Before someone snaps on me, I have read most of the forum post pretaining to which equipment to get, etc.  I started out using the CP 5400/FCe9 and am looking to upgrade to the 20D w/Sigma 8mm lens.  The compatable equipment page on this site shows this setup working under the Drum setup, but not the Circular.  Am i missing something, or would it work in full circular as well? 

Also, i'm sure the drum image would produce a better quality due to having more photos (am i right), but is the stitching process much more involved over using full circular?  If anyone has an unstiched drum 4+T+B that i could stich myself i would like to test it myself.

Thanks!

A 20D with fisheye doesn't produce a full circular image like the Coolpix/FC-E9 does. It produces a drum style image. (cropped at the sides) This is because it doesn't have a full size sensor that the fisheye eye lens was designed for. It has a 1.6 multiplying factor.

To stitch drum images you will need version 4.0 or Panoweaver.

"If" you were to enlarge the canvas of the image the Canon 20D and Sigma 8mm Fisheye produces you could crop a circle from it. Though it would have dirty big black areas on either side. But then, Yes you could "treat" them as circular! Not sure of the results though. Remember you will need a minimum of 4 shots to stitch. (this option doesn't exist with "Circular" images in Panoweaver).

Regards, Smooth

I agree with Smooth.  We use a 20d and Sigma 8 w/ PW4 (4 drum type images)  Normally we use 4+0.  Then create a circular tripod cap to cover up the tripod top and legs. PW4 calls this tripod graphic a "Floor" meaning that it will position it on the bottom of the image.

Dave