Given some pretty good results with this method, I thought I would share this Do-It-Yourself pano tool - the handheld string method for DSLRs. You can see the results in an embedded 360 below created using this technique.
Equipment:
- DSLR
- Wide angle fisheye lens like the Samyang 8mm
- String
- Stitching software like Hugin (free) or PTGui
1. Tie a cinch knot on the end of a string and attach it as far forward on your lens.
2. Put your foot on the other end and measure a length where you can see through your viewfinder and the string is taught, then tie off a loop for your foot.
3. Pick a spot on the ground above which you will hold your camera in line with the end of your lens.
4. Take the first picture with the camera slightly tilted down where the spot in front of your foot is just slightly in the frame but your foot is not visible.
5. Tilt the camera up to where you will have 180 degrees coverage from the spot below and take a second picture.
6. Pivot your foot around the spot, with the point of your shoe right in front of the spot, on an imaginary ring at 45-60 degree positions from the last spot ensuring at least 20% overlap of the view from the last position. The goal is to try and make sure the end of your lens is above the point on the ground in all the pictures.
7. Repeat all around the circle making sure that you go past the starting point to get good overlap between your last two images and the first two that you took.
8. Go stitch your photos. Be aware that this method still introduces some parallax but most of it can be fixed in the stitching software.
The 360 below was made by taking 12 images using the technique described above.