Soon I have a sigma 10 mm lens for my Canon 30d and 40D and I would love to do some walking with them and use panowalker to create a virtual tour.

Let me see if I get this right :

- Can I walk with my Camera (30/40D plus sigma 10mm) and take one shot every step I take? Would that give me nice panowalk?

If a map contains multiple paths I just do the missing paths later in the same way?

Do I need to walk  the opposite direction also?

To create a walk, you need to shoot a full panorama every 80cm (1 step) using the Sigma 10mm on a Canon 30D/40D/50D etc you need to shoot 6 rotational shots 1x Zenith Shot and a 1x Nadir Shot in the traditional way and stitch with Panoweaver or similar.

Possibly you could not bother with the Nadir shot and simply restrict the tilt down so this blank area could not be seen.

A better lens to use for this type of shooting would be a Sigma 8mm which would only require 4 shots in rotation with +5 degrees tilt up.

Each path is separate and you can add to a project and re-publish as required.

Because each step is a full panorama you only need to shoot walking in the one direction.

Regards, Smooth  

While you put forth some argument for time and light, it falls short in a number of areas when it comes to panoramic photography.

Time is relevant to not only shooting but also time needed in stitching and correct control point placement. The fact you also must tilt the panohead every time you need to shoot the Zenith and then Nadir shots.

As for the f/2.8 vs f/3.5 we are only talking one f stop in total. Sure the extra light is useful in "normal" photography but when it come to shooting professional panoramas you will never use the lens wide open as this effects the total depth of field. Panoramas require focus from near to infinity in just about all occasions. The sweet spot for the Sigma 10mm Fisheye is f/11.0 and Sigma 8mm is f/8.0 these are well known and adopted facts. Potentially f/5.6 at a stretch, this remains a long way from the f/2.8.

On another note the Sigma 10mm suffers badly from Chromatic Aberration and most in the know avoid this lens if favour of other options. If you heart is set on a lens that has more universal uses outside and along with panoramic photograph I would suggest you look at the Tokina 10-17mm Zoom Fisheye lens. Which you will find of higher quality and priced extremely competitively.

If my word is not enough I suggest you visit many other professional panorama photography forums and seek further reassurance on the matter.

The one thing I can tell you to avoid is advise from camera store sales people on fisheye lens advise. Their knowledge is limited in this very specialised field.

Regards, Smooth  

Hello Hans,

Glad you feel you have a solution to the Chromatic problem. Looking forward to see the results where we can make a final assessment.

Regards, Smooth