G'day Jim,
Here's a few tips I've learned along the way.
Shoot pano's in portrait. There's less shift in exposure between images.
If you have an exposure lock button use it for the series of images you're going to stitch. Better yet , meter on the centre area of the pano and then dial the settings in on manual.
It's a good idea to select the appropriate white balance too. It'll avoid shifts that can occur in auto mode.
If you're shooting handheld try a few dummy runs, like a golfer taking practice swings and where possible use any horizon to help keep the pano level.
Overlap each image by at least 30% and up to 50%.
You'll find the best results from pano's taken from 50mm and out.
Not easy getting a wide angle pano to stitch without some ghosting.
A Queensland pro, Russell Stewart, has a blog that explains how rotating about the nodal point of the lens makes for improved results.
http://russellspixelpix.blogspot.com/2007/06/tip-7-panoramas-on-cheap.html
As you'll see from the blog archives, he does ramble on a bit.
I just recently put together a pano head from a macro rail and bracket.
This is the result from the first attempt......
Last edited by billrobinson on Tue Dec 04, 2007 4:59 am, edited 4 times in total.