This is a panorama I made while learning the following procedure for the Nikon D-50. These same instructions should apply to most Nikon Digital SLR cameras, and can be translated to most other digital cameras. In fact, I find that the huge resolution of my camera doesn't really impact the final product because you want most of the image to fit on your computer monitor, and you're literally multiplying megapixel area each time you take a shot (your canvas gets big quick)--so for close range panoramas, cheap digital cameras are fine as long as you can apply the following instructions to them.
The Nikon CoolPix series, unlike the Nikon D-50, has a Panorama Assist mode. This mode allowed you to take the first shot, which would set up the shutter, aperture and white balance for the rest of the shots. Then the right third of the last image would appear on the left-hand side and be semi-transparent. This allowed you to align landmarks and get good anchors for your stiching. The fixing of the shooting settings was also nice because it meant that the seems wouldn't be visible if you use a good panorama tool (see my post on Hugin).
However, the Nikon D-50 is more professional and didn't include such a mode. No matter! After reading over the manual, which is available on the internet (it was hard to find at Nikon's site, www.nikonusa.com), it was easy to piece together the same process as the 'Panorama Assist' mode.
How to do it:
Get a tripod and make sure it has a level. Set up the tripod and check the level before and after mounting the camera. Loosen the yaw all the way, and tighten the pitch and roll. Without a Tripod, you'll find that your panorama will actually be askew, and picking a level rectangle for cropping will leave you with a lot of wasted image area.
If you're shooting a large up and down angle and have the standard 300mm lens, roll the camera and shoot portrait shots. This means if you don't rotate each shot, you might be stichting tops and bottoms of images in Hugin, which is counterinuitive, but you can rotate the anchor in Hugin later and everything will be fine.
Since we're post-processing the images, you should use 'Fine' mode. You don't have to use 'Raw', and in fact I noticed no real difference between 'Raw' and 'Fine' modes for this application.
The the 'M' mode on the mode dial means 'Manual Mode'. So, you just put the camera into this mode, and the shooting settings (shutter speed and aperture) are fixed.
Note that being in Manual Mode means the camera is not doing anything for you! You'll have to find some angle in your panorama to set the exposure settings until the exposure meter says zero. I favor the angle closest to the sun, but don't let the sun enter the frame. This will leave the dark portions of the panorama underexposed. The exposure meter is inside the viewfinder along the bottom. Rotate the winder on the right-hand side as you normally would to change the shutter speed and find the fastest speed that gets the reticle inside the meter. Then hold down the button on top, next to the power switch, shaped like an iris and rotate the same winder to adjust the aperture. Repeat the process until the reticle in the exposure meter is at zero.
On other thing you'll want to do is find a target at nominal distance to focus (or perform an auto focus) on. Then switch the camera into manual focus mode, since we don't want it to change. Don't accidentally change the focus.
Now you can start snapping away. Pick the most left angle and shoot, then change the yaw of the camera keeping a landmark that was on the right-hand side in the frame. Don't share too much of the yaw angle with the previous frame or you'll take too many pictures. Don't share too little or you won't have enough landmarks (common features) to teach the panorama tool how to stitch them together. You'll get the hang of it.
Finally, load the pictures onto your GNU+Linux workstation (or Windows, bleh) and import the series of shots into Hugin. http://hugin.sourceforge.net/
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