINATION IS WHAT MAKES IMAGES UNIQUE"
No comments:
Post a Comment