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Panos: Which of these....

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Patricia,

One thing you will probably find is that when the levelling head (or anything else with a spirit level in it) says it is level and you place your own level accross the surface of the object it may not actually be level. And when you get that level you find that the PCL-1 is not level (according to it's spirit level). And when you get that level and check the camera IT is not level. And then as you pan around the camera is level in some postitions and not in others. So it can be a bit mind boggling. In the end the sensor needs to be level. Oh, and don't forget that the hot shoe is also not to be trusted with a twin bubble in it. Always level (up/down) the front of the lens with a small torpedo level to "calibrate" your hotshoe bubble level. There are times when everyting says it is level and it doesn't look level to my eye. I always trust my eye and it is almost always right.

I swear I'm going to design and build one of these system with the fanatic in mind some day :-)

Have fun,

Kent
Patricia said:
Thank you very much for your helpful information. Ideally it would
be nice to have a setup for precision work and one for traveling
light. I tend to lean toward precision which is why I was curious
about the RRS gear. However, the trade off I will make is weight
since I travel extensively. The majority of images will be
landscapes.

I'm still a bit new to this to know what I need, which is the
reason for my post. I use the Kirk L brackets and will look at the
LRP-1 and RRS PCL-1 combination you have mentioned. (I'm using a
Kirk head on a Gitzo)

Thank you again,

--
-Patricia

1D Mk II, 10D
Kent Johnson said:
... and short answer is RRS. Long answer is:

...and I guess the main questions would be what do you want to
shoot and what do you want the output to be? Other questions:
Spherical or Cylindrical?
Is weight an issue?
Are you the kind of person who wants precision from one of these
machines?
How will you be stitching these images?
What tripod do you intend to use?

I shoot mostly real estate and wilderness cylindrical panos that
are rendered into QTVR movies. I have also successfully shot panos
with a monopod, hot-shoe bubble level, and a compass. It comes down
to tradeoffs. Weight, precision, and ease of use.

My current favorite rig is (top to bottom) Nikon D100 in BL-D100
"L" bracket (Kirk) fitted into a Kirk LRP-1 fitted into the RRS
PCL-1 mounted to a Manfrotto 3416 leveling head that's mounted on
my Bogen 3221WN tripod (similar to the whole RRS "Horizontal"
setup). This is far more solid than the Kaidan and breaks down
nicely for packing/travel. I can also very easily use the top two
pieces with a monopod if I wish to.
The tradeoff is not having the convenient click stops.

Check Manfrotto as well:
http://www.manfrotto.com/product/itemlist.php3?manufid=1 §ionid=11

Good luck! Panos are a lot of fun (and hard work).

Kent
Click to expand...
Click to expand...
 
I bought the Kaidan last year and it's new never been opened. I just never got around to using it. Of course, since it's still in the shrinkwrap, I can't comment firsthand on how it works.

It would be great if someone could get it out of my garage :-). Putting it up on ebay won't work because it's too specialized a product for anyone to look for it there.
Patricia said:
would be better and why? Comments and advice appreciated.

Kaidan Quickpan III Spherical

http://www.kaidan.com/Detail.bok?no=89

or

Really Right Stuff's PCL-1 Omni-Pivot Package (bottom third of the
page)

http://www.reallyrightstuff.com/pano/

Thank you,

--
-Patricia

1D Mk II, 10D
Click to expand...
 
If you can limit yourself to distant subjects and a 50mm lens, I would say you can get away with a $2.50 bubble level and a ball head on an indexed swivel base.

Below is a link to one of my 1st panos (no pano head), not the greatest, typically over abmitious as is often the case with novices.

http://www.pbase.com/image/25352633

Try a few. Photomerge in CS can handle simple assemblies. For complex stuff, I recommend PanoTools and one of the GUI front ends. I use PTAssembler.

Have some fun.
 
Kent Johnson said:
Patricia,

One thing you will probably find is that when the levelling head
(or anything else with a spirit level in it) says it is level .....it may
not actually be level.
Click to expand...
Boy, Kent - ain't THAT the truth!

I'm still trying to find a happy compromise between the tripod bubble level, hotshoe level, and viewfinder alignment w/ horizon. I'll admit right here I don't shoot panos very often - yet - so my learning curve has some pretty big "Holidays" in it.
 
You've been most helpful! At the moment, I'm only armed with an indexed Kirk head, a couple of spirit levels and my eyes -- the combination of which requires much trial and error.

The links you've provided are terrific tutorials and will provide even more guidance.

Perhaps I should keep it simple until I figure out what I'm doing... :-)

--
-Patricia

1D Mk II, 10D
Patricia said:
would be better and why? Comments and advice appreciated.

Kaidan Quickpan III Spherical

http://www.kaidan.com/Detail.bok?no=89

or

Really Right Stuff's PCL-1 Omni-Pivot Package (bottom third of the
page)

http://www.reallyrightstuff.com/pano/

Thank you,

--
-Patricia

1D Mk II, 10D
Click to expand...
 
I went to great lengths to solve this and am not there yet. I even inserted one of these:
http://www.ehobbies.com/csn93804a.html

this gives me a way to make minute side to side and up down adjustments to my Kaidan rig. Of course it adds a lot more weight.
Kent
wtlloyd said:
Kent Johnson said:
Patricia,

One thing you will probably find is that when the levelling head
(or anything else with a spirit level in it) says it is level .....it may
not actually be level.
Click to expand...
Boy, Kent - ain't THAT the truth!

I'm still trying to find a happy compromise between the tripod
bubble level, hotshoe level, and viewfinder alignment w/ horizon.
I'll admit right here I don't shoot panos very often - yet - so my
learning curve has some pretty big "Holidays" in it.
Click to expand...
 
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