I ran across a link for a DIY panoramic head and I think it is brilliant. I got up early on Saturday morning, cut some plywood, made a run to the Depot and put it all together in time to catch the end of a local farmers market. The trick with panoramic heads (if you've ever tried to stitch together a panorama) is that if you pan the camera normally on a regular tripod the resulting image is usable but will probably need more editing to make it right. By using a pano head you can have the lens pivot directly over the center of the tripod and move the body on the outside of the arch. This makes the resulting images much more accurate for use in panoramas.

After the farmers market we went over to Thayer street and had some lunch at Roba Dolce. With the persmission of the manager I shot a panaroma of the inside. You can see the results to the left or you can look at a little diagram I put together explaining what I mean about pivot point.