Accessories for Nikon D850 – 360 Tour

[Siddharth Kumar]

Hello, I’m just getting into creating 360 degree virtual tours. After doing a lot of research on the net (including IVRPA), I have few queries:

1. Pano Head
   a. Should I go with the NN6 or NN3 for a D850 + Fish Eye Lens combination? I’ve read that the NN3 is made for smaller DSLRs and compact cameras but will it be sufficient for the D850?
   b. NN3 – if this is sufficient will the NN3 MK3 + Nadir Adapter w/ Lower Rotator Mini Pkg (F3302) combination do the job?
   c. NN6 – if I have to go with this, can I use this with the Lower Rotator Mini instead of the Lower Rotator D10?

2. Fish Eye Lens
   a. Would the Samyang 8mm f/3.5 HD Fisheye Lens with Removable Hood be a good option to use with the D850?

[Sam Rohn]

NN6 is better for larger DSLR like D850, NN3 is good for smaller DSLR or mirrorless camera

full size RD10 rotator will be better also, D850 is a heavy camera and RD10 will be more stable vs mini rotator

https://shop.nodalninja.com/nn6-starter-pkg-f6001/

if you are using a fisheye in single row (no up or down shots) you can use NN R10 with lens ring, this is smaller and lighter vs NN3 or NN6, but you cannot shoot multi-row panos with this head

https://shop.nodalninja.com/r1-w-rd5-adj-tilt-pkg-f6120v/

samyang 8mm is ok, but you will not be getting the most out of D850 with that lens, nikkor 8-15mm fisheye is best fisheye lens for panos on full frame nikon, 12mm on that lens gives the max resolution for single row panos with fisheye lens, 8mm circular fisheye on either lens has lots of black area around circle so wasted pixels

here is one of my own panos with my own gear, D850 + nikkor 8-15mm @ 12mm, NN R1 + lens ring

http://www.samrohn.com/360-panorama/new-victory-theater-360-vr-panorama/

sam

[Siddharth Kumar]

Thanks for the reply Sam. I’d love to buy the Nikon 8-15 but it’s currently out of my budget unfortunately. I’ll settle for the Samyang and think of investing in the 8-15 if there is some ROI from 360 work.

With respect to the Samyang, I read that using the 8mm(crop sensor lens) on a full frame body would be ideal instead of the 12mm(full frame lens) on a full frame body. Is this true? I just want to be sure so that I get the right lens.

[Sam Rohn]

samyang 8mm fisheye is fine to start with, there are better lenses but this one is ok and affordable

you can also shoot a spherical panorama with any lens, but longer FOV = more shots, so if you have a decent wide angle this will work fine on NN6, just takes a bit more work vs fisheye

otherwise, note there are both samyang 12mm fisheye and rectilinear lens which are not the same thing, and there are several models and generations of 8mm fisheye

and, samyang 12mm fisheye is not the exact same FOV as Nikon or canon 8-15mm fisheye at 12mm

8mm on any of the discussed lenses will result in a full circle image, with lots of wasted space around the circle, so that is not ideal imo, but not the end of the world either, you also get more overlap so better for crowd panos etc

nikon or canon 8-15mm fisheye zoom at 12mm will let you shoot only 4 images around at 0° for complete 360°x180 sphere with no nadir or zenith (up or down) shots needed

samyang 12mm fisheye is not quite the same FOV as the others, so it requires a different shooting pattern with additional N+Z shots

more info on shooting panos w samyang 12mm fisheye here –

http://panorama-blog.com/reviews/samyang-12mm-f28-fullframe-fisheye

[Siddharth Kumar]

Hey Sam, thanks for the clarification. If you don’t mind, could you also let me know the fish eye lenses you’d recommend along with the D850 (apart from the nikon 8-15)?

