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For a spherical pano, accurate leveling is not important. It can be leveled in the stitcher.Originally Posted by Destiny
bubbles moves upon rotation because:
1. bubble has high sensitive
2. bubble has inherent error in accuracy
3. tripod/ rotator has some flexibility
4. bubble is not set accurately in factory
5. user error in leveling, eg viewing the bubble at wrong angle.
all this make it impossible for the bubble to stay stationary during rotation.
Nick
Fanotec
We listen. We try harder.
As NIck says, levelling is not usually important since the panorama can often be accurately levelled in the stitching. However, for a single row panorama not including the zenith and nadir areas, levelling is important in order to ensure the maximum panorama height is obtained. With a panohead that is not level, the panorama will wave up and down when it has been levelled in the stitching to get the verticals properly vertical. Then, when a tidy rectangular crop is made, you lose some height as shown in this exaggerated example:
Some people like to use a bubble level on the camera to level the initial shot. That shot can then be fixed in a level position in the stitching, with the remaining shots left free to align with it so that the whole panorama automatically becomes level.
The type of lens used is not relevant when levelling. It makes no difference whether its a fisheye or a standard rectilinear lens.
John
Works for me.Why did I use 5 arms, because I could
Do the rails show up in the final stitch?Also this way with a Canon 5D, 10mm lens only the end of the lower rail would be in the photo
No longer than it would take to swap out lenses on your camera body. You would need a separate clamp for each lens. You leave the clamp on the lens. The rail stop is built into the base of the clamp, not the pano head. You would still need to adjust the vertical arm when changing lenses on either setup so there is no time saved on that step.How long will it take to change from my 24mm lens to my 10.5mm lens with a lens ring, and how about when I want to use my 15mm lens?
That is the point of a lens clamp. If the pano head does not appear in the final stitch, using a lens ring clamp would allow you to remove 3 of the 5 arms from your rig. The result would be much lighter and way less complicated.Less equipment to carry around and will only take a few seconds when changing to different lenses.
I have not previously heard of the arms appearing in the picture being a problem. Since I do not have your camera/lens combo, I cannot personally comment on that part.
Last edited by DennisS; 04-20-2011 at 07:02 AM.
The bubble level is there as a reference. The bubble will move around as you capture your panorama. Car interiors are shot with the pano head poking in through the driver side window. The entire rig is at a 90 degree angle. This is nowhere near level. The key is to not move anything or make any adjustments during the sequence. Your stitching software will have ways to level out your panorama. All you need to do is get close for the initial leveling, but not perfect.Then I thought, if its not important why put a bubble there in the first place, so it must be important since all pano heads have them....
there is a little trick to set the level properly at view angles not perfectly above the bubble. you treat the circular bubble as a twin-axis level. You first center the bubble when you view it at an angle perpendicular to the lower rail. Then you center the bubble at an angle parallel to the lower rail.
we will make a mirror addon for the ultimate rails so that one can see the level accurately from the side, a design we developed for advanced pole bubble level.
nick
Last edited by nick fan; 04-20-2011 at 07:25 AM.
Fanotec
We listen. We try harder.
D...
The bubble leveller is an ongoing story. It is important to level the first shot as good as possible. Then leave it alone. The bubble will move inside the black ring taking your shots around. This is ok. The software will deal with this. You are right, to be very secure about leveling the best place would be the hot shoe on top of the camera. I think most of us have tried this with a 2/3way bubble leveller. But you need this place for your remote control. So most of us just use the bubble leveller placed on the panoheads. And it works fine. It is good to try to be as precise as possible in the beginning to learn about the needs of it. Then you can change your workflow to your experiences.
Heinz
When using a 10.5mm fisheye this roughly shows how much the upper rail is in the way, and the one beside it shows it when the camera slides along the rail.
http://www.indiavrtours.com/pic/head10.jpg
Here are 2 photos showing the double quick release clamp setup, although I plan on getting a different clamp.
This slides along the upper rail and the quick release clamp's 3mm safety pin will fall into the indexing lens plate slots.
http://www.indiavrtours.com/pic/head11.jpg
http://www.indiavrtours.com/pic/head12.jpg
In this photo you can see a red circle where I slid the rail forward a little. This will be a bushing to make the hole smaller where the quick release clamp's 3mm safety pin will fall into it setting the aliment up for this end.
http://www.indiavrtours.com/pic/head13.jpg
This way the upper rail is set in the same place every time, the camera slides along it and a 3mm pen drops into the lens indexing plate, also the rail is no longer in the photo when using fisheye lenses.
