Home made pano bracket for Nikon 990 (how to)

I finally borrowed someone elses 990 so I was able to take some pictures of my home made pano bracket. I put up some pictures over at photo point that shows you how to build the bracket step by step with all the measurements you need with all the correct nodal point measurements for the 990 normal lens, wide angle lens and fisheye lens. I recommend you drill the holes with a drill press for more precision. When it comes to making indoor panos, 1mm makes a difference in the stitching process. You can use a portable hand drill if you take your time, but they still look better with a drill press. You can see the how-to article here http://albums.photopoint.com/j/AlbumIndex?u=86246&a=10021842 Here is what the finished bracket looks like



This bracket, if built and used correctly, will let you make perfect indoor and outdoor 360 degree panos. Please let me know if anybody makes one and how you like it. If you have any questions, just let me know. If any of you decide to make a commercial version of this bracket, make sure you cut me in . If anybody has any ideas of how to make a racheting system to make it click and stop when you spin it, let me know. Hope you like the bracket.
Ralph

Man if I had the guts and the spray paint I'd love to cover my 990 with silver like that.

Sorry, I did not have the borrowed camera for that long, so I could not take better pictures. It does match the color of the bracket
Ralph

Thomas Z said:

Man if I had the guts and the spray paint I'd love to cover my 990
with silver like that.

Click to expand...

Ralph Encarnacion said:

You can see the how-to article here http://albums.photopoint.com/j/AlbumIndex?u=86246&a=10021842

Click to expand...

Member said:

This bracket, if built and used correctly, will let you make perfect indoor and > outdoor 360 degree panos. Please let me know if anybody makes one and > how you like it.

Click to expand...

Hi Ralph,
I followed your directions and made my own bracket. It works great!
Thanks so much for posting those instructions.

I went one step further and figured out how to use the same bracket
to mount the camera horizontally for taking landscape-mode panos
with the standard lens. You need a tripod with a wide enough
platform to support the bracket. My tripod head pivots around the
mounting screw, so that part was easy. Getting the mounting screw
under the camera's nodal point took a little more work.



The camera sits at an angle to the bracket. Here are the
measurements I used. The translucent blue band represents
the position of the bracket.



I drew a permanent-ink guideline on the bracket to help me find
the correct angle when mounting the camera.

Judy Arndt

Wow, I did not think someone was going to make one so fast and then improve on it. Nice pictures by the way. The hardest part for me came after I made the bracket. It took me forever to figure out how add those red and green arrows in Photoshop. Nice work. What kind of tripod head do you have? It looks like I can't afford it;-) The reason I made the bracket in portrait mode is so the panos will come out taller, but I guess in landscape mode you can take less pictures to finish the 360 pano. Also in landscape mode the bracket can be made narrower. I know you don't need it since you have the good tripod head, but do you have any ideas on how to make a racheting mechanism for the bracket? Another thing that I added that I did not get a chance to post was another small "L" bracket that goes above the camera so that you can mount an external flash for the indoor panos. Glad to see someone got to make the bracket. Anybody else make one or have any ideas on how to improve it?
Ralph

Ralph Encarnacion said:

Wow, I did not think someone was going to make one so fast and then
improve on it. Nice pictures by the way. The hardest part for me
came after I made the bracket. It took me forever to figure out how
add those red and green arrows in Photoshop. Nice work. What kind
of tripod head do you have? It looks like I can't afford it;-) The
reason I made the bracket in portrait mode is so the panos will
come out taller, but I guess in landscape mode you can take less
pictures to finish the 360 pano. Also in landscape mode the bracket
can be made narrower. I know you don't need it since you have the
good tripod head, but do you have any ideas on how to make a
racheting mechanism for the bracket? Another thing that I added
that I did not get a chance to post was another small "L" bracket
that goes above the camera so that you can mount an external flash
for the indoor panos. Glad to see someone got to make the bracket.
Anybody else make one or have any ideas on how to improve it?
Ralph

Click to expand...

