Surely you can perform great panoramas without any specific equipment. Just remind that only the camera turns round its nodal point. The most difficult being to apply this main principle... If you want to avoid problems when stitching a panorama, here's the material required:   • Tripod with spirit level;   • 3D head with spirit level;   • Panoramic adapter. And depending on circumstances:   • Monopod;   • Filters, optical adapters.

Tripod

Do not neglect the choice of your tripod A spirit level is essential for a good horizontal alignment. Take all your time to get a good alignment!
And don't forget you will have to carry it everywhere you go during long hours' walk in out-of-way places. A light and cheap model in a waterproof bag is welcome in many cases. A monopod can be an excellent arrangement, especially if you don't have time or place enough to set a tripod.

Tripods don't necessarily have a graduated head, and as useless as it can sound, a small compass will give you orientation and angular coverage of your panorama. Informations that will never be provided by EXIF data of your pics!

Panoramic adapter

First saw the aluminium rail in two pieces: one for the depth adjustment plate and the other for an elbow after bending it over 90°, receiving the camera in vertical position. Now you have to drill holes for:   • holding the camera on the elbow;   • holding the elbow on the depth adjustment plate;   • holding the plate on the tripod. Look at the scheme, you need to know:   • Width Adjustment [ WA ] = distance between the base of the camera and the center of the lens   • Depth Adjustment [ DA ] = distance between the tripod socket and the nodal point. Now you can polish or paint the aluminium pieces, stick the protections for both camera and tripod. Mount your panoramic adapter and try it! The result is amazing, even if your camera doesn't turn round its nodal point at the first time.

NOTES:
  • Nodal point moves backwards when zooming. So if you want to adjust DA for zooming ability, you'll have to drill an oblong hole. Another oblong hole for WA enables different cameras to be hold, but adjusment will be more difficult and the camera may shift.
  • A cork plate stuck on the vertical part of the elbow protects your camera. But don't forget to take its thickness into account when calculating WA.
  • Prefer fixing screws that can easily be removed.

Nodal point adjustment

The nodal point is the point inside your camera where the light rays converge and flip over. When shooting a panorama it's necessary to rotate about this point to eliminate the image mismatch caused by parallax error.
Generally, for most digital cameras, the nodal point is located at the third part of the lens barrel in wide angle, and moves back when zooming.
Parallax error can be easily demonstrated by this simple experiment. Close one eye and hold your index finger upright about six inches away from your open eye. Rock your head from side to side and notice how your finger moves with respect to the background. This relative movement is due to the fact that your head doesn't turn around your eye's nodal point. Instead, you're rotating about your spine which is several inches to the rear and off to one side. It is this relative side-to-side motion that we will strive to eliminate when setting up the camera for panoramas.

Width Adjustment [ WA ]
Once your camera is fastened to your pan head, move to the front of the unit so you're looking into the lens. Adjust the width adjustment [ WA ] so the lens is centered over the rotation axis of the tripod.

Depth Adjustment [ DA ]
This step is most easily accomplished out of doors. Find a vertical post, edge or line, such as a doorway or edge of a building. Position your camera and tripod about two feet away, or as close as possible with the edge still in focus when you look through the viewfinder.
Looking through the camera's viewfinder, find another vertical edge or line that is far away, such as another building or telephone pole. Align the two objects with the camera and rotate the pan head so they are in the left hand side of the viewfinder.
Now rotate the pan head so the two objects move over to the right hand side of the viewfinder. Unless you've managed to unwittingly locate the right position, you should notice the two objects will move with respect to each other as you rotate the pan from left to right. Slide the camera to the front or rear as required to eliminate this relative movement.
It may help to first locate the camera all the way to the front or rear and then move it a little bit at a time. This way you'll more readily see the parallax effect and notice how it improves as you slide the bracket.

Level the camera
Once you have located the depth adjustment, you must level the camera. If your camera has a flash hot shoe, you can use a bubble level designed to slide into the shoe. A small classic bubble level should work as well.

Yes	Looking through the viewfinder, align a close object (brick wall) with a faraway object (tree). As you rotate the camera from side-to-side there should be no relative movement between the two objects as shown to the right.
No	If, as shown to the right, the two objects move with respect to one another in the viewinder, slide the camera fore or aft in order to eliminate this movement. Here, the tree has moved behind the brick wall.

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