New to this Gigapan Epic Pro head, my target whas double: 1) have the most accurate definition (IQ) and 2)the comfort of having a full matrix of the scene calculated by the Gigapan head itself.
I first tried shooting the scenes in raw format (Nikon Nef), and it worked fine to create a limited matrix of approximately 4-5 rows and 8-9 columns at 50mm focal.
I recently experimented shooting a matrix of +/- 140 images at 70mm focal, with hdr setting on 3 images, Nef raw format (Nikon D800E). This makes in total 420 images.
I used a formatted 128GB “SDXC I” memory card (class 10 – 45MB/s) in order to avoid any interruption of the captures.
Unfortunately, though I programmed 1/2sec delay before each step of operations “moving to next position, mirror up, shutter, a.s.o. 3 times (hdr) before again moving to next position”, the camera misses several shots because still busy to empty its buffer content to the card. In the meantime the Gigapan goes on without taking into account that the camera hasn’t taken the previous shot yet… !
Trying a 64GB CF card (90MB/s) produces the same issue.
Does this mean I should definetly forget shooting raw with my Gigapan Epic Pro ?
What are your thoughts about all this, what type of file do you capture with your camera (Nikon or any brand) ?
Thanks in advanced for your comments and appreciated help.
Pol

Why not increase the delay before shots until the buffer has time to process?

Hi Terry, thank you !
This is indeed a way to avoid “lost captures”, I was busy to experiment this but I didn’t finished yet, it takes time before I find “the” proper delay to ensure all shots are stored properly…
A negative point will be the motions of clouds between the shots if it takes too long for a whole pano. Nothing is perfect but this tool is really fantastic thanks to its settings abilities and precision in action !
Pol

Other option is faster CF card (I have a Lexar 1000x card with triple the write speed). Obviously expense here is an issue.

Cheers Spocky