Building a Merlin or Orion Motorized Pano-head
5. The TeleTrack Panoramic Head in Operation
Mounting the Camera and Setting the NPPIf you are going to use the Orion TeleTrack for high resolution gigapixel images of far away objects parallax won’t be as crucial an issue. I hope to take pictures of closer objects with a wide angle lens, so I have to get things lined up as well as possible. My first thought was to attach my Really Right Stuff hardware. I use a MPR-192 multi purpose rail and mini clamps for manual single row panos and macro photography.
You can see that it didn’t quite line up with the axis of rotation of the head. I tried a couple of other things, and finally mounted the camera directly to the bar.
It clamps securely enough, but I will probably look into making a dedicated mount once I have a better idea of my needs. I used a manual method of NPP determination with tape on a window, versus a distant house, and was ready to go.
Taking a Panorama with Papywizard
The Orion TeleTrack head gets its power from 8 x 1.5V AA batteries, or an external 12V power source. Reportedly it will also run on as low 9 volts. A future project will be creating an external battery pack.
Here is my checklist for taking a panorama:
- Orion batteries charged and installed
- Camera battery charged and memory installed
- Nokia batteries charged
- Tripod leveled
- Camera in NPP for lens
- Wired remote plugged in
- Orion turned on
- Camera turned on
- Nokia turned on
- Nokia bluetooth turned on
- Papywizard started
- Confirm that correct camera and lens are in Papywizard configuration
- Papywizard connected to BT device
- Set starting position in Papywizard
- Set finish position in Papywizard
- Start shooting
I may write up something specific on Papywizard, but for now, I suggest you rely on the official documentation. I currently use the mosaic mode, where the software calculates the number and position of the pictures based on the lens, start and stop points, and selected overlap. The most awkward part of the experience is having to move the head to set the start and stop points. It is a slow process. However, we can save our settings as presets for use in the future. I plan on saving a single row 360 panorama for each of the lenses I use. I can then set up the head at the starting point and pause or cancel when I get to whatever stopping point I feel is appropriate. This will be faster than programming for example, a 220 degree sweep.
Still, the device is great. I was able to take several panos of 30 to 50 pictures while standing around talking to a friend. They stitched without difficulty in AutopanoPro, allowing me to zoom and zoom into the detail. I’d have to say that this is a very useful, affordable platform that will only improve as it matures. My heartfelt thanks to the folks who helped move this project to a point where even those like me who are functionally illiterate in electronics and computers could pull it off. For those who are even more timid than me about taking up a soldering iron, there is hope, as a turnkey controller is under development. UPDATE: (November 18) The next stable version of Papywizard should let you choose your start and stop points without panning the head. You just make sure that you have set an appropriate “home” position, and go.
Resources
-
Big Ben’s Panorama Tutorials has general background information
- The Autopano Pro forums have a dedicated area for this project
- Internet Tablet Talk is a great place to get information on issues and hacks.
- If you are like me, and have a fondness for those old Palm OS applications, there is a way to run them on your Nokia tablet. It’s called Garnet VM.
This article was written on Monday, November 10th, 2008 and is filed under Making Creations.
For more articles about: nokia 770 (1), nikon d80 (1), panoramic photography (3)
You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.
You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.
on December 21, 2008 at 11:01 am Cool Vid–I think this is what I’m looking for… « Cycling Experiences… wrote:
[...] Merlin/Orion is the pan/tilt head [one builder's approach] [...]
on January 14, 2009 at 2:37 pm chris blake wrote:
I was thinking i would use my laptop be cause i want to use remote contorl software for the rebel xsi. would it work if i used a usb to ttl converter cable into a usb server on top of a 50′ pole with a usb router on the ground?
usb server http://www.silexamerica.com/sx-2000wg.html
usb to ttl cable http://www.makershed.com/ProductDetails.asp?ProductCode=TTL232R&Redirected=Y
router http://www.tigerdirect.com/applications/SearchTools/item-details.asp?EdpNo=1065011&CatId=2667
would appreciate your thoughts on this
thanks,
chris blake
on January 15, 2009 at 11:39 pm Milo wrote:
This is amazing! I have a question. If I used a fish eye lens with this setup wont the shots have a portion of the orion showing in it?
on January 16, 2009 at 3:29 am BeeZed wrote:
Milo – I use a 10.5 mm fisheye and it doesn’t catch any more of the Orion than anything else, if you have it set up correctly. Any lens setup will show the bottom (nadir) if you shoot 360 degrees. People either crop it out or shoot a nadir shot by hand and stitch it in separately. Though you might suspect that the upright would show up when using a fisheye, it doesn’t, at least for the 10.5mm. There is an example with of a stitched panorama with the Orion showing here. I use a method where I take 6 shots around at -15 degrees and the zenith or top shot.
on January 16, 2009 at 3:58 am BeeZed wrote:
Chris – I like the pole setup idea. My main concern is Papywizard being able to resolve the Orion through the complexities of the hardware and the control software possibly conflicting. Some users are direct wiring a laptop to the orion, while others are using a bluetooth antenna to boost range, so those are also possibilities. I think you should go to the source for answers, as Papywizard v2 may have camera control, or at least picture acquisition features. Head over to the Merlin/Orion forum on Autopano.net. There are more folks over there thinking about this stuff. Also check out this thread discussing the version 2. Panning time lapse panography is another potential feature.
on April 5, 2009 at 8:07 am Nick Spirov wrote:
Excellent review!