Nice thinking & good work Ralph. I shoot alot of panos w/the KAIDAN 950 pano bracket.which is very good. Check out http://www.kaidan.com , this will answer several of your questions. Consider using small spirit levels on the bracket and another mounting hole to accept the Nikon W/A lens (fewer shots more coverage). There is no substitute for a good head. I use the Bogen 3030 & mostly the Bogen 410.
Respectfully, Richard Snyder

I haven't made the bracket, but I printed out everybody's photos and instructions, and hope to tackle it next weekend. I DO however, recognoze the head on Judy's tripod .... I've got a Velbon with the same head on it. I don't veiw mine as the greatest tripod in the world, though it does fold up fairly small. The platform that supports the camera (or bracket) has a LONG slot in it, which is great for somethings, but woiuld make it difficult to keep things centered EXACTLY over the main post of the tripod. I'm thinking that it would still be best to remove the head to use the bracket, whether it be in "landscape" or "portrait" position. You COULD use the adjustments on the head to level the bracket, but the head would rotate around the post, and you'd have no way of making sure the post was at a true vertical. Seems the best way would be to put the bracket right on the end of the post, then level the whole thing using the legs, which is how Ralph's instructions show it. You could bring the post to vertical with a small carpenter's "torpedo" level held against the side(s) of the post, but that would be tricky. You'd have to level the post, then level the head ... remove the head and remove one of the leveling steps. I may rethink all this when I get the bracket built, however )

• Rick

Ralph Encarnacion said:

Wow, I did not think someone was going to make one so fast and then
improve on it. Nice pictures by the way. The hardest part for me
came after I made the bracket. It took me forever to figure out how
add those red and green arrows in Photoshop. Nice work.

Click to expand...

I used to scan 35mm prints and try to build panos out of them.
Digital is so much easier!

What kind

Member said:

of tripod head do you have? It looks like I can't afford it;-)

Click to expand...

The tripod is called an Image TE-75, made in Japan. I bought it
about ten years ago, second hand, cheap, so I have no idea how
old it is. It's not particularly light but it is sturdy!

The

Member said:

reason I made the bracket in portrait mode is so the panos will
come out taller, but I guess in landscape mode you can take less
pictures to finish the 360 pano. Also in landscape mode the bracket
can be made narrower.

Click to expand...

I live in Alberta, Canada. We have vertical landscapes (Rocky Mountains)
and horizontal landscape (prairies). I wanted to be able to do both. ;-)

I know you don't need it since you have the

Member said:

good tripod head, but do you have any ideas on how to make a
racheting mechanism for the bracket?

Click to expand...

I don't think it's needed. I actually think manual rotate is better than
a ratchet, because you can usually choose to include a low-detail
area in the overlap. It makes stitching easier.

Another thing that I added

Member said:

that I did not get a chance to post was another small "L" bracket
that goes above the camera so that you can mount an external flash
for the indoor panos.

Click to expand...

I'd be careful about using flash on every shot in an indoor pano.
The light might look awfully flat in the finished product.

Maybe I should mention that I drilled a small hole in the bracket so
I could tether my screw knob. I glued a cord to the screw knob with a
hot-glue gun. That way I can't lose the knob when fumble-fingered
in the cold.

After making the pano bracket and having some material left over I
thought I'd try making a horizontal bar to attach to the tripod. The ideas
is to suspend the 990 over a table top for self-timer macro work.
I'm not sure yet if the aluminum will sag or vibrate from the weight
of the camera. I'll post my results if it works well.

Judy Arndt

Richard Snyder said:

Nice thinking & good work Ralph. I shoot alot of panos w/the KAIDAN
950 pano bracket.which is very good. Check out http://www.kaidan.com , this
will answer several of your questions. Consider using small spirit
levels on the bracket and another mounting hole to accept the Nikon
W/A lens (fewer shots more coverage). There is no substitute for a
good head. I use the Bogen 3030 & mostly the Bogen 410.
Respectfully, Richard Snyder

Click to expand...