I know I'm not to good at explaining things in writing, that's why I'm using a lot of photos.
Roger Berry
Last edited by Cameleer; 04-20-2011 at 10:59 AM.
I got the aliment bushing put in my upper rail, it's actually a plug with a slot in it for the quick release clamp safety pin, and it works good.
But then I got to thinking, why do I even need a quick release clamp between the rotator and upper rail.
On the end of the upper rail add 2 anti-twisting screws and a center screw hole like the quick release clamp has. Now you have the option of not using the quick release clamp, and without it things are a little simpler.
http://www.indiavrtours.com/pic/head15.jpg
If you wanted to remove the rail you only have to pull out 1 screw, but it folds up so nicely that I don't think many people would take it apart.
In this photo the upper rail clears the foot of the vertical rail but I had to move the upper rail up a little which I don't like. There's a few ways this could be fixed, but I'm thinking of adding a 8mm spacer with a nice rounded edge between the rotator and upper rail. This edge on the rotator is too sharp so adding the 8mm spacer will fix 2 problems.
http://www.indiavrtours.com/pic/head16.jpg
It would be nice if this vertical rail where a little taller, then I could skip adding the 8mm spacer, of course I could also rotate the vertical rail but the that puts the knob in front.
Roger Berry
Last edited by Cameleer; 04-21-2011 at 12:10 PM.
Hey Roger,
Nice speaking with you on the phone today. We appreciate the time you have spent in sharing your feedback. Nick (manufacturer and developer) is always listening. We would hope all users on our products would offer detailed feedback. We build our products largely in part from end user feedback. So whether pros and cons please share your experiences and suggestions.
Bill
Hi Nick,
I would like to find out if I can get some parts.
First would be a Multifunctional Rail 170mm (MFR-170) I want to replace my lower rail (MFR-210) before doing a modification to it, also I’m not using a battery grip and don’t need a rail this long.
Second, can I get 2 Quick Release Clamps 55mm (QRC-55) with the shorter knobs like the Quick Release Clamp 40mm (QRC-40) has? I would like to use these back-to-back on the upper rail to camera plate, I need shorter knobs so the camera battery won’t be blocked and also so there will be clearance at the lower rail when shooting the zenith.
Thanks,
Roger Berry
That is ok. you better contact me in email. nick a t fanotec . co m.
Nick
Fanotec
We listen. We try harder.
What is the status of the M1 production model? Any closer to getting it finalized? Also, what is the status on shipping for the pre-production models? Curious and excited about the new ultimate series of pano-heads.
Hi kabkos and welcome to the forum,
When you log in on e-store, you will find infos about availability, shipping dates, or out of stock infos by clicking the desired product.
M1 at this time has only Pre-models. They will be sent following incoming and already placed orders.
Regards,
Heinz
Last edited by hindenhaag; 05-02-2011 at 08:41 AM.
Here's my new modification to the upper rail.
As you will see in this photo I drilled, taped and installed 2 anti twist screws in the rail, this will make for repeatable alignment and easy setup on the upper rotator.
http://www.indiavrtours.com/pic/head20.jpg
Photo of the upper rail mounted to the rotator, you can see the 2 new holes above and below the center mounting screw.
http://www.indiavrtours.com/pic/head21.jpg
Here's a view of the setup, for added clearance I had to rotate the vertical rail where the knob is in the front now. When using a nodal point adapter vertical rail will need to be installed like this anyway. It would be nice if the vertical rail was made with the knob on the opposite side, as I assume most people will be using a nodal point adapter.
http://www.indiavrtours.com/pic/head22.jpg
Another view of the setup.
http://www.indiavrtours.com/pic/head23.jpg
Using a nodal point adapter
http://www.indiavrtours.com/pic/head24.jpg
The pivot point of the upper rail is at about 21mm. With a little math you can figure out rail setting, once you have the upper rail adjusted to your camera put a little paint mark on the quick release clamp as shown in this photo. Canon 5D, Canon 15mm lens, rail setting 79mm. Now you can us the Entrance pupil database and easily set you rig for other lenses.
http://www.indiavrtours.com/pic/head25.jpg
Roger Berry
Last edited by Cameleer; 05-02-2011 at 04:35 PM.
Clever mods - curious how the EZ-Leveler-II held up in this configuration as it would appear to fall outside the design limitations. Did the EZ-L lift a bit on the opposite side?
Bill
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