What is a good lens for indoor panographic shots?

[EventArtist]

I've got a Nikon D810 camera …. I started with a fixed focal length 8mm fisheye lens, but even with 6 shots around the circle and one up and down, the images are very grainy. I figured out how to get my 18-35mm lens working …. Much better detail in the images though.

If “grainy” means “lacking fine detail” then it sounds like you need to work with the *sharpest* lens you can find—which will take some research/advice/testing—in a focal length as wide (but ~distortion-free) as practical $$-wise.
==> Sharpness 1st; Wideness 2nd. <==
After finding the lens, it mostly a matter of nailing exposure and image-optimization / -correction. If using a Nikkor AF Zoom Lens, be sure you have the current “Lens Distortion Correction” firmware loaded:
***Ver.2.018 T Released 2020/01/16***.
• The D810, with no anti-alias filter and native ISO 64, should be very sharp (by itself, anyway); the 36MPixel sensor makes an image 16”x24”@300ppi.
• It can mount almost any Nikon lens made since 1977; you said you didn’t need auto-focus. Some old manual Nikkors are as sharp and undistorted as current favorites.(50mm f/1.8 was the “kit lens” for decades; the optical formula has not really changed for the newer 50/1.8 AF lenses. The 35mm f/2.8 is similar. The 18mm f/3.5 has rather low distortion.)
• D810 has an HDR mode, and the Picture Control has a “Clarity” setting. The meter has a highlight-weighted mode.

 

[Craig_Johnson]

I tend to shoot my panos with a 50mm, then stitch them together in Lightroom. I overlap about 25% on each side. Inside I’d probably try a 24 or 20.

I finally got a chance to look into Lightroom software. I didn't know it was from Adobe. I use PhotoShop CS6 all the time but I'm getting off their monthly subscription boat, so CS6 is as far as I'm going to go with their stuff. I'd rather pay a one time fee and have the full version of the software, than have them sucking my blood every month forever. I think I'll stick with PTgui Pro for the $340.

 

[Craig_Johnson]

I thought I'd update this thread with the correct answer to the question, for me at least, its the 12mm. But lets walk thru the lenses I tried to get to work with the panoramic head and PTGui.

I had an 18-35mm but I knew it wouldn't do the job I wanted so I went to Amazon and bought a New Oshiro 8mm f/3.5 LD UNC AL Wide Angle Fisheye Lens for Nikon $126.49. The lens worked well with PTGui and wasn't very heavy, but produced a low quality image. I tried my existing 18-35mm, but the lens was heavy and took about 30 shots to get something PTGui could stitch together - too time consuming. I ordered a Used Rokinon 14mm f/2.8 IF ED UMC, Nikon $129.00, and was very disappointed with the curves in the straight lines and PTGui didn't like the images either. Flunked it after one attempt. Found a New Venus Optics Laowa 12mm f2.8 Zero-D Lens Nikon F Full Frame FX $600 from Roberts Photo on eBay, turns out they were downtown Indy and I had traded them my old Konica FT camera and lenses last year. They took the Rokinon off my hands for $120 so it was a wash, no one has been interested in the Oshiro yet, must be an Amazon exclusive.

Apparently you do actually get what you pay for, because the Laowa 12mm is my new favorite, and PTGui likes it too. Still working on getting my feet out of the photo when I do the down shots, but I can get a good panorama of an interior in 10 shots with this lens. I think the zero distortion feature of the lens is its best selling point, and it is light weight and works well with the panoramic head.

So if you want to do indoor, architectural, real estate panoramic shots, the Laowa 12mm for the full frame, seems to be the best choice.

If anyone wants an 8mm FishEye, send me a message, I'm ready to make a deal.