Your trigger cable is not defective, mine is also non-conductive in the left signal section. It’s made especially for Canons though.
I am beginning an experiment with a “Wi-Fly” wireless to serial adapter component, which will (hopefully) allow control of the Merlin over a standard WiFi network. What’s nice about the Wi-Fly is that it contains a voltage regulator on-board, so no need for power supply electronics. Together with an Eye-Fi memory card I would be able to drive the Merlin from across the street and see all photos the moment they are shot.
Now that would be geeky, don’t you think?
on April 11, 2009 at 10:42 pm BeeZed wrote:
The cable is not defective, just a PITA. I need to have it shorted for use with the Merlin, but stereo for use as a “normal” remote. I am trying a stereo to mono 2.5mm adapter at the moment, and it seems to work. Otherwise I was going to add a switch.
I love the “Wi Fly” possibilities! The new Papywizard has some tethered shooting functions best utilized with a PC. The only issue is that it is still focused on bluetooth. I am not a huge fan of the Eye Fi cards, since last time I looked they transmitted images to your computer via their server, which means you need internet access, not just your local network for it to work.
I’d love to hear what you come up with.
on April 24, 2009 at 1:30 pm DrSlony wrote:
For more information about this project, visit the project’s forum:
http://www.autopano.net/forum/f20-merlin,orion-and-papywizard
on April 27, 2009 at 7:57 pm BeeZed wrote:
Thanks DrSlony for the Autopano link note- while I had the right link in the Resources list, I have now corrected the link in the article.
on July 28, 2009 at 5:56 pm Tived wrote:
Hi,
great review and thanks for sharing.
I am interested in how you have attached your camera, and if you indeed, managed to use your Arca-Swiss mounts (I use RRS gear as well). I am thinking of using a slightly larger camera, either Canon 1D or Nikon D3. Do you think this will pose a problem with NPP?
thanks
Henrik
A Dane Down Under
on July 29, 2009 at 2:16 pm BeeZed wrote:
Thanks for the feedback. I used my RSS MPR-192 and some mini clamps for a while, but ultimately went back to using the bracket that came with the unit. In future I will need to get something machined. (A crown that I can bolt a miniclamp to and a thinner rail perhaps.) The orion/merlin has enough clearance for a D80, but getting a good NPP set up for larger cameras is impossible without major modification of the crown. If you are doing gigapans with a telephoto you can mount the camera in landscape orientation and have better luck, but you will still have issues with clearance. Anything with a vertical grip would be a headache. My recommendation would be to find a used consumer body to use for this project. Less to carry and less headaches trying to set it up.
on December 15, 2009 at 7:05 am Thomaz William Mendoza-Harrell wrote:
Amazing! I have been doing pano work for a couple of years and learning it all alone! so good to hear the experience of others.
I have a Milapse head and also a mechanical pano head (Panosaurus) I waant to go robotic though because I want to do some stop motion and other things like that.
on December 15, 2009 at 1:33 pm BeeZed wrote:
It has been very interesting to watch the growth of interest in these motorised heads. While the Orion/Merlin is a good value – I have several friends who are looking into building their own machine for better accuracy and function. I think they have more fun making the contraption than taking the pictures.
on February 24, 2010 at 1:26 pm bruno wrote:
Hi, this is great,
Thanks BeeZed and everybody.
Could please please someone help me regarding the Merlin?
I’m new to this and would like to try to remotely control the Merlin mount, on a first instance via Ethernet, then with the bluetooth.
Can I use a simple RJ11 cable connectors and put a RJ45 to one end?
Which connectors/colored-wires should I connect on the Ethernet plug?
Thanks
on February 25, 2010 at 6:35 pm bruno wrote:
I now have some answer thanks, is not feasible…
on March 1, 2010 at 8:51 pm BeeZed wrote:
Bruno – I have no experience conrtolling the mount beyond using papywizard. AS long as you can generate serial commands, you can probably get it to work.
on March 1, 2010 at 9:00 pm BeeZed wrote:
The best information is on the Autopano forum devoted to this head, listed in the post. The commands are summarized on the Papywizard wiki. The whole point of the project is to remotely control the robot head. With a little extra hardware connection you can control the camera as well.