Setting The Aspect Ratio - Cognisys STACKSHOT 3X Owner's Manual

panorama. If you decide to use auto-focus be sure to adjust the shutter duration settings in
StackShot 3X to account for any focus-hunting time (See section "8.5 – Shutter Output Settings"
for details on how to adjust this).
6.1.1.5 Lens
This is flexible depending on what you are shooting but there are a few restrictions. Avoid using
a lens at a very wide angle since the distortion will be visible from frame to frame.
Do not use a circular polarizer lens filter. The change in the angle of light reaching the lens can
cause unintended color gradients in large solid color areas (the sky is a perfect example).
If your lens has image stabilization be sure to turn it off.
6.1.1.6 Exposure bracketing (HDR) and mirror lock-up
You can easily take HDR panoramas using your StackShot 3X controller. First you would need to
enable exposure bracketing in your camera. Your camera then expects to see a fixed number of
shutter presses to cycle through all the exposures. If you set your camera for three brackets you
would need three activations of the shutter. This means that the controller would have to be
programmed to activate the shutter output that same exact number of times otherwise the
bracketing and the moving of the motor would become out of sync. This is easy to adjust. On
the controller go to Settings->Shutter Output Settings->Shutter 1 pics per move. More details
on the shutter output settings can be found in section "8.5 - Shutter Output Settings".
The same holds true for mirror lock-up. If mirror lock-up is enabled in your camera you will
need to activate the camera twice for each picture. The first activation swings the mirror up and
the second fires the shutter. For mirror lock-up applications the "Pics per move" setting should
be set to two.
6.1.1.7 Test Pictures
Before you commit to a 100+ picture panorama be sure to take test shots at different locations.
The exposure can change significantly from one location to the other and it may be a fine
balance between over and under-exposure. Embrace your camera's histogram if you haven't
already.

6.1.2 Setting the aspect ratio

First you will want to set the aspect ratio for your camera. This is the ratio of width to height.
The default setting in StackShot 3X is 3:2 which covers most DSLR cameras in landscape
orientation. If your camera has a different ratio then you can adjust it by pressing the settings
button:
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