Nikon D40 on a GigaPan EPIC
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The Nikon D40 and D40X DSLRs will work fine (just barely) on the GigaPan EPIC, but you have to make your own DIY mounting bracket. This bracket works best if placed on the bottom. If you put it on the top it raises the center of the lens further, which is already almost a problem.
The tough part is that if you mount a 55 - 200mm lens on the D40 the lens is pretty wide. And in order for the camera to point straight ahead the hole for the ¼ inch mounting screw has to be moved back almost 40 mm.
The camera body wants to touch on the left side of the GigaPan, forcing the lens to point a little to the left rather than straight ahead. But by coming back far enough you can solve this.
It appears that the ideal setting for the mounting tray arm is -12. I replaced the thumb screw
with a metric bolt, which also gave me slightly more room for the camera body to point straight ahead. Instead of keeping the mounting screw in the middle of the slot, since I have moved the focal plane of the camera a long way back, I scooted the mounting tray arm all the way forward in the slot. It seems to be OK this way.
Fully zoomed out to 200mm (300mm in 35mm equivalents) a setting of 4.6 degrees field of view seems to be the maximum. A setting of 4.3 degrees FOV gives you a good bit more overlap.
If you have any improvements or suggestions please email me at h.paulgarland@gmail.com.
The tough part is that if you mount a 55 - 200mm lens on the D40 the lens is pretty wide. And in order for the camera to point straight ahead the hole for the ¼ inch mounting screw has to be moved back almost 40 mm.
The camera body wants to touch on the left side of the GigaPan, forcing the lens to point a little to the left rather than straight ahead. But by coming back far enough you can solve this.
It appears that the ideal setting for the mounting tray arm is -12. I replaced the thumb screw
with a metric bolt, which also gave me slightly more room for the camera body to point straight ahead. Instead of keeping the mounting screw in the middle of the slot, since I have moved the focal plane of the camera a long way back, I scooted the mounting tray arm all the way forward in the slot. It seems to be OK this way.Fully zoomed out to 200mm (300mm in 35mm equivalents) a setting of 4.6 degrees field of view seems to be the maximum. A setting of 4.3 degrees FOV gives you a good bit more overlap.
If you have any improvements or suggestions please email me at h.paulgarland@gmail.com.
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