In summary, what I am in-effect doing (at least in my busy little
mind) is approximating the medium format camera. I like the detail
that macro lenses like the CV-125 offer but I need that macro shot
embedded in greater context, a larger image. Way back when I
tried to get this effect out of wide-angle lenses like the Nikon 14-
24mm.
Wide-Angle Lenses and Panoramas
The idea of wide-angle lenses is to take in a wider area, cram more
of the subject into the front of the frame but include much of the
background as well. The problem for me is that the farther back you
pull a wide-angle lens the less actual detail or sharpness you can
see. These macro landscapes (partial panorama macro shots) take
a different approach. You drill down to the detail either in a single-
shot panorama or in a series of stacked shots, each one in extreme
detail. You don’t really step back from the subject but instead
include more of the subject on the right and left, and perhaps above
and below.
Even if the net effect is reduced to the size of a wide- angle shot,
the eye can see that the detail is there, the sharpness captured and
if you zoomed in, there it would be. As mentioned, it seems what I
need would be satisfied by a medium-format camera, but I am
loathe to give up all my lenses and buy them all over again, not to
mention camera bodies, digital backs, and all of that. Instead I am
(so far) impressed what a decent panoramic head will do to give me
the context I want, that peripheral feeling but still be zeroed in on
the detail.