Panoramas, panning speed, motorized heads

[Astigmatism]

Been experimenting with panoramas with the built in panorama function on the Drive dial of my X-T5. I'm surprised how fussy the camera is about how fast I pan. So far I haven't found any reference that specifies the panning speed range that works. I've searched the manual, the Tony Phillips book, and this forum.

I get errors on some shots for going too fast, and other shots for going too slow. I actually have difficulty hitting a speed between these two limits and sometimes the error message isn't the one I would guess.

I do have a turntable with preset speeds and have tried placing the camera on it to take a panorama with an accurate steady speed. The highest speed available is 25.03 seconds per rotation, which works, and 31.95 seconds per rotation works, but 36.13 seconds per rotation gives an error for being too slow. These experiments were with a Fuji 14 mm f/2.8 lens, ISO 640, f/5.6, 1/60 s. Camera is horizontal, set for horizontal left-to-right scan, turntable sweeping camera left-to-right. I haven't yet tried other lenses to see how focal length matters; the manual says it should be 35 mm or less.

I'd like to take more panoramas but apparently need a motorized panning head with a speed that is compatible with the camera's needs. However, I don't know what the camera's needs are, at least not very precisely for different lenses (which I could continue experimenting to find). Moreover, the motorized panning head options I've looked at so far don't even state the available speed settings.

What panning speeds does the camera work with, and how does lens focal length affect these?

What motorized heads work with the camera?

Or -- is the built in Panorama mode not worth trying to make work, and should I instead use external software to stitch stills together?

 

Thank you!

[BobJ]

I find that I can get it right with a little practice. However, you wil get a superior and more reliable result using stitching

[pw-pix]

As BobJ notes, it probvably easier and better to stich multiple shots when you process the photos.

Lightroom is easy and provides very good results. I'm sure there are other photo editors that can do it too.

You'll get a bigger and better file from stitching multiple raw files.