I have read many post on this form talking about how bad the FC-E9 lens is compared to the FC-E8 lens.

I own the FC-E9 lens with a Fuji S7000 camera, IPIX rotator bracket.  I have a very good tri-pod with a leveling grip.

My question is, would I see a big differance i quality if I switched to a camera using the FC-E8 lens compared to the system I am using now.  Even though the camera system I have now, can do a 12 megapixel photo, will the FC-E8 lens with a lower mega pixel camera work better than what I have now?

Here is a one of my latest tours.  Of course, since this tour, I have been able to get my ligthing much better. 

http://hometour360network.com/provider/myvirtualagents/2346_mountainlake/Tourviewer_2346_mountainlake.html

"My question is, would I see a big differance i quality if I switched to a camera using the FC-E8 lens compared to the system I am using now.  Even though the camera system I have now, can do a 12 megapixel photo, will the FC-E8 lens with a lower mega pixel camera work better than what I have now?"

I dont know, i use the fce8 with a 3mp camera.

but your tours are more than enough for the low cost tours of the real estate market.  if you're happy with the equipment and your doing real estate, i would recommend you keep what you have.  you already feel confortable with it, got the hang of it, is paid for, and it works fine.

Hi

Well I don't use either of these lenses, or a Coolpix camera, or an S7000 for that matter. But, I guess we have read the same forum threads over the last few days and a number of them have been far from complimentary regarding your FC-E9 lens.

For what it's worth all I can say in answer to your question is; that for any kind of photography, that it aint the camera...it's the glass baby! Put a soft lens in front of the best camera from Nikon or Canon or Fuji, and you will get a soft image.

Will you "see a big difference", others can tell you for sure, but based on this forums posts, I'm guessing yes.

Sorry for chipping in when I don't know the lens. I've had a beer and am feeling talkative! hic.

Glenn

VT

Go to bed!

cue,

is afternoon over here and lately my energy has been through the roof!

vous allez au lit - mon petit ami   ;)

Seems like your image could be improved by light balancing between the 2 hemispheres.  Definate left/ right hemisphere lighting issue

After that.. please consider sharpening both images.

Would I pay for these images.  Not sure yet!

dave must i remind you about the hand of god? 

cracks me up just thinking about it. real estate is a different ballgame of quality. nothing compared to the quality you guys strive for here.

think about it, price is from $50 to $100  for 4 scenes.

smooth does even get out of bed for that price! (boy must be rich)

360 Texas,

On this tour you have on your site, what camera did you use to produce this tour and how old is this tour?

http://360texas.com/feature/afeature1.htm

The FC-E8 lens has 8 elements and about a half size small diopter. The FC-E9 lens has 9 elements and about a 1/2 size larger diopter. If you do the math on the optics and compare the two lens it comes out that the FC-E8 does a little better job of "resolving" the light onto the CCD of the camera. How much better... can you tell. I think this depends on the dimensional size of the pano jpeg and the display size in the applet. The bigger you get the more you will notice.

I checked your website and prices out. Your example tour is more than adequate for what you are charging. Now a lot of us don't do the price range you are in but that is ok. As long as you are making money then its all good.

In my opinion I WOULD NOT invest anymore money into a setup. What you have will produce perfectly acceptable quality for "your" price range. The problem arises when you want to up your price for a more exclusive listing. Like virtual tours, not all listings are created equal. If you can target a few "top producers" who have listings over say $500,000 to a million dollars then you can pitch more advanced tour at a higher quality/larger image size. For that you might consider a Cannon/Nikon DSLR and the Sigma 8mm. If you want to go even better then the Nikkor 10.5mm might be worth considering.

We are all "pro-a**-fessionals" here LOL. So we tend to be hyper critical and down right anal at times about quality vs megapixels vs optics.

The bottom line is if your clients are happy and like the product you deliver and you are making money then that is all that matters. I haven't had any clients asking me when I am going to get rid of my old CP-950 and get a DSLR or something else. They don't know the dam difference especially the real estate agents. Heck there all half brains anyway, at least all the ones I know are....big LOL.

You do have some light balance issues to solve and you definitley should be "unsharpening" the images in PS. You have to look around the space and get a feel for where the brightest light is coming from. Shoot a set with where you think the best place to split the light is. If your not sure you should split the light through a window or off the walls etc. Do both. In post process you can choose the best one.

In 2 shot, I just do a stitch and if the hemis are off I open up both hemis in PS. I apply the "levels" command to the darkest hemi and lighten it up with "midtones only" trying to match it up with the other hemi by eyeballing. Save and do another stitch. If your still off then adjust the levels in smaller increments until you get it right. Unless you are wayyyy off in your exposres you will get a perfect stitch. However doing this will sometimes change the shape of the hemi due to the edge being lightened also. So you might have to tweak the stitching parameters  alitte each time. But in PW 3.01 this is a breeze. Not so in PW 4.01.

Gen. Lee