Multi-Frame 4x5 Panorama's with the Travelwide?

[sperdynamite]

I saw some work by a photographer recently, and he had made these fantastic multi-frame panoramas. They were scans of the full negative, including the edge, the I presume he used photoshop to place them next to each other for a near perfect panorama. I say he probably use PS because they were pigment inkjet prints. I'd like to try doing this on my trip to Maine this summer with my Travelwide 90. What is the overall technique?

Is it best to level out the tripod head, and then do a pan? Or must the camera be move 'shift-wase' to the right or left? Obviously, the TW has no shift. Are there any good tricks to lining up the edges of the frame so everything looks right when the two frames are put together? The TW has a rudimentary ground glass but it's edge illumination is not great. I do have a optical finder though and I'll likely be focusing at infinity.

Any input here would be welcome!

[Nicolasllasera]

I have found that as bad as the gdound glass is (was only intended to be a calibration tool) you can focus in the middle with a loupe. But under a dark cloth you can see the composition with your own eyes. So you can "stitch" by looking at the ground glass.

[Drew Bedo]

There is a TravelWide thread in the DIY forum.

Several alternatives to the GG supplied with the TW have been made there.

I had a woden film holder modified to take a x45 ground glass by Profesional Camera Repair in Houston. I supplied the parts and they charged me $40.

It works fine on my TW, and will fit ANY 4x5 camera.

[Jac@stafford.net]

Is it best to level out the tripod head, and then do a pan?

I'm old school so to do stitched panoramas in LF or MF I do use a tripod with a leveling head with degree markings and I overlap each frame a bit, perhaps 10°. However, I'm a Photoshop (PS) guy, too, and others have had some very good luck just winging it with a handheld camera and making up the rest in PS. You will likely have to trim the result, top and bottom to get a straight frame, but that's no big deal with scenic panos. PS has an automated stitching option to make it easier - no manual matching of frames necessary.