[Sam Rohn]

nikon fisheyes are the only ones i have ever personally used, 10.5mm, 16mm, and the new 8-15mm zoom

all of the lenses below have their advantages and disadvantages, cost, size, weight, etc, a wider fisheye like 8mm would give you more overlap so better for masking in crowd shots etc, longer fisheyes will give more resolution and detail, cheap fisheyes are more prone to flare and chromatic aberrations, more expensive lenses are typically sharper, etc etc

Tokina 10-17mm f/3.5-4.5 AT-X 107 AF DX NH Fisheye (no lens hood version) is similar FOV to nikon and canon zoom, this was a very popular 360 pano lens before canon and nikon made their own fisheye zooms, tokina 10-17mm fisheye zoom costs about $450 on amazon etc

samyang (also branded as rokinon or bower) 8mm fisheye w removable lens hood for nikon F mount is also a popular choice due to price (about $200) and easy shooting pattern, samyang 12mm fisheye (about $400) is a bit better image quality overall, but slightly more complicated shooting and stitching

sigma makes an 8mm fisheye which is supposed to be very good, but not cheap, also a 4.5mm fisheye which is not cheap either and has very very small image circle (huge waste of pixels on nikon fx), and also 10.5mm and 16mm fisheyes, both at similar price to nikon equivalents

nikon 10.5mm fisheye is a nice and small lens but requires cutting off the lens hood to use on FX full frame and 4 around w no N+Z shots (i shot like this on D800), or otherwise it will same fov as 16mm on DX in crop mode, requiring 6 around and N+Z shots for full sphere pano

nikon 16mm fisheye requires 6 shots around & N+Z shots on full frame camera, smaller and lighter compared to the zoom

nikon 8-15mm fisheye zoom is larger and heavier and more expensive than any of the other lenses above, but in my experience it has better image quality vs any of the others i have seen

sam

[Siddharth Kumar]

Hey Sam,

I’d like to know a little more about the R series. It would be great if you could help me with some info.

You’d mentioned earlier that the R series would be a good option for a single row panoramic shot. If I’m going to use a D850 + Samyang 8mm combo, will I need to shoot the zenith and nadir shots? I read that the zenith shots can be avoided if you slightly tilt the camera up while shooting.
I also heard that there is some way to capture the nadir using a nadir adapter for the R series.

For my setup would the R1 Adjustable Tilt Ring Mount & Rotator Mini Package (F6161V) be enough? Or should I go with the R1 w/RD5 Adj.Tilt Pkg (F6120V).

Between the R series and NN6, what would be the better option? I’m looking at shooting images similar to the ones Peter Van den Wyngaert from tinyplanet.be does.

[Jürgen Schrader]

Hello Siddharth,
These two heads have nothing in common other that one can shoot spherical panoramas with them.
The NN6 is more versatile as one can use almost any lens with it up to 200mm and also shoot multirow panoramas.
The big drawback is that it is heavy and bulky and not ideal for use on poles.

Peter often shoots his little planets from poles and I certainly would use a ring solution for that like the RR1.

With the 8mm Samyang one shoots just four around. No need to tilt up as the full sphere is covered even with the lens straight.
For other lenses this may not apply, but also will need more shots (like 6 around with 8-15 set at 12mm and tilted up).

There is no universal panohead that fits all needs. To cover it all one needs more than one.

To start with, an 8mm Samyang with ring solution is perfect and one can’t go wrong.

[Jürgen Schrader]

Hello Siddharth,
These two heads have nothing in common other that one can shoot spherical panoramas with them.
The NN6 is more versatile as one can use almost any lens with it up to 200mm and also shoot multirow panoramas.
The big drawback is that it is heavy and bulky and not ideal for use on poles.

Peter often shoots his little planets from poles and I certainly would use a ring solution for that like the RR1.

With the 8mm Samyang one shoots just four around. No need to tilt up as the full sphere is covered even with the lens straight.
For other lenses this may not apply, but also will need more shots (like 6 around with 8-15 set at 12mm and tilted up).

There is no universal panohead that fits all needs. To cover it all one needs more than one.

To start with, an 8mm Samyang with ring solution is perfect and one can’t go wrong.

[Siddharth Kumar]

Hey Jürgen!

Thanks for your response. That really helped. I think I’ll go with the 8mm and ring set up.

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