I have one main concern that I feel I need to grasp before I fully understand the Panoramic photo aspect. I constantly get several shots that are slightly different in exposure. By this I mean the sky would be darker or lighter in two images when placed side by side. I have tried two steps to get around this:
First I tried to use the AE-L/AF-L button so that the camera does not refocus nor adjust the exposure. I still got the differences in exposure.
Second I got an exposure that I was happy with, used the auto focus to focus, the switched the focus knob to manual. (this was to assure that the images were in focus and that the lens would not adjust itself at all.) When that was done, I set the desired exposure manually... using the manual mode (where I set the aperture, ISO, shutter, etc..). Even then I got the slight variations between images.
I know that the light is constantly changing but I notice these variations on the panos I try and do during the day and they are all taken with in seconds of each other. I am using a tripod and a Manfrotto 303plus QTVR pano head, a Nikon D-200 with a Nikkon 28-105 lens (mm length varies between pano). I have tried a couple different lenses (85mm 1.8, 50mm 1.8, 19-35mm) and still get the same result. I am also shooting in Matrix metering mode.
Anyone have any suggestions on how to correct this problem?