I have the Kaidan Kiwi 990 pano bracket also and I used to have the Kiwi 950 bracket last year. I built this one a couple of months ago. I got tired of waiting for Kaidan to build one for the 990, and I didn't want to get the Kiwi+. About a week after I built this one, Kaidan came out with the Kiwi 990 bracket and I bought one of the first ones and love it. Only thing I don't like about it is the weight and size of it and the quick tilt head that Kaidan also sells. I do use a spirit level and I gave the measurements for the wide angle and fisheye lens for my bracket. I mostly use my bracket on a monopod and use the Kiwi 990 on the tripod. If you want to try your Kiwi 950 bracket with the 990, I have another how-to article that shows you how to modify the 950 bracket to work with the 990. You can see the article here http://albums.photopoint.com/j/AlbumIndex?u=86246&a=8473417 The only thing you have to change that I don't have shown is, instead of mounting the bracket on the old lens holes on the kiwi (there are 3) you need to mount it on the adjustable lens slot. Then move it back 5mm to be over the correct nodal point. I use a Slik 300DX tripod, but I want to get a carbon fiber one some day.The tripod head screw on the Slik does not spin around on the center of the tripod so I have to remove it to use my bracket, but then I have the nightmare of leveling the tripod. The only solution I came up with is to mount the Kaidan Quick tilt leveler on the tripod, then get the Bogen 3414 tripod head http://www01.bhphotovideo.com/default.sph/FrameWork.class?FNC=ProductActivator__Aproductlist_html___2610___146228___BO3414___REG___SID=E325D32DA60 and mount my bracket on top of that. But I need to find a cheaper solution than the Bogen 3414. Any ideas? Do the heads you use spin exactly in the center or are they off by a little? You have to look straight down on the screw from above the screw and spin the head around real fast. If you see the screw wobble, then it is not in the center. Let me know.
Thanks
Ralph
Ralph

Richard Jones said:

I haven't made the bracket, but I printed out everybody's photos
and instructions, and hope to tackle it next weekend. I DO however,
recognoze the head on Judy's tripod .... I've got a Velbon with the
same head on it. I don't veiw mine as the greatest tripod in the
world, though it does fold up fairly small. The platform that
supports the camera (or bracket) has a LONG slot in it, which is
great for somethings, but woiuld make it difficult to keep things
centered EXACTLY over the main post of the tripod.

Click to expand...

On my tripod, when the fastening screw is all the way to one end
of the slot, it's exactly over the center of the pivot.

I'm thinking

Member said:

that it would still be best to remove the head to use the bracket,
whether it be in "landscape" or "portrait" position.

Click to expand...

I much prefer having the head in place. I've got smooth-as-butter,
rock-solid rotation ... and a handle.

You COULD use

Member said:

the adjustments on the head to level the bracket, but the head
would rotate around the post, and you'd have no way of making sure
the post was at a true vertical.

Click to expand...

I always level the tripod before attaching the bracket and camera,
using first a small plastic carpenter's level held against the post to get it
perfectly vertical and then a bubble level on the platform. It does take
a minute or two, but once set up, it's very accurate ... unless the
ground gives way, that is. ;-)

I know this homemade setup is no where near as nice as
using a professional Kaidan pano head, but having just spent
a bundle on camera, flash card, Digital Wallet and trip to Europe,
I'm quite happy to make do with Ralph's exceptionally compact,
lightweight and dirt-cheap pano bracket for my occasional
pano needs.

Thanks again, Ralph!

Judy Arndt

Judy said:

On my tripod, when the fastening screw is all the way to one end
of the slot, it's exactly over the center of the pivot.

Click to expand...

Hmmm ... I'll have to check it on mine. That would sure solve the problem. I've never done anything before where it even mattered, so never paid attention!

Judy Arndt said:

I much prefer having the head in place. I've got smooth-as-butter,
rock-solid rotation ... and a handle.

Click to expand...

I would agree completely, and the only reason I brought it up in my post was so the issue of leveling the tripod using the post wasn't overlooked. Frankly, It would probably be a bigger paiin to remove the darned head. What I weigh for myself is more a logistical question: "How deep can I get into this without the wife losing patience?" I tend to push the limit sometimes, forgetting that not everybody in the car cares about it as much as I do. I think I'm getting 'em trained, though, little at a time

Judy Arndt said:

a minute or two, but once set up, it's very accurate ... unless the
ground gives way, that is. ;-)

Click to expand...

Uh oh ... you in California??

Judy Arndt said:

I know this homemade setup is no where near as nice as
using a professional Kaidan pano head, but having just spent
a bundle on camera, flash card, Digital Wallet and trip to Europe,
I'm quite happy to make do with Ralph's exceptionally compact,
lightweight and dirt-cheap pano bracket for my occasional
pano needs.

Click to expand...

Absolutely, and I'm sure looking forward to giving it a rip myself. Too many cool toys, and they all cost money. The greatest single thing about the internet is the vast amount of information, and the willingness of people to share it!

Take care,
Rick