Panorama Time!

Suddenly realized today that I have completely forgotten about shooting panoramas.  Since shooting the horses in the snow last week I have to say the photography bug has bitten me again and I've been racking my brain trying to figure out what to go out and shoot and what new ideas to try.   It hit me that I used to love shooting panoramas and that I should give it a try with the lovely blue skies and the white snow.   So I braved the -20C temps and took the metal tripod, with the metal camera out around the farm to take a few shots.  Needless to say I was rather chilled by the time I got back, my fingers were ice even with the gloves on.  Ah the joys of shooting in the cold.  Hope my buds in Bermuda and Vedd down there in Malaysia feel a bit of sadness for me ;-)

Make sure you click on the images to see the full size of these ones.   The only downside of displaying panoramas is how to make them look good on the web?   Wide is so cool, but can things be to wide?

From the front of the farms driveway.  7 vertical orientated images shot with my Sigma 10-20mm.  Note my shadow on the image thanks to the long shadows ;-)

 The side of my yard looking out the driveway.  9 vertical orientated images.

 My little house!  11 vertical orientated images.  There's that shadow again!

 The view from my deck.  Looks weird as it's L shaped and I'm standing in the corner of the L.  A whopping 17 vertical images stitched together.

Not a panorama.  The sun coming thru the tree onto the snow was cool!

All images were shot with my D200 using a Manfrotto Tripod and Sigma 10-20mm lens set around 18mm to cut down on the barrel distortion.  Stitching done with Photoshop CS5 and majority of the editing (levels, straighten, crop) done with Capture NX2.

On another thread, I know I've been talking for some time now about getting a D7000 to replace my D200.   The more I've thought about it, the more I think I'm going to upgrade my glass instead.   My main lenses have been the Nikon 18-200 VR, the Sigma 70-300mm and my Sigma 10-20.   None are low light and not the greatest, although they probably are the most economical and versatile lenses out there.   The 10-20 is safe, I want to keep that one, it's fun playing that wide.  But the other two I'm thinking of replacing with the Tamron 17-50mm F2.8 VC   and the Nikon 80-200mm F2.8 ED.  Both are low light and have great reputations and the costs are mid-range when compared to the top Nikons.  Each appears to be the best bang for the buck.   The Tamron I can pick up fairly easily.  The Tamron is reasonably priced new so not worth looking at used and there is a Nikon 80-200 on e-bay and the auction ends tonight.  But the price is close to my range.  Just a few hours to figure out what to do.  Any advise out there from my mates?  Worth upgrading my